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Just thought I would share my experience with GunVault so that others know what they are getting into when they purchase their products. It's kinda long, so I'll break it into sections - read what you like. :)

[What Happened]
Just under a year ago I purchased a GunVault Multi Deluxe online from the "lowest bidder" on Froogle. Up until this week I thought it was a pretty solid pistol safe. It has plenty of features and the instructions say it's covered under a 1 year warranty and that the manufacturer is the only authorized place to have repairs performed. After the year, "minimum fee for examination and handling is $19.95. Parts and labor may be extra, depending upon condition." Not the greatest warranty in the world, but hey - at least it seemed as though they stand behind the product. It is electronic, after all, and we all know how dependable electronics tend to be.

I typically use it maybe once a week - my shotgun and Steyr M9A1 are my go-to guns and all my other pistols stay locked away in the GunVault. I went to put a pistol back in the safe and after I punched in my digital combination I heard the motor turn but the door didn't open. Odd, I thought. A second try yielded the same results. I used my key and sure enough, the door sprung open. I checked the A/C adapter and it was plugged in, but I changed the backup batteries just in case. I tried the digital combo for a third time, unsuccessfully. At this point, I decided my only option was to find my all my paperwork and call GunVault.


[GunVault's Customer Service]
Getting a hold of GunVault's service tech isn't exactly an easy thing to do. After several straight-to-voicemail calls, I managed to get a human being who forwarded my call to their "technician". I informed him of my problem and right away (as expected), he wanted to know how long I've had the safe, where my receipt is, did I mail off my registration card when I bought it (I had not), etc. I knew I was screwed on the warranty thing as I could not locate the e-mail that was my receipt, I didn't remember what website I bought it from, and I still have my registration card with all my other paperwork. I explained all of this to the "gentleman" on the phone - he informed me that the drive cable was broken (and implied it's a common occurrence) but they have absolutely no parts, everything is made in China, they only replace them if they are within the 1-year warranty period, and that I was "out of luck, Pal!". I definitely did not take kindly to his tone on the last part - I'm not his "pal" - I'm the sucker who just wasted $135 on a gun safe will all the features of a $30 Wal-Mart lockbox - and he was obviously trying to piss me off so I'd hang up. I obliged him.

[The Fix]
At this point, I knew there was no warranty to void and no possibility of getting factory support. I didn't want to just walk away and consider the safe a waste of money, so a friend and I peeled back the foam on the roof of the safe and removed the metal-encased electronic control box. This entails removing a few screws and unplugging the power wires and speaker wires - not that difficult. Inside, we discovered this:



And a much better picture...



As you can see, the drive cable was indeed broken. At least the "tech" had that part right. When the proper access code is entered, the motor turns the spindle the drive cable is connected to and this tugs the spring and causes the latching mechanism the release, and thus opens the safe. With the cable broken, the motor does not pull the spring and entering the digital code is just an exercise in futility.
The solution, obviously, is to rig something else up to the motor and spring. I assume the factory cable broke because it flexed the same way every time the safe opened - keep folding a flexible piece of metal/wire long enough and breakage is bound to occur. The only thing I had around that would perhaps work in lue of stainless braided cable was o-rings of varying durometers. I went with the hardest (though still quite flexible) o-ring on hand - we cut it to the proper length and cut off the "crimps" that were holding on the original cable. We used those existing crimps and an electrical wire connector to hold the piece of o-ring on the spring and motor spindle. The (awful) picture below sorta illustrates the results better than I could describe:



The end result? the safe functions perfectly when the code is entered. Now I know this setup is less than perfect, but I honestly expect it to hold up better than the factory setup. And if not, I now have the materials and know-how to rig up another fix.

