How do you choose the right safe?

If you’re looking to buy a safe online then you’ll want the best that money can buy, especially if you need to keep your valuables locked up and safe. But like everything you buy, it will need to be within your budget too. So how do know which safe is the right one for your home or office? How much do you spend on a safe to ensure you’re covered? And do you get a monkey of a safe if you pay peanuts for it?

Here’s a budget safe we came across recently which was smashed to pieces in minutes.

At All About Safes we know our products, and we constantly advise our customers on the best safe to buy for their home, office or business. We come across the odd bad decision too, and unfortunately we do meet some distraught people who are out of pocket because of poor security. We found this safe in London recently. It had been broken into by some opportunist burglars who took a pick axe to it! It will have only taken about 5-10 minutes to break in to the inferior safe, and leave the City address with an undisclosed, but high value collection of irreplaceable documents – which even more frustratingly were of no use to the thieves!

The inferior safe was made from a weak and poor quality metal and had very little infill (a hard compound within the walls of the safe) which meant it was a sitting duck to any would-be burglar. Cheap safes will not have high tensile steel and won’t be filled with the high difficulty compound which give them a higher resistance to attacks. The attack on this safe was not by professionals, and they certainly won’t be able to penetrate the security on the safe we replaced it with.

The replacement safe we recommended for the customer was a Chubbsafes Trident Grade 5 110, which has a cash rating of £100,000 and valuables cover of up to £1M. It’s one of Chubb’s flagship safes and one of the best for extreme security, weight, locking, style, reliability and resistance to attack. Not only that, but it’s AIS approved and has up to 60 minutes’ fire protection – it’s more than a match for a pick axe! Only professional safe crackers like us would be able to get in, but only with some serious tools, plenty of noise, time and skills; which thieves thankfully don’t have.

Related post: Guide to buying a fireproof safe for home and office

So how much should you spend on a safe?

Like most things in life, you get what you pay for. The good news is that with All About Safes you don’t need to spend thousands to secure your valuables.

Here’s some key points to bear in mind when you’re looking for a new safe:

1. Cash rating – how much cash will you be holding, and how much are your valuables worth? Our safes have a simple-to-use cash rating to help you select the right safe for your purposes.
2. Weight – heavier safes are more dense and made higher quality materials, so it’s fair to say that the heavier they are, the more secure they are.
3. Locking – the locking feature on your safe needs to be of high quality. A cheap locking mechanism is a weak point in your safe’s armour!
4. Brand – choose a good quality brand like Chubb, Burton or Phoenix. The destroyed safe above was not a well-known brand.
5. Type – if you’re looking to hold cash then you’ll need a rating to suit. Laptops and data have specific safes to suit, and fire protection or AIS approved safes may well be the only type your insurance will cover you for.

Different safes are fit for different purposes. Many are regulated by insurance companies and come with different ratings and protection. Chose your safe with your requirements in mind and make sure if you’re selecting a smaller safe that it can be positioned and bolted down well.

Of course, if you need help or advice with choosing a new safe, speak to us. We know the right safe to suit your needs, and we won’t sell you a monkey!