A new lock-down gadget to play with! The Vecta Personal Safe is designed in the UK, manufactured in China and mine came direct from Vecta Safes (UK) Ltd. The safe is suitable for storing money, keys, passports, keys etc and despite it’s small size is rock solid. For sizes, see the link below.
The safe is shown here in the substancial packing box in which it arrived. It comes complete with six substancial metal mounting fixings (supplied) and requires a user-programmable 4-digit passcode to open (there is a master and a user code, both of which are programmable. The unit also comes complete with 2 emergency keys which should be stored separately for emergency use.
There is a nicely-readable blue display and the unit has a removeable tray and a removeable keyrack (not fitted in the photo above). I could see the tray coming in handy for coins, watches, memory sticks and more. Yep – that door really is metal(as is the whole unit) and solid-looking.
The company states that the Vecta is police-approved. Apparently, the Personal Safe is the only product in its class to achieve the Secured by Design and Sold Secure attack test ratings awarded by the UK Police and Master Locksmiths Association.
I can see this being mounted on a stone wall in the near future and by the look of the fittings (with added washers as noted elsewhere), it likely won’t come off in a hurry. Rather than reel off specs and sizes, you’ll find all of that information on the Vecta website. When I say “rock solid”, the unit is very heavy given the slim dimensions – and is unlikely to be easily damaged.
I’ll come back to this once the safe is mounted and in use. Right now the unit is in stock, is discounted at £129.00 and comes with a free Vecta Signal-blocking pouch. Finally, the box has angled sides which would make it more difficult to remove forcibly. Not sure how obvious that is in the photos – you might want to check.
In response a query in the ecomments about whether or not the unit is fireproof , a quick response from manufacturer:
“To be fire resistant would require the safe to be double skinned with fire retardant material in-between. This would make it very bulky. The Vecta safe is designed to be a slim, compact wall safe so it cannot also be fire retardant.”
This was quickly followed by a comment from one of the designers:
“Like any enclosed metal box, the Vecta will have a level of fire resistance but this is not formally accredited. The Vecta is though accredited to the highest security level in its class. Like all Safes there is a Cash rating of up to £2000 without formal accreditation, subject to confirmation from your Insurance Company.”
I have some other safe but what I have done is purchased a separate fireproof bag to hold some important documents like passport.
Separation of concerns. Safe handles safety, bag handles fire and water. Had not had chance to confirm if this will work but with average response time of fire department at 6 min 5 sec in my city, I think it is safe to assume it will be fine.
It is easy enough to find an hiding place somewhere in the home for your valuables. The main reason why I would have a safe would be for fire and, therefore, the fire resistance is the most important characteristic. (Imagine if you perished in a fire and your will went with you). I could find no reference to fire resistance in the specifications.
Hi Alan. The safe is thick steel so I would imagine not that flammable – I will ask.. Hiding places… Kind of depends on your home or office.
Fireproof is more about keeping the insides from getting incinerated as the safe heats up in a fire. Fire-rated safes usually have an insulating layer of something like sealite between the interior and the walls and are rated to keep their insides below some temperature for a given amount of time. Solid steel is better than nothing, but not really fireproof so you might want to take that into consideration when putting stuff inside, Peter. Their website doesn’t list a fire rating, so it’s probably not fire resistant.
These guys did a fun demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K85eccKhp4U .
It will be going in a cave with walls made of rock – so a fire nearby is unlikely. If that sets on fire I’ll have more to worry about than the contents of the safe, especially if the fire starts at the one and only entrance/exit.
I’ve got one and to be honest it would be tough to get off the wall. The sides are angled in so there’s nothing you can grab hold of to pull at. Pretty clever design feature.
All that security, and yet they give you the cheapest shield-anchor bolts to fix it down? The ne’er-do-wells would just hoik the whole safe off the wall and open it at their leisure.
I’d expect to see at least some thick & wide washers to spread the effect of the bolt heads.
Were I fitting this to a stone wall, I’d be using resin and studs ~ it’s the same size holes to drill after all… along with some e.g. Unistrut washers, which are 2″ square and 5mm thick.
Well, now you mention it I’ll fit washers AND make sure the unit is mounted in the least accessible place to make getting tools to it difficult. Thanks for the feedback.
Feedback based on experience! I’ve had to remove a few hotel-room safes, where the batteries had died and the little keys were lost… The failure point was not the coach screws pulling out of the floor joist as we expected; it was the bolt heads coming clean through the body of the safe.
Thanks for that Carl – so solid washers might he helpful then?
I’ve got a cheaper option! HMRC store my money for me, the problem, though, is they are reluctant to give it back!!
Seriously it looks a nice bit of kit but not cheap @ £125.00. £95.00 was cheapest I found, challenge on!
I guess it is down to how solid you want. Carl in here says the bolts are not strong enough .. I wonder how your cheaper solution compares in fastenings, thickness of the case and strength of the actual lock mechanism…
Just my little bit of frivolity Peter HMRC = Inland revenue and they are very secure!
Carl makes some very good points re fixings. It is, of course, difficult for the suppliers to know what type wall the unit is going to be fixed to.