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Domestic Safe Test Results

(Extracts from The consumer magazine, the report was commissioned early 2006, Please Note; Report has been modified, to retain independence, BUT the test results have not been altered or changed)

Best Domestic Safe Buys

All the safes on test offered either excellent or appalling security, with none in-between. All the models scoring very good would be incredibly difficult to open without the key.

But the Best Buys stood out because they were well built and easier to use. They also have clear instructions and are easier to install. But we recommend that you seek advice from a safe specialist before fitting one. This is because all the safes are heavy and only as secure as their fitting.

1. Burton 85%

LIST PRICE £259 excluding delivery charges.
The Burton is easily the most secure safe we tested. Costing a reasonable £259, it successfully passed every trial our experts put it through. We drilled it, hammered it and tried to wedge open the door with a hammer and chisel, but it wouldn't budge. It's the only model on test that we couldn't get into at all so you can put important documents and small valuables in it with confidence.

It' s well built, with a heavy-duty steel body so the average thief will be put off just by looking at it.The only downside is that its large size and heavyweight mean it can take a while to install. But it comes with all the bolts you' ll need and good clear instructions. It can either be mounted on a sturdy wall or secured to the floor.

2 Chubb* 79%

LIST PRICE £206 excluding delivery charges.
This Chubb and its pricier brother (3) are both excellent choices. This Chubb is smaller and lighter, weighing just over 20kg about half the weight of the pricier version. As a result we found it easier to install than the Burton (1).

Like the Burton, its heavy-duty steel body means it stood up well to our barrage of attacks. But it wasn' t completely impenetrable we eventually broke into it with some heavy-duty drilling. Nevertheless, this wasn't bad enough to stop it receiving a very good for security. It would be worth bolting this safe down in a position that prevents easy access to its sides, such as in a narrow cupboard, to make sure that the dedicated thief would have a very difficult task.

*Blackbox discontinued Chubb’s replacement Professional S1and S2 safe. Find out more about Chubb Safes .

3 Chubb* 79%

LIST PRICE £206 excluding delivery charges.
This Chubb is the heaviest of the three Best Buy safes, weighing in at just over 40kg. Despite its weight, we found that it was still as easy to install as its lighter brother, the Chubb (2).

It’s more spacious than its brother and costs about £100 more. But in most other ways the two Chubb Best Buys are identical.

It has a heavy-duty steel body, which meant that it didn’t cave in when we tried to hack it open. As with the Chubb (2), we did eventually break into it with some professional drilling. So, if you buy this model, make sure it’s securely bolted down in a narrow space, such as the cupboard under the stairs. This will ensure that there’s no easy access for the more dedicated thief.

The performance section of the table has been modified, the original table results were reported as symbols,
we have changed the symbols to text.

Safes Model
Safes Model	Price	Exterior hxwxd (cm)	Interior hxwxd (cm)	Weight (kg)	Cash rating (£)	Bolts supplied	Installation	Security	Build quality	Ease of use	(%)
1 Burton Torino GMK/4	£259	28x40x35	27x39x29	35.2	3,000	Yes	satisfactory	very good	very good	good	85
2 Chubb Black Box 2020	£206	27x35x35	26x34x28	20.4	2,000	Yes	good	very good	very good	good	79
3 Chubb Black Box 3030	£317	32x44x40	24x36x35	40.3	4,000	Yes	good	very good	very good	good	79
4 Phoenix A165 BK Siguro	£182	22x35x30	20x23x24	41.8	3,000	Yes	poor	very good	good	good	64
5 Dudley Harlech Lite Level 2	£348	48x43x43	38x33x29	46.4	4,000	No	poor	very good	good	satisfactory	62
6 Dudley Harlech Lite Level 1	£297	48x43x43	38x33x29	45.9	2,000	No	poor	very good	good	satisfactory	60
7 Sentry Electronic Fire Safe S3607	£283	45x42x47	35x32x30	46.9	1,000	Yes	satisfactory	very poor	good	good	33
8 Sentry T3- 130 Security Safe	£105	31x37x30	30x27x24	19.2	1,000	Yes	satisfactory	very poor	good	good	30
9 Sentry S0409 Fire Safe	£234	34x42x44	25x32x30	36.7	1,000	Yes	satisfactory	very poor	good	satisfactory	28
10 Phoenix Mini Vault A100BK	£26	22x23x17	21x22x16	4.6	1,000	Yes	poor	very poor	good	good	27
11 Point Safe P3E	£143	32x44x37	31x44x29	21.9	1,000	Yes	poor	very poor	satisfactory	good	27
12 Argos Electronic Digital Safe	£25	25x35x25	19x30x19	9.7	n/a	Yes	satisfactory	very poor	satisfactory	satisfactory	25
13 Yale Home Safe	£30	20x31x20	19x30x15	7	n/a	Yes	satisfactory	very poor	satisfactory	satisfactory	25
14 Burton Milano 530/ACH	£170	22x35x30	21x35x27	11.9	1,500	Yes	poor	very poor	good	good	24
15 Detroit Digital Safe	£20	20x31x22	20x31x14	6.4	n/a	Yes	poor	very poor	satisfactory	satisfactory	22

* Prices quoted exclude any delivery charges.

DON'T BUY

Nine of the 15 safes on test are Don’t Buys. In most cases, you get what you pay for. All the safes costing £50 or less were easily broken into.

Fire safes, such as the £283 Sentry (7) and £234 Sentry (9), may protect paper documents in a fire, but offer poor security. Incredibly, our experts picked the locks of the Argos (12) and Detroit (15) in five seconds. It took 22 seconds to drill open the Burton (14), so it’s not a patch on its Best Buy brother, the Burton (1), while the Yale (13) was prised open in ten seconds by whacking it hard with a metal bar.

USING THE TABLE
We tested best-selling safes from leading brands.

Specification
Price For Best Buys we give the cheapest widely available high-street price as we went to press. Prices for other models are a guide. Cash rating The amount of cash kept in the safe that insurance companies will typically cover. The general rule is that valuables, such as jewellery, can be worth ten times the cash rating. But check this with your insurance company.

Performance
Installation How easy the safe is to install. Includes quality of instructions, whether the bolts are supplied, and the time and effort needed to install it. Security Overall rating that indicates how well the safe stood up to our attempts to break it open. Build quality Measures the quality of the lock, the safe’s body and materials used. Ease of use How easy the safe is to open and close.

SCORE
This ignores price and is based on:
Security 50%
Ease of use 20%
Installation 20%
Build quality 10%