Gunvault GV2000S Multi Vault Gun Safe review
By: Opie
Photos By: Will
Kids are amazing creatures. Their curiosity and problem solving skills never cease to amaze me. As I watch my son grow up I find him doing things I never thought a two year old would be capable of doing. Much in the way a chimpanzee uses tools, my kid will use the most random things in the cleverest of ways. Plus, like his primate pals he’s really good at climbing. So good in fact, that there aren’t many shelves in the house that are out of his reach anymore. With that startling realization I reevaluated how I stored my weapons.
In the years BC (before child) my glock and backup would find themselves holstered on a shelf. With the introduction of a child who loves to climb shelves it was time to find a way to secure my weapons but still be able to get to them quickly.
One of the brands that is most recognizable in the small gun safe arena is Gunvault. You would probably recognize their products as the ones with the hand shaped keypad, with the buttons at the fingertips. Comparing their different models and sizes and knowing that I would be storing two handguns I bought their GV2000S Multivault.
The GV2000S 15”L x 10.5”W x 8.2”H. It comes with an interior shelf that splits the safe into an upper and lower section allowing you to easily store two handguns. The safe is equipped with a battery operated 4 button programmable keypad with a manual key backup. The safe requires a 9V battery to use the keypad. The interior is lined with foam and the safe itself is made of 16 gauge steel. The door is spring loaded and it positively snaps open once the correct code is entered.
The safe does have the ability to be fastened to a solid surface if you are concerned about theft or the safe being jostled. My primary concern is keeping the number of holes in my kids static so I’m not as concerned about theft as I am about keeping my blond-headed Curious George away.
Overall I am happy with the purchase. It holds my glock 19 in a crossbreed holster on one shelf and my backup handgun on the other shelf along with whatever dangerous pocket litter I happen to be lugging around. Accessing the keypad is fairly straightforward and the buttons are easy to push once you get a feel for them.
The keypad is programmable and it offers you the option to turn off the audible beep with each key-press. While I understand the desire to be super stealthy I don’t like the idea of turning the feedback off and here’s why – In the event you don’t push one of your buttons correctly (straight down and deep) that key-press won’t register. If it doesn’t register, the rest of your combination won’t count and you’ll have to start again. If you need the contents of the safe in a hurry I’d rather hear that the last press didn’t take and reenter it so that I don’t have to start over. With the lack of the beep or any sort of haptic feedback you have to assume that every press went through when it may not have.
I do have some gripes with the Multivault. The first is its battery bracket. There is some sort of hanger/bracket/evil widget at the top of the safe that your 9V battery is supposed to clip into. Because of its location you can’t look up and see it, so positioning the battery relies on your sense of feel with the hand that is juggling the battery. I tried and tried and tried and the battery is basically loose, being held in by the thin foam that tucks into the top of the safe. The manual shows a nice picture of the bracket with no direction on how the battery is supposed to sit. It’s not a critical fault but it is annoying.
Another fault is the flimsy shelf. It is made of a thick plastic/polymer/synthetic sheet that is pretty rigid but it flexes and bends more than it should. I’m not sure why a piece of coated sheet steel couldn’t have been used for the shelf. It would have been rigid and added to a greater feel of quality and strength. With the plastic shelf the safe, fairly or not, feels cheaper.
While I have some gripes about the safe I do like having it. I won’t insult your intelligence by trying to say that everyone who has a gun needs to have a locker for it. Only you know your individual circumstances. As the crumb-muncher has learned to climb and aggressively explore his environment I feel that the Multivault balances accessibility to my weapon while reducing the chance my curious toddler will have a tragic accident.
Where to find it:
GunVault on Promotive.com (Membership)
