Best Biometric Drop Down Gun Safes, Tested By A CCW instructor
- Gary Anderson
- Sep 7, 2024
- 11 min read
Updated: Mar 23
If you need a smart drop down pistol safe you can rely on, I'm here to help you make the best choice on your next purchase.
FYI, Prices and ratings are accurate as of time of writing.
1. VAULTEK - Smart Safe with a Rechargeable Li-ion Battery
Highlight: Fits a full-size (combat-ready) handgun.
Helpful review: This drop-down gun safe works like a holster and pistol safe combo. The safe can be mounted horizontally. Use the thumbprint to open the "drawer," and the pistol handle is right in the palm of your hand. The trigger is open, so proper and safe gun handling MUST be followed. This is great to say, and we all practice this, but when the stuff hits the fan, the trigger finger may drop right onto the trigger.
The only way to ensure the finger stays off the trigger is by training, never holding the finger with the finger on the trigger, and putting it there only when aiming the gun; enough of the gun training basics. The biometric reader, or as I say, the fingerprint reader, can have many different prints added so a team can access it, or a spouse can access it, etc. The added or extra prints can be deleted if needed or turned off from access and reactivate later. This safe is terrific for a workplace that may have an area where the ultimate safety tool is placed and remains secure and accessible to only the right people. I used this at work, in the video prop locker; it was out of sight and out of mind but open to whoever SHOULD be able to get their fingers on the pistol.
In Utah, we allow teachers of any grade of students to carry and be armed. We feel, as a state, it is a good idea to shoot back when dirtbags come to hurt children and innocent people. If a teacher, for example, wants to be armed but does not dress for carrying a gun or feels uncomfortable carrying it all day, this safe is perfect. The safe is mounted to a wall or inside a desk drawer. All I have to do is open the drawer, put my fingerprint on the reader, and the slide will open, and the gun is ready to go, not in view of anyone. There is an issue with other things in the drawer; if a box of tissue gets in the way, the slide will move the tissue until it hits the drawer and stops the opening and access.
All fingerprint access and team members can be adjusted from a computer and sent to the safe via Wi-Fi. The safe cannot be opened by any means other than the biometric reader or keyed lock. That way, the safe cannot be hacked; no matter how excellent the criminal is, they can't access the means to open the lock. Perfect safety, not precisely perfect security. It cannot be perfectly secure if it is ripped off the wall or out of the thin sheet metal of a desk drawer. If this safe is ripped off the mounting, it cannot be opened without tools and time, so safety is where this works the best.
If my Navigator ever gives me a place to install one of these, I will also have one there. Even if I put it in the back of the car to keep a gun safe and hidden from view, that way, I can access the gun after I visit areas that don't want a CCW in their building. When the safe is closed, unless a thief knows what it is, it will look like a square metal box and be very bland. Unlike a soft case shaped like a pistol without much exposure to the gun world, the bad guys will know what that is. The square box will almost disappear when looking through the tinted windows, especially if a flannel shirt is tossed against it like it is nothing special.
Get it from Amazon now: $369.99 & FREE Returns
2. LANGGER V - Biometric Slider Safe
Highlight: Sits and looks like a book on a shelf.
Helpful review: The first time I saw a picture of this safe being used, it had an old book cover put on it to hide on a bookshelf. Brilliant! At that moment, I needed one, so I ordered it. I was excited to try it on when it got to my house. There is nothing different between this safe and others like it. It is just one owner thinking like a champ. But, since that was my idea, I had to try and copy someone else's excellent idea. I am glad I did, and having this James Bond thing near me in the office feels good.
The safe comes with a four-digit code and a small round biometric reader. This reading style is like the one on my deadbolts, and they have difficulty seeing the fingerprints due to the small lens. All I had to do was put my fingerprints in a few times for each finger I planned on using to open the safe—a simple fix for a simple issue. I'm not particularly eager to rely on the fingerprint reader; that is my opinion. I prefer to use the code and prefer to use a key. Using a key is probably the slowest way to access a handgun in times of need, so that is a dumb idea for this safe. The safe has key lock access in case the batteries are dead or there is a problem with the electronics.
