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I think I made a new enemy a couple of weeks ago when my UPS driver delivered three Sentry Safes to my house. I watched the poor guy lug these huge, heavy boxes from his truck to my doorway in 114 degree heat, and he didn’t seem happy about it. I probably should have offered him some lemonade, but he wasn’t in the mood.

Two of the boxes were so heavy that my son hauled in the dolly (hand truck) from the garage to move the largest safes from the doorway to the family room. Inside were the SentrySafes I had been waiting for.

SentrySafe had asked me to review three of their safes, and because emergency preparedness is high on my list of priorities, I was happy to do so.

The Compact Safe P008E

I was intrigued with the first safe, the Compact Safe P008E.It’s designed as a grab-and-go, hand carried safe for those times when you know you’re going to be in a shelter or some other unsecured area but still need to have certain valuables with you. This lightweight safe is about the size of a purse, and is where I would stash money, small valuables, medications, important documents, and the like.

If you ever do have to stay at a shelter, you are responsible for your belongings. Surrounded by a crowd of strangers, a purse or backpack just isn’t secure enough. The Compact Safe comes with a steel tethering cable and has both a key lock and a programmable electronic lock. In a shelter, it could be tethered to a heavy piece of furniture or equipment, giving you a bit of peace of mind in the middle of a crisis.

TIP: Ahead of time, pack the Compact Safe with everything you might need in a quick-getaway emergency. If you will need to add additional items at the last minute, keep a list of those inside the safe. Examples: prescription medicines or a cell phone. The list will be a handy reminder in the rush of an evacuation when you’re in a panic mode.

If you carry a handgun in your vehicle, this small safe could be tucked under and tethered to a seat, keeping the gun handy but also inaccessible to kids. This small safe might also be a good gift to someone going away to college, since dorm theft is very common.

The Fire-Safe HD4100

If you’ve been a reader for very long, you know that I constantly remind my readers to keep their valuable documents all in one place. The Grab-n-Go Binder is a Survival Mom staple! However, what if that all-important binder becomes a casualty of a house fire, a hurricane, or a flood? Insurance policies, birth certificates, and all those documents that will help put your life back together will be ruined or scattered to the wind.

This safe, the Fire-Safe HD4100, is built like a file organizer on steroids. It weighs over 40 pounds and is designed to hold files, documents, and binders, but you might as well throw in other data storage items, such as storage CDs and DVDs, and flash drives. It could even hold a small laptop and any other valuables you want to keep safe.

TIP: This heavyweight will need to be assigned to the most muscular person in the family if you have plans to grab it in case of an evacuation!

If you’ve been printing out preparedness related articles as I have suggested, why not use this safe as your filing cabinet, complete with organizational dividers? If you include a section with copies of vital documents, you’ll have a reservoir of information to help you and your family survive following a disaster, all together in a fireproof, flood proof safe.

The Big Bolts SFW123CS

The Big Bolts SFW123CS is the safe you will depend on to be your hero in a crisis. You might shed tears as you walk away and head toward safety, but this safe will sit there stoically, knowing he’s up to the job of protecting your valuables against fire, theft, and flood damage.

Every home should have a heavy duty safe for jewelry, cash, handguns, coins, and so much more, but let’s face it. Most of us don’t have a safe of any kind and just squirrel things away in locations where we think burglars won’t think to look. Sometimes that works, but a strong safe at a decent price point is a smarter idea.

The Big Bolts SFW123CS weighs about 90 pounds, thus the unhappy UPS driver, and can be bolted to the floor adding even more security. The inside shelf will help keep your valuables organized, which is especially helpful when a crisis hits and you don’t have time to rummage through a messy pile of stuff.

TIP: As you add items to this safe, keep an inventory stored electronically on a flash drive or CD and a hard copy kept in your Grab-n-Go Binder or something similar.This is especially important if you store valuable items in more than one location.

The four heavy-duty door bolts are impressive as is the overall design and construction. Although it’s heavy, it could be transported to a vehicle and moved to another location unlike the much larger and massively heavier gun safes that are on the market.

This video provides more details about the heavy-duty construction of this Big Bolts safe.

I’m impressed with the construction and versatility of the variety of safes offered by SentrySafe. They have a safe designed for whatever type of emergency you and your family may face.

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