In a time when everything is "smart", there are applications that act as a safe where we can store photos and files protected with a password or fingerprint. And it is that privacy in these times is important, but we do not have to forget that there is a physical world that we also have to protect.
Valuables exist in that physical world, and it is worth finding a safe place to store them. The best place is in a safe, and here we are going to tell you everything you need to know if you are looking for one to protect what you love most, without having people or pets, of course.
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Amazon Basics - Home safe 40l
If you are looking for a box with a good balance to store everything, Amazon has something for you. Your box of 40 liters It allows you to store cash, important documents, jewelry and anything else that we consider of value. If we mentioned the balance, it is because, for an affordable price, we will be buying a box with an electronic code lock plus a key.
This Amazon Basics proposal is built in carbon steel, so it is resistant and difficult to open. And if a thief is reading this and thinks that it is an option to steal it whole to open it later in his lair, let him forget it, because it includes holes to anchor it to the ground.
Yale YSV / 250 / DB1
Another box with good balance but with a slightly lower range than the previous one is the Yale YSV / 250 / DB1. It includes a keyboard with which we will enter a code that we will program ourselves, and there are more than 100.000 possible combinations. It includes an emergency key (there are two in the package) and the PIN code can have 3 to 8 digits.
This Yale safe is constructed of steel and has 4mm thick doors. As for the volume, we are talking about a box that can store 16.3 liters, enough to keep our money in cash, documents, cards and something else.
PACOLO book-shaped safe
Although the safest boxes are the largest with thicker walls, there are also others that are somewhat less resistant, but more difficult to find. They are the camouflaged boxes, and this one from PACOLO is like a real book for its design and materials (real paper), but it has a safe where other books would have a story.
For everything else, we are not talking about the largest box in the world, leaving the compartment in 3.55cm x 9.39cm x 16.51cm, and it is not the most resistant, but nobody will be able to steal something from us if they cannot find it, something that this box disguised as a novel assures us.
Brihard Business XL Electronic Safe
Another good balanced safe is this XL from Brihard. The locking system is electronic solenoid and LED indicator that includes extra shock protection. In it we can store a large amount of valuables, since its interior is made of 60 liters. Brihard ensures that up to 8 A4 folders can be stored.
As for the materials, it is built in solid steel with tamper protection, the door has 20mm locking bolts, hidden internal hinges and double steel plate for added strength. Quite a challenge for thieves.
Deuba Safe Security
If what we are looking for is a safe box and the only thing we want to sacrifice is space, this one from Deuba is a great alternative. It is the perfect option for storing cash and documents, such as credit cards, but your small size it will not allow us to store somewhat larger objects.
The electronic code is customizable, and we can configure a 3 to 8 digit PIN for you. As we have mentioned, the only thing we would sacrifice is some size, but not features like security keys in case we forget the code. Is built in steel, and we can anchor it to the wall or to the ground.
Is it convenient to have a safe at home?
Well, I think so, even if it is a small box to keep the money in cash and some documents. All my life I have known that my parents have one where they keep their little things, and I myself have mine to keep my tickets safely. Like ordinary people, a safe can offer us security and privacy, and here I am talking about normal people who want to keep things that are not too expensive.
On the other hand, it will be more important for wealthy families or with high purchasing power, and more if they work with cash. These people also tend to have more expensive items, such as luxury watches or jewelry. So yes. Even if we do not have objects of much value, we can always keep some money, copies of keys and sentimental objects, as well as some others that we do not want anyone to see but ourselves
What can we keep in it?
Here I could give a very simple and valid answer for all cases: literally what whatever has value to us and we don't want it to be stolen from us. I comment on this because we are not all the same and we do not value the same equally. Although I will comment on the most common later, it also seems like a good idea to keep personal items with sentimental value in a safe.
With the above explained, the first thing we have to keep in a safe is cash and jewelry of value, which includes luxury watches. We can also save credit cards and bank credentials, as well as passwords such as those of the DNIe. Although it is best to sign the documents when we are going to deliver them, we can also sign them some time in advance and keep them in the box. The copies of the keys is another valuable object that we should put in a safe, since it is what will allow anyone, for example, to enter our house. But ultimately, whatever has value, even the first drawing that our son gives us to congratulate our birthday. Why not?
How to choose a safe
Opening
How we will open the door is another characteristic that we will have to assess:
- Simple lock.
- Code.
- Biometric reader.
- Double key lock. These boxes will open only when we turn both keys at the same time, and the best example we can give is what we see in war movies for when they want to launch a nuclear missile.
- Mechanical combination plus key lock. In order to open it, we will have to enter a combination and, in addition, turn the key.
- Electronic combination plus key lock. The same as the previous one, but the combination is electronic. It is one of the most used systems.
Closing
When we look for information on how to open a safe, depending on the medium, we may find that the system is "opening" or "closing." Therefore, in theory, this point should be included in the previous one, but I want to differentiate them a bit and comment on the two types of closures that safes offer:
- Simple lock. Like any other, locks usually have a part that hinders the opening. If that part is in place, the door will be closed. If we move it, the door will avoid the obstacle and will open.
- Bars. More secure than any simple lock are bars, in part because there are several. The bars pass the door and get into the frame of it, something they usually do throughout their journey.
