DAC Sportsafe from Walmart...

I think my thread about the DAC Sportsafe got lost in the server shuffle...if it was not lost, please add this thread to the original and delete this thread...but I was unable to find that thread, so I am sure it was deleted.

Anyway, I have confirmed that the beeps can be disabled by reading the manual on their website. I ordered it from Walmart this evening. It is scheduled to arrive between Thursday of next week, and Tuesday of the following week.

I will let you all know what my thoughts are once it arrives.

Here is the link:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=2221464

With shipping and tax, I paid about $70 even...

For those of you in California, Texas, Mississippi, and Arkansas...you can have it sent to a local store for pickup, and you get free shipping when you do that. I am not so lucky :smt076

Hi Bangbang;

I am currently looking at safes and am looking forward to your report.

I am also considering products from gunvault.com.

Thanks!

I've seen this one in action and i like it. The door flips open with some force but stays quiet. My local gun shop sells them for around $95 so thats a good price. Too bad they are out of stock.

Well, the safe is pretty good for the money.

There is one thing that I do not like about it...the battery holder does not secure the batteries. It is plastic ONLY on one side, and open on the top. When the battery holder is screwed into place, the top of the safe (which is foam lined) acts as the top-most cover for the batteries.

I would not worry about the batteries falling out once the holder is secured though as you can tighten in down pretty good. I wonder how much profit was added to the bottom-line by making the battery tray only one sided... $.25 maybe??? I would have preferred a battery tray that holds the batteries by itself without depending on the safe...and you will find out why below:

I actually had a problem with my safe. Somehow, one of the screws that holds the battery compartment to the roof of the safe had a spur on it near the initial thread. I was unable to put the winged nut on there. I tried many things to get it on there, but I was unsucessful. Finally, I called customer service, and the guy I spoke with told me that it was a FIRST for him.(he had been there for 3.5 years). He promptly took down all my contact info, and sent out a replacement. I was surprised with the level of customer service I received.

He even told me I could keep the defective safe since there was nothing he could do with it. I am still waiting on the replacement, but I expect it here tomorrow...or Friday at the latest.

If the battery compartment was self contained, and did not rely on the roof of the safe to hold the batteries in...I would have been OK just securing it via the one screw...but I just had to think like MacGyver...and I came up with a solution. I used popsicle sticks (perfect length) and some rubber bands along with index cards to secure the batteries inside the plastic tray. In addition, I found a larger nut and attached the battery tray to the roof securely with both screws...not securely enough to keep the batteries in without my MacGyver skills...but secure enough to keep things put.

This will be the home safe, and the replacement will go in the car for now. I would not want to chance all the bumping around in the car with a semi-loose battery compartment whose batteries were secured only by popsicle sticks. If someone were to shake the safe enough, they may get lucky and dislodge one of the batteries...but would not matter...because the safe will not open without the batteries, or the master key.

The DAC safe is portable, and if you need portability...it is probably one of the better options. It comes with a base that can only be removed from INSIDE the safe. The base mounts securely to whatever you want, and then the safe mounts to the base. But if you are OK with a safe that will be in one place, the whole time, I would look closely at some of the other alternatives...I really like this safe, and I think I am going to get one this year:

http://www.probowhunter.com/product....at=1056&page=1

It is much slimmer (and smaller inside) and the main thing I like about it is that the combination is not reset to factory default when the battery goes dead, or is taken out like the DAC. DAC states that when changing batteries, you have about 1 minute to do so before all your setting are erased...

In addition, the safe I linked to above has a 9V emergency terminal on the side. If the batteries do die, you can use a 9V battery to "jump-start" it enough to put in your combination. I like that...pretty neat.

Both safes are great buys in my opinion, I like the DAC a lot, and I would not hesitate to buy another...except that I will already have two of them once the replacement shows up. Of course, even without batteries, the DAC makes a great keyed safe...and yes, you can disable the LOUD beeps.

Once I have the replacement safe, I will update this thread. I have not experienced how "well" the batteries are secured in a properly functioning safe. Once I get a chance to use the replacement...I will finalize my report.

You can learn more about people who have the DAC safe at the sigforum found here:

http://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc.../448101176/p/1

The thread starter is not so happy with his safe, and I found this thread after I bought mine. I am happy so far, but my continual happiness may vary.

As mentioned, for a $55 portable electronic safe ($70 after sales tax and shipping) it is a good buy. If the performance meets my expectation level...it will go down as a good buy.

And if I ever retire it from gun safe status...it will still make a nice safe for other valuables which are not as critical as a gun. Even without the keypad, it is still a good keyed safe...

Thank you so much for the detailed response Bangbang; I hope the replacement is all you wish for.