For the last couple of months, a spammer has been sending me unsolicited emails with links to the BedBunker gun safe, suggesting that I discuss their product on this website. I’m more than glad to do so now, although I get the feeling that this review is not what that spammer was hoping for:
Basics
The BedBunker is basically a bed gun safe, which goes under a mattress, replacing the box spring. Prices range from $2,700 for the twin size model, to $5,200 for the king size model (plus a hefty shipping charge). The doors to the Bed Bunker open outward, meaning that accessing the safe requires lifting and/or removing the bed’s mattress. The hinges are also exposed on the outside, rather than being securely hidden away on the inside of the safe.
My opinions of the BedBunker
Even without laying hands on this product, and only going by their marketing information, I’m not the least bit impressed, and wouldn’t recommend this product for the reasons discussed below:
Firstly, I don’t like the exposed hinges, which can be weak points for a safe cracker to exploit, notwithstanding their claims to the contrary on their website. Internal hinges, as used by most high quality gun safes, eliminate this avenue of attack.
Secondly, I don’t like how it is necessary to remove, or at least lift, the mattress in order to access the safe. This is inconvenient at best, and may prevent those with limited physical strength from using the safe at all. It may also make the safe less convenient to use, encouraging gun owners to not store their guns safely.
Thirdly, the box spring on a bed serves a useful purpose by absorbing energy with its springs. Replacing a box spring with a solid gun safe seems to undermine this purpose. While I’ve never slept on a mattress with the BedBunker underneath, I imagine it feels like sleeping on a mattress that is placed directly on a very hard floor. Also, every once in a while, I’ll manage to bang my shin on my bed’s box spring. Since the box spring is not too hard, such incidents are not painful. I imagine that inadvertently banging my shin on a heavy metal gun safe box spring would hurt quite a bit.
Fourthly, the price seems rather high. For under $1,000 (including delivery charges), I bough a traditional gun safe that has a high quality combination and key lock, a good fire rating, and non-exposed hinges. I would have to spend an extra $1,700 (plus shipping) just to get the cheapest BedBunker gun safe. For the cost of the most expensive BedBunker gun safe, I could buy an incredibly nice gun safe, which has a better fire rating, a better lock, and security features which the BedBunker doesn’t even offer. In fact, I would even have enough money left over to buy myself another shotgun to put in that safe.
Fifthly, I don’t really see a need for a gun safe that is hidden like this. Few criminals are sophisticated enough to crack a high quality safe in the time that they have during a burglary. The criminals that are sophisticated enough to crack safes tend to already have guns, and won’t generally waste their time cracking a safe in order to steal some easily acquired guns. Even if criminals were to break in looking for guns, they would surely check under the bed for guns and valuables. Upon finding that the box spring is a gun safe, the stealth benefits of the BedBunker would compromised.
Sixthly, I would be worried about purchasing any product which is advertised via spam, especially when the cheapest version of the product costs nearly $3,000 with shipping. Instead, I would go to my local gun store, or a trustworthy online gun store, and purchase a well-known brand of gun safe from them.
Your comment about "sophisticated" criminals not needing to steal guns because they already have their own made me laugh. This review is full of assumptions. Criminals that break