[Conclusions]
As I said previously, I do not count of the GunVault - I have other firearms readily available. However, I realize a lot of people are not able to just leave firearms handy due to children, etc. and that quite a few people do, quite literally, trust their GunVaults "with their lives" to function. I hope my experience can serve as a grave warning to those who do so. The factory lock release is a flimsy design, at best. I believe trusting the vault to open every time could be a tragic (final) mistake for someone when they need it most. And would it kill GunVault to stock replacement cables? How much could the stupid little part possibly cost? I understand that their "technician's" sole responsibility is probably to evaluate safes that are still under warranty and determine if they should be replaced, but they would do well to have the guy take 10 minutes to save some poor schmuck's $135+ investment. Their instruction manual is downright deceptive when it describes the "repair process" - that needs to be addressed by the company. I urge anyone looking to buy a pistol safe to go the mechanical route - I've seen numerous similar pistol safes at gunshows that use mechanical means for the push-button unlocking mechanism and were comparably priced.

I fully regret my purchase and urge all others to stay away from GunVault products.

Thank you for the excellent review and pictures. I would definitely take this into consideration if I were looking to purchase this safe.

I agree...Sorry for the pain you had to go through there with the manufacturer...

But I have to tell you, you made up for it (personally) with that fix! I think that will work for you till the end of time...

I work for a pipeline inspection company, and we design, engineer and manufacture (machine) custom rigs to accomplish this task...

The machining is done from very large pieces to very fine and tight tolerance pieces and mechanisms...

When I finally scrolled down and saw the pictures, I immediately saw what you did...I couldn't have designed a better one that wouldn't have cost you a million bucks...

If it ever does (I doubt it) fail again...I have an idea how to beef it up if you are interested...I'll zap the drawing and parts list to you, no charge...I like tinkering with stuff like this...Fun!!!

I actually was looking into this safe. I just might reconsider now.

I appreciate the review and pictures, and if I ever do decide to acquire one of these, I now know how to properly reinforce the operation of the mechanism.

I personally take no great affirmation in warranties of any kind. If I can't fix it, or at least can't convince myself that I know enough about it to tinker with it, I don't buy it.

Whenever I'm asked if I want to buy a warranty for any product, I always ask if it covers me taking it apart piece by piece, because that's what will happen as soon as I get home. Its funny how they stop hassling you with those worthless things after hearing that.

I had a similar problem with a much less critical item, an automatic doggy door. When the dogs, wearing special collars, got close to the door, the door went up.

One of several different failure points was the cable that pulled the door up. (I won't get into the others) Back in my Teletype days we called that cable a "wire rope."

When I found that the cable failed at the point of maximum flex/strain, I called the company and they sent me an entire new door. Installing one of those is a real bear, so instead of replacing the whole thing, I dismantled the new one and pulled the part and sent it back. That seemed to work for them.

The next time it failed, and it did so regularly, I called "internet sales customer service" (and finding out who to call and their number is another tale of woe) and suggested that all they needed to do was send me the cable, but they sent me the whole thing again! Over time they would wind up sending me four new ones (for that problem, plus one each for two other problems.)

I also replaced the cable with my own stuff a time or two, a Kevlar cord worked the best for longest and was actually quieter.

Eventually I got asked to stop bothering them and I kind of hit the roof, telling them that I was going to put my story out on every pet owner web site I could find, so they decided to replace the door with the obviously defective design (also one of those cases where "we never heard of that before" was the initial reaction, followed by an almost instantaneous and correct assessment of what the failure was) with a plain old flap door.

Now with two 70 pound dogs, one 25 pound dog, and one 18 pound dog, I was worried about them ALL being able to use it, but they have all adapted marvelously, including BTW the new 7.5 pound dog.

OTOH, it was kind of funny watching the big dogs, who had worked out the timing of the automatic door, charge the door and run headlong into it when it didn't go up.

jimlongley wrote:OTOH, it was kind of funny watching the big dogs, who had worked out the timing of the automatic door, charge the door and run headlong into it when it didn't go up.

America's Funniest Home Video material, I'm sure!

Just wanted to post an update...

A member of another forum I frequent called GunVault on the issue and was able to get some more info out of them. Prior to February 2005 the company was owned by Security Products, and the "new" company owners acknowledge that the "cable crimping" door was a problem with older units. So, the new owners say that units purchased after February 2005 should not have the same problem, and if they do, GunVault will repair or replace the door mechanism if it breaks regardless of the warranty because that part would be deemed faulty.

