Safes: Cannon - Mesa - Liberty - Sentry

[Daedalus 19]

I find myself in the market for a safe. Not a room size mega, end of the world gunsafe nor a stick it in your pocket biometric handgun safe. Somewhere in between. Actually, I think what I need is what the marketeers call a personal or executive safe. The search has gone on via the Intranet for a week or so and my eyes are getting bloodshot. I have almost clicked the 'buy' button several times thinking my decision was made. There is always 'just one more' to consider that pops up on the screen.

 

This will be a handgun only safe with some jewelry and papers thrown in, but not the priority. A 24" height would be ideal as it would slip under the corner return (if that's what it's called) of my desk. Keeping small fingers off of my guns is the primary objective.

 

You will see by the title of this post I am not looking at high end safes. I'd like to keep the cost around $500 or less so my choices become more limited.

 

I had almost decided on the Mesa MBF2020 with combination lock. Issues here - they are not available until the end of March apparently because of a 'model year' change. The 2012 model will allegedly be Hammertone Gray. Sounds ugly, but not a show stopper. I then ran across a single review that said Mesa is a POS. Poor quality and finish. Too bad if true. The best price I can find is $519 from Surefire Gun Safes. Has anyone here actually owned or checked one out?

 

Putting that on the back shelf I then continued the search and the next finalist was the Sentry D880. It's $551 including tax and delivery from Lowe's. I'm comfortable dealing with Lowe's and am confident there would be no problem with returning it if any issues. It also has a combination lock which I prefer to electronic. This is a security safe, not a fire safe, but I'm OK with that. Do you have one or strongly considered this box?

 

Just this morning the Internet put three new candidates on my list. I don’t know how I missed them before, but I did. The following three appear to be out of the same factory, no doubt Chinesium, and do not appear on the manufacturer’s websites. Strange. They are the Cannon H4, Liberty LH08 and maybe the Cannon EV8. The H4 is $540 at Sam’s Club, the LH08 is $427 at Lowe’s and the EV8 taller and $679 at Costco. What do you know about these alternatives?

 

 

Sorry for the long post but my head is swimming. Inputs are very much welcomed!

[Shawnmoore81 623]

I got a stack on from dicks and am happy with it

[71ragtopgoat 23]

I found this site to have the best written descriptions to compare safes and there quality.

http://www.safeandvaultstore.com/category/gun-safes/page/2

And this one for information.

http://www.6mmbr.com/gunsafes.html

[Daedalus 19]

Excellent information. Now I have even more reading to do! Thanks!

[Gorilla800lbs 12]

If you are looking to place your safe under the desk and it's only for a handgun and a couple of things, have you considered Gunvault's SpeedVault series? They come in both Biometrics and combination flavors.

 

http://www.gunvault.com/handgun-safes/speedvault.html

[Targetpractice 3]

i had a bunch of home depot giftcards and bought a safe from them. its a 14 gun i believe made by sentry. im happy with it