Barska Top Opening Biometric Fingerprint Safe

Great product! I got this new top opening Barska biometric safe for Christmas after reading all of the great reviews of the side opening model. Shipping was quick and free.

When I opened it up on Christmas, I found that the safe was locked. I called Barska and they said it should not have been locked and that there was no way for me to open if it without the key which by the sound was locked inside the safe. They told me to return it to where I purchased it. I immediately did an online return with Amazon. I was emailed a prepaid return shipping label and my money was refunded within a week. I was a little bummed that I wasn't able to use my new present. I went ahead and reordered the same model safe that same day and to my surprise the price had dropped by $24:) It took about a week for the new safe to arrive.



This new safe was unlocked and works perfect. The fingerprint reader is very easy to program and very reliable. I programmed five different fingers on me and three on my wife. The reader has opened the safe flawlessly on the first try each time so far (approximately 50-60 tries). The only complaint I have and the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars, is that the mounting hardware included is not great and there weren't any moounting instructions included.

I would definitely recommed this product.

Barska Biometric Safe

I recently received this biometric safe from Amazon. I ordered it on 8/15/10 and received it on 8/21/10 via fed-ex ground. The outer box was crushed on top but the safe was in perfect condition thanks to some very good packaging. Any past packaging/shipping problems have been fixed.

I ordered this safe because I wanted quick access to a weapon in a part of my home that is far removed from my gun collection. I decided I can open a biometric safe when my heart is racing much faster than I can a combination lock. I have two teenage children who I do want to have access to the weapon. Shortly after installing the safe and registering my fingerprints and my wife's fingerprints (We did several angles of our right index fingers per others suggestions), my 15 year old son WAS ABLE TO OPEN THE SAFE in 10 seconds using a trick he learned on the "Myth Busters" television show. I quickly learned that you MUST wipe the glass clean after each use or techno savvy teens CAN open this safe. (The instructions do not tell you to do this). With the glass cleaned my son was NOT able to open the safe. We now keep a wash cloth next to the safe for this purpose.


My children have grown up with firearms and I take them to the shooting range MONTHLY. Firearms are not taboo or a mystery to them and they are safer around firearms than most adults I know. The purpose of the safe is really to keep their friends out and prevent any temptation to show the weapon. However, after watching my 15 year old open the safe (even knowing he could not repeat it with the glass clean), if my children were younger or were at all inexperienced with firearms, I would invest in a more expensive biometric safe to insure they could not gain access.

This safe would be easy to carry off if you don't bolt it to the wall or floor. Also it is relatively thin metal (about the same thickness as a typical high school locker but a far more substantial locking mechanism) and would probably only keep out a thief looking for a quick in and out. In my opinion a determined thief would open this safe with a heavy crowbar in just a few minutes. I have a 2 cu.ft. combination lock fire/flood safe from Sentry which I paid about $400 for. It is far, far more substantial and that is the type of safe I recommend for digital media and real valuables.