GunVault says there is no way to determine whether or not the unit you own is the old or new - they refer you to date of purchase to decide. This just is not acceptable, IMHO. Lord knows how many old/faulty GunVault safes have sat on distributor shelves until well after February 2005, but the end user would have no way to know whether or not their unit was the "OK" one...

Also, I'm eager to see someone with an official post-Feb. 2005 model disassemble the unit and show me what has changed - I'm willing to bet we would see no design change. Also, they claim they will repair or replace the door, but their own technician has told me and several other people I've spoken with that no replacement/spare parts are kept at their facility - I'm guess that "repair or replace the door" once again means "exchange the whole unit".

I am fairly frustrated at this point with the company's disregard for the end user - I just might have to order my credit card statements from summer/fall 2005 to get my purchase date to see if I can't put GunVault's feet to the fire on this - I want to see for myself how they supposedly rectified the problem in the newer units.

I ordered a GunVault Multi in early February of this year. The operation has been flawless, and though I have a couple complaints about it overall I'm generally satisfied.

Bummer to hear of this problem. I'll take it apart when I have some spare time and see if it's a new unit. Judging from the conditioning of the packaging when I received it, if it WAS one of the old units, they sure did a good job of keeping the box dust-free and immaculate.

I would greatly appreciate some pictures of the locking mechanism - thank you!

I've had mine since about Feb of 2003 and haven't had a problem. Lots can change with a company like this in that time (as you've pointed out), so caveat emptor I'm afraid.

Edited to add: And it gets used twice a day.

Syntax360 wrote:I would greatly appreciate some pictures of the locking mechanism - thank you!

No problem, don't let me forget. I am warning you ahead of time, though, the pictures are going to be horrendous.

I have the exact opposite problem. My GunVault won't close. I have been using a Wally world special for the last month or so until I get a chance to take it apart. I really wasn't all that impressed with the GunVault anyway so I never pursued getting it fixed. Now I am going to have to take it apart just to find out which part broke. I won't be using it for any vital purposes even if I can fix it!!!

You won't need any tools other than a small screw driver - it is quite simple. Just be sure to unplug the speaker/light cables if yours is equipped. There is probably something wrong with the long spring that is visable in a few of my pictures...

casselthief wrote:

jimlongley wrote:OTOH, it was kind of funny watching the big dogs, who had worked out the timing of the automatic door, charge the door and run headlong into it when it didn't go up.

America's Funniest Home Video material, I'm sure!

I just wish I had been able to get a video of it.

Just a follow-up to this thread, a few years downrange...

My fix for this safe worked great up until mid-May, when I assume the re-worked o-ring "cable" came loose or broke. I didn't have time to disassemble or repair, so I was forced to start using my key again on the rare occasions I needed into the safe.

Fast forward to Monday when my car was broken into at a local park. I regularly jog through a park near my home, and I had removed the "extra" keys from my keychain to reduce the jingling mass that otherwise bounces around in my pocket. Of course, my GunVault key was one of the keys left behind in my vehicle, and sure enough that set of keys was stolen.

It dawned on me last night that I am now unable to access my GunVault via the keypad, and my primary safe key has been stolen. I spent some time last night searching for the backup key that GunVault gives you, but it seems I placed it in such a secure location that even I may likely never find it. I had never planned on needing both keys, as I always counted on the keypad in the event I lost my keys.

Now I'm left with two choices - contact GunVault to try to obtain a new key at unknown cost, or break into the safe, probably by irreversibly damaging it. I'm going to think on it for a few days, but I may very well be posting new pictures of a destroyed GunVault Multi Deluxe here in a few days... That, or tips on how to successfully compromise the locking mechanism on this style safe in a very James Bond manner...

Anyway, I only post this as an anecdote about how these kinds of things snowball over time and lead to more trouble downrange. The moral of this story is the same as before - invest in a quality mechanical product that is far less susceptible to failure, especially if your life depends on it. Fortunately, mine does not, so I can afford the hassle.