Security
Security? Yes. The specifications can tell us a lot about an article, but any information remains a dead letter if we do not know how to interpret it or it simply seduces us. In the same way that some objects are certified with IPxx to indicate how protected they are against water and dust, safes are certified according to the UNE 1143-1 standard, which also makes them approved to store some objects. According to its degree of security, we have:
- Grade S1. Its resistance is not very strong and it is used for domestic boxes.
- Grade S2. More resistant than the S1, they are the ones that some insurance companies use to store documents.
- 0 degree. They are safer than the previous ones and are used to store all kinds of valuables.
- 1 degree. With more security than the previous ones, here we could also store firearms.
- 2 degree. This type of box can resist all kinds of attacks.
- 3 degree. Like the 1, you can keep firearms in them, but in this case the F license.
- 4 degree. These types of boxes are designed for jewelry stores, gas stations, lottery administrations and art galleries.
- 5 degree. The safest. To keep whatever has value, which includes works of art.
Wall thickness
Along with the material, the thickness of the walls is an important point that we have to take into account. A box with a couple of millimeters can be forced with any drill and a small saw, but things change if our safe has walls of 10-15cm, which is more than a normal drill bit measures. The greater the thickness, the greater the security, but we will also have to pay a little (or a lot) more.
Capacity
Capacity comes given in liters (volume). If we want to save everything that we have mentioned earlier, we will need a somewhat larger one, probably about 5L, but if we only want to save a few bills and credit cards, one of the small ones whose averages will come in centimeters is worth it. If we want to save, for example, a painting, we will have to look at its size, since the volume could be enough, but it could force us to roll it up.
Material
The material is going to be important, especially when we are looking for a box that offers great security. The aluminum is not the best option if we are going to store valuable objects, since we could open it with practically any drill in the world. We don't even talk about wood or plastic.
Among the hardest and easiest materials to find we have the steel, and the boxes made of this metal will be resistant and their price will not be as high as if we choose another one made of titanium or chrome. Logically, we have to find a balance between protection and price, and we will know what we need depending on what we want to protect and our pocket.
Price
I am not a rich man who has to worry a lot about protecting his assets, but in my case I do buy things online for other people, such as relatives who pay me later. So I have some bills, not many, kept in a box on my nightstand. My intention is that no one looks at what is there, and any box with a key that does not kick open is worth it to me. Price is something that we always have to take into account, especially if we don't need the best of the best.
Types of safes
Small
A small safe is perfect to store some documents, money, jewelry and other things that we want keep safe from relatives. Many of them are very cheap and are not very safe, and that is why they are good so that our acquaintances do not touch it: they will not be able to open it without the key and they will not want to force it so as not to have problems with the owners of the safe.
On the other hand, also there are sturdy small safes Like the most, and in this case its size will allow us to store it in any corner so that neither relatives nor thieves can access its content. They will not be camouflaged boxes, but we can hide them in any drawer, behind books, under a bed or sofa and I stop giving examples so as not to help thieves find them.
Camouflaged
Camouflaged safes are designed to be very difficult to find. For example, there are those that are like a book, but we can find any camouflage that the manufacturer comes up with, such as behind a plug to the electrical network. They are not usually large, but they are large enough to hold many bills, envelopes and jewelry, among others.
With key
His name says it all. To open these boxes we will have to make use of your key, in the same way that we would open any door. In general, the safes with a key are the small ones, but we can also find the lock in the large ones. The downside is that anyone with the key will be able to open it, and the locks can be picked.
With code
Coded safes are those in which we will have to enter your code to be able to open them. They are safer than key because there is no lock to pick, and many of the larger and stronger safes use this locking system. In this section we can also enter the electronic code, which although you also have to enter a number, the system you use is different.
With biometric reader
It is another kind of code, but biometric. For some time now, there are safes that will open only if we put our fingerprint on it. Rarer and more futuristic are those that we will open using our irises, a part of the human body even more exclusive than fingerprints.
Big
Large safes are designed to hold more valuables, and not just a few bills. Size also usually means that they are more resistant, since the material of its walls can be thicker. The closures will also be stronger, so opening them will be much more difficult than the small ones. Among the "large" there are that go from about 30cm in height to cameras like those of banks, but the latter we will not need in our homes.
Recessed
This type of box is one that can be put on a wall without protruding. This is the only requirement for it to be recessed, and among its other specifications we can find them larger, smaller, with a key, with a code, etc. The good thing about recessed boxes is that, as they do not protrude from the wall, we can hide them with furniture or paintings.
Where to put the safe
I wouldn't want thieves to read this section, but we can give you some ideas of where to put a safe. If it is a small staff in which we only have a few bills and we do not want any family member to take them, we can put them in any drawer. If it is a little bigger and we want to hide it from thieves already, we can put it under the mattress, but thieves are not completely stupid and will look under there. We can also put it in the drawers where we keep clothes, hidden between them, but thieves will also search there.
Behind a painting, behind a closet, better if it has wheels, under a brick or tile prepared for it, under a sofa ... Here I am commenting on easy places in which to put a safe without thinking much, but my advice is that you have imagination. For example, I have an old computer case that I plan to retire soon. Removing everything inside and putting the box in there can be a good idea, as long as there is a mouse, keyboard and monitor nearby. Even without the peripherals, it is not easy to think that the box will be there. Therefore, it is best to be imaginative.