I purchased this particular HOMAK pistol safe from Amazon a few months ago. I held off on giving a review until now because the thing actually buggered up on me. Everybody loves a product until it fails them.
The good:
It’s relatively inexpensive when you compare it to a GunVault box and you can, in fact, put a few pistols in there. I can fit a Commander sized 1911, Glock 23, and S&W 442 in there while still in their holsters.
The bad:
The door is a bit small to actually get something, even as small as a Glock 23, in there with ease. The J-frame 442 fits in just fine though. It’s a bit annoying, and it means your gun is going to get a few marks from time to time as you stuff it in there and pull it back out, but it does work. Good luck trying to pull a pistol out of there during a home invasion. I don’t consider the design up to that task. The larger models might be.
The really bad:
Damned thing lost my programmed combination the other day. I came home, punched in the code, it failed, did it twice more and it locked me out for 15 minutes. I figured I just fat-fingered the combo three times in a row. Nope. It just LOST my code. After reading a few customer reviews it seems this is a common problem. So, I had to dig up the original factory code to unlock it. Thankfully they print it right in the manual and since I was still evaluating the product kept the manual right next to the safe. Also, kudos are in order for their customer support. Within a couple of hours of my initial “WTF, it broke” submission I had a rep respond via email and explain that the factory code would work and if I had lost it I could call a toll free number and they’d be able to figure it out for me. That’s cool.
The Summary:
Back in 2001 when I got into shooting my mentor said he used a pistol safes for his HD gun. After the kids went to bed he’d punch in the combo to unlock it. That seems like good advice, especially with something like the HOMAK that might just lose your preferred combo all of the sudden.
The HOMAK box is fairly robust but it is absolutely not a theft deterrent system. Hardly anything is, really. For me it’s just a way to lock a pistol up so that a child can’t get at it which is something I need to be mindful of these days.
I’ll probably buy another HOMAK soon simply because they’re less expensive than the Gunvault products. If I get locked out of a particular safe until I can find the original code for the day that’s acceptable to me as I have multiple firearms to chose from. However, if I was the type of person that only had one pistol around, and that was their sole HD gun, I’d probably opt for the Gunvault.
V-Line mechanical pistol safes….the best, most reliable ! i have gun vault….fails when battery gets low and the low battery warning dont’ work half the time…..GO V-line !
If your code defaults, and if you have not mounted your HOMAK safe to the wall, shine a flashlight into one of hte mounting holes on the back, and peek into another one. Your code is also taped to the inside of the door.