- Last Updated: April 22, 2020
Homegear Large 5 Rifle Electronic Gun Safe
Product Features
- CE and RoHS Certified
- 4mm Steel Door, 2mm Walls
- Includes Interior Lockbox
Product Specifications
- SIZE:13.8″ W X 11.8″ D X 57.1″ H
- WEIGHT: around 75 pounds
Product Rating
Size isn’t everything, and the Homegear 5 Rifle Electronic Gun Safe definitely proves that. Although the space is adequate enough for a handful of large rifles and includes an interior lockbox, the build quality should always come first when investing in a safe. That being said, the Homegear does offer a decent amount of value for the price, and does particularly well in its limited capacity. If you’re looking for a simple lockbox for rifles or a gun safe under $250 with a basic locking mechanism, the Homegear may be the right fit for you.
What We Liked
- Great value - As far as price is concerned, the Homegear offers a pretty good value. Considering it features everything a typical safe of this category should have, such as a biometric fingerprint scanner, thick housing, and enough space to fit a variety of items, this safe is a worthy investment. It may not be the most jaw-dropping safe at first glance, it certainly does have the value of a solid gun cabinet.
- Keyless Entry - The Homegear includes multiple points of entry, including a biometric fingerprint scanner and a digital keypad. We’ve always liked biometric scanners, but we can certainly appreciate that there are ways to get into the safe if the scanner happens to malfunction. The safe also includes a digital keypad that can be programmed fairly easily. Once the correct PIN is inputted, the bolting mechanism electronically unlocks the safe.
- Five Rifle Gun Safe - Although this safe is advertised as a long rifle gun safe that can hold up to five rifles, you may not want to stuff it with that many. That being said, the ability to store three or four rifles is already adequate enough to justify the price range. The Homegear is tall enough to fit most average sized rifles without being too imposing, and guns can be placed and removed with relative ease.
- Interior Lockbox - One feature we always like to see in gun cabinets is an interior lockbox. Most gun safe owners prefer to store more than just weapons in their safes, and interior lockboxes are ideal for things such as jewelry and smaller firearms. The lockbox includes a set of separate keys and sits at the top of the cabinet. Although the lock itself isn’t the most secure, it’s always nice to have a place to put your other belongings.
What Needs Improvement
- Build Quality - Our biggest disappointment with this safe is that it fails at doing what it was intended to do in the first place. Although the safe is heavy to deter any outright theft of the safe itself, the door and housing dent relatively easily. This is problematic for a safe owner, because this would welcome any attempts at prying the safe open. The gap between the door and housing could actually fit a small prying tool, and we also had problems with keeping the door aligned with the housing when opening and closing the safe.
- Weak lock springs - With this particular safe, the locking mechanism is controlled digitally through either the keypad, biometric scanner, or key lock. Once access to the safe is granted, the springs that hold the bolts behind the lock will release, and the bolts will retract into the safe door when the door handle is turned. However, we found that if we tampered with the door handle slightly to raise the door, the springs would release on their own and the door would open. In our opinion, this is a major design flaw in the Homegear safe. A simple fix would be to replace the spring inside the door with a stronger one, but this would also disable the digital locking mechanism from being able the release the spring altogether, and modes of entry would be reduced to simply using a key.
Bottom Line
Although the Homegear is modestly priced and includes all the features of a typical gun cabinet, we can’t necessarily call it a “safe” in the technical sense. The Homegear safe functions as more of a storage unit than an actual securely locked safe. Even with the biometric scanner and digital keypad, the housing isn’t strong enough to deter a persistent burglar. Even more disappointing is that even a lackluster attempt at tampering with the safe could crack the safe door open. The Homegear may be able to fit plenty of guns and even personal belongings with the interior lockbox, we’d rather invest into a safe that could actually deter unwanted entry. We felt that the weak lock springs was actually a fatal flaw in the design of the Homegear, especially considering that other gun safes under 500 typically can’t get broken to as easily. In fact, we wouldn’t trust this safe around any child with Internet access, and you’d be better off with some other models.
If you’re interested in other safes in the same price range, check out our reviews of the Viking Security Safe, BARSKA Quick Access Rifle Safe, Paragon Lock & Safe, or Stack-On SS-16-MB-C.
