Sealey Electronic Combination Security Safe

Home security is something many of us take for granted. Some of us are happy with just a simple lock on the front door or if you are like me you prefer to protect your possessions with as much security as possible. Safe’s used to be something reserved for businesses and banks and the extremely wealthy, however now you can buy them for as little £20 they are far more affordable.

Purchase Decision

I had recently received a number of high value jewellery items, which I became extremely protective over. These are of course insured under my household insurance cover, however this doesn’t cover the sentimental value that they possess. I am a total security obsessive and have every device imaginable. A sophisticated alarm system that goes straight to the police station with silent panic alarms and a sophisticated tracker system in my car should my pride and joy ever get taken. I go to the nth degree to protect myself and touch wood have never had an incident to report.

I decided to purchase the safe as I thought if anyone ever gets into my home they will be in and out quickly due to the alarms and noise etc. I therefore wanted to make it as difficult as possible for someone to take the items that mean a lot to me.

I therefore purchased the above safe from Stationery Box back in 2005. It cost me £19.99 and catered for my security needs. At £19.99 you probably think would it even be strong enough to protect my possessions? The answer is yes!

Unpacking and setup

The safe is heavy and weighs about 15KG so getting it home was quite a heavy feat. Once removed from the box it requires installing and it comes with four steel anchor bolts to attach to either a wall or floor. Securing to a fixed object is extremely important, there is no point putting all you possessions in something a thief can just walk off with?!

Installation was easy. I placed the safe hidden in the bottom of a cupboard. I lined this up and drilled the four holes into the floorboards, mindful of any pipes that would be running nearby. I then placed the safe on top of the holes and pushed the bolts through. Using a spanner you then need to turn the bolts and they will flay out into their holes bending the bolt so that it can’t be pulled back through and securing the safe in the process. This secured the safe and immobilised it. You would need some serious tools to move this safe now and it would at this point become more of a fixed installation to the property, something you wouldn’t take when you move house.

Using the safe

The safe operates with a unique four digit code. When the door is open you need to add 4 x AA batteries into the door. This powers the locking mechanism. You will then need to program the code in. Press the red button on the inside of the door and type in a four digit number of your choice. The safe will then beep three times to confirm the code.

Place your items in the safe and close the door. To reopen the safe type in your code. When the light turns green turn the handle and open the door. If you enter the code wrong three times it will lock out for 10 minutes, another three wrong attempts locks for an hour and another three for 24 hours! Make sure you get it right!

In the event of the battery running low all you need to do is use the override key. You can remove a discreet panel on the front of the safe and then use the key to override the lock. It goes without saying to keep the key somewhere safe and that only you know where it is.

The batteries last forever and would depend on how often you open the safe. With average use the batteries lasted as long as I owned the safe which was three years which is a good length of time!

Summary

This is an excellent safe that provides a solution for the average householder. It has excellent storage capacity and can contain a number of items quite comfortably.

I owned this safe for three years and never had any problems with it, leaving it behind when I moved home. It is important to remember to install it properly and securely and it will serve your needs well. The only feature it doesn’t have which my new safe has is a fire safe facility. My current safe is fire resistant for four hours which means my documents and family DVD’s etc are all safe in the sake of a fire.

If your main purpose is loss prevention then this safe will serve you well, if you want something a bit more substantial with more features then look at Sentry Safes starting from around £80 upwards.

Purchased from Stationery Box in 2005 for £19.99.