The safe has fantastic closed-cell foam to hold the gun. I have a custom Glock 19 with a compensator and a weapon-mounted light on the Picatinny rail. The closed-cell foam holds the pistol tightly and comfortably. I had to trim the area around the light, but that wide, square slide fits like it was born there.
The safe slides into a mounting plate and is secured with a small bolt or screw from inside the safe. This is a small hand-user area, so get one and a tiny friend to help ensure the vault to the mount. The mount can be put anywhere; you can figure out a way to put it where you need it. Then, remove the internals according to the instructions, and get the tiny-handed friend to add the little screw, put the innards back in, and shut the door. That is all it takes. With the small screw holding the vault to the mount, this is not a buy a few minutes and move the vault from place to place. It is mounted, secured, and left there.
Get it from Amazon now: $229.99 & FREE Returns
3. RPNB - Upgraded Carbon Knight Series
Highlight: Great price for good quality.
Helpful review: This biometric safe calls itself a drop-down safe. So, that gave me a great idea to make a plan for an actual drop-down operation, not one that slides out like a drawer. I had to go and get a new gun from the gun locker, and I was so excited. So, with a gun sitting in my long gun safe, waiting for the drop-down safe to show up, did I mention I was thrilled to try this idea out? The pistol safe appeared, and now it was time to see if this idea would work.
The inside of this safe is a molded plastic-looking setup. The safe will hold a spare magazine like a glove, a one-size-fits-match glove, and the gun fits into its spot. My only hang-up with this is the material with the gun, which is too slick for what I want to do. I know it's too slick because I tried it in the shop. The gun holster section is not made from Kydex or another custom-fit style to secure the gun. I think this plan would work if a safe maker made the gun section for an exact make and model, like a custom holster. Some safes like this don't have much power to open the drawer. The need for power from springs and hydraulics becomes a non-issue by mounting the drawer so it falls.
This pistol safe has combo buttons along the top, keeping it slim for a safe, anyway. The fingerprint reader is right on the front edge, so I had to reach past the biometric to operate the code. The sound of the buttons working can be turned off to what they call silent mode. The buttons can be silenced, but the door opening "clang" noise will remove the Ninja from the operation.
If I needed to hide this one with books on a shelf, it would look like most books; I would not need to place it with the old textbooks. The battery compartment is right next to the combo buttons, and this is the only safe I have seen that does not hide the batteries behind or under the safe. It looks weird, but the convenience is fantastic.
Get it from Amazon now: $199.00 & FREE Returns
4. GLORYFIRE - Mounted Pistol Safe
Highlight: It will fit a full-size revolver.
Helpful review: The storage area in this safe is just over nine inches long and just under six inches wide. That will fit a four-inch revolver for all the old guys like me who need to keep a wheel gun around for unpleasant episodes. I have a Sasquatch gun or a set of them; if I run into one, I will have a rug from that encounter. One of the guns is a 444 Marlin lever gun; one is the old stand-by 10mm Colt, and the final is the short barrel 44 magnum. I don't carry both handguns simultaneously and usually only have the rifle, depending on when and where I am.
I can mount this safe to the floor of the RZR, just behind the center console and the passenger seat. I can keep the revolver for bears or other two-legged creatures that must be stopped in the backcountry. This also allows me to stop off at the lodge around the lake, a National Forest building, so the Rangers do not allow guns. I would bolt one on the floor next to the bed if I owned a camper. This would keep the gun safe, and no little hands that are curious or grown idjits that don't understand to leave things alone. The security that would come with it is better than anything else short of bolting in a rifle safe in the closet. Closets in a camper don't have any extra space to dedicate to a full-size safe from the ones I have seen.
This would also be great if a person had a removable hard drive with susceptible information. If a person needs to keep passports, wallets, etc., safe when traveling on the road, they could be taken into the hotel room and used as a safe when the gun is on a belt. The problem is I bolt the safes to the floor or sides of things to keep them in one place. I have a different style that is secure with a tether from Hornady.
The last great point about Gloryfire is the price tag: under 200 bucks for a vault made from the same steel thickness as the higher-priced units. The fingerprint and combo are easy to set up; the whole thing only takes about ten minutes to go from the box to usable. The instructions are easy to follow, and nothing is confusing for even the addle-minded like myself.
Get it from Amazon now: $189.99 & FREE Returns
5. VERPROOF - Corrosion-Resistant Alloy Steel Safe
Highlight: Can fit two sub-compact guns side by side.
Helpful review: The price tag for this safe should let you know that some corners will be cut compared to the higher-priced units. The foam lining is like a foam-lined box; I removed the fitted hollow foam. I chose a different route since I had plenty to open and grab the gun. I put two baby Glocks in the safe, side by side. I know two people who carry two Ruger LPCs in 380. Why not have two of these tiny guns? I sold one of them at the gunshots by showing customers that the gun was smaller than my cell phone and weighed the same. So, if their phone did not bother them in size and weight, the weapon would not either.
I don't know if I will use the two guns with the same safety idea, but I know it works. When I reached into the safe to grab one tiny rifle, my hand was too big to pull out of the safe when I caught the grip. The handle is easy to remove if I put a large gun in the safe. When I tried to pull out the tiny pair of guns one at a time, that must have looked like the joke about catching a monkey by putting peanuts in a hollow log. I ended up pulling the gun out by the grip with three fingers like it needed to get washed off.
This safe would work amazingly to store a full-size gun in the padded area and my wallet in one place. I did not do that because my brain was wrapped around tucking away two miniguns. If you are good at cutting foam, get the closed-cell foam, take your time, and make a perfect fit slot to stick a pistol into. It will work as well as be a more expensive safe.
The metal on this safe is excellent and robust, and the combination and fingerprint reader are easy to use and program. One thing about this safe is the noise it makes when it opens. Most of the safes like this open like a drawer; this one flips down at an angle. So the noise it makes when opening can be fixed by catching the door as it opens.
The significant part about the flop open part vs the slide open is that the flop open mechanics use gravity, which always works. Unless there is something under the door, this will open. One poor performance is if it is mounted in a drawer; it can't work unless it's a deep drawer.
Get it from Amazon now: $106.99 & FREE Returns
6. RPNB - Standard Nightstand Series
Highlight: Opens by gravity, not mechanical means.
Helpful review: This safe has a mounting system that will allow it to hang and wall mount. What this means is to screw this to my work desk. I was able to use the handing portion of the mount to screw into the underside of the top surface and then screw into the side of the leg support piece, so this drop-down safe was going nowhere in a hurry. Most importantly, it did not bang around when the char was slid under the desk.
The access system is like all the rest: fingerprint and code. The difference I can see with this safe is the speed it opens to give me access to the gun. The drawer or slide, whatever it is called, does not slide out; it will drop down like a drawer. Once the lock is open, this safe is accessible. The only hang-up is that my trashcan had to move to the other side of the door, as it would get in the way of the drop. Hopefully, I learn that it is not there anymore and stop throwing trash on the floor.
One day, I will forget to clean up the mess I make, and Alice will tan my hide to make things harder on our fantastic cleaning crew.
When the code is entered or biometrics are used, the drop drops open, which will make some noise, so if I need to be sneaky about it, I have to support the drop so it is silent. The code can be set to silent mode so the buttons don't make any noise when pushed. For my at-work safety, I leave all the noise activated; that way, I can hear if someone is at my desk touching things they are not supposed to feel, looking at you, Jerry. Thanks to Jerry needing to prove something, this safe will go into lockdown mode after five failed attempts at the code and must be accessed by the key to reset everything.
One excellent option included with this safe is the blue LED light that comes on when the drop opens. The light is not overly bright, so it should not interfere with my eyeballs if I use it in the bedroom and have to open it at night. The blue light is intense, shining on the gun grip, and will work for me, even with my glasses off.
Get it from Amazon now: $109.99 & FREE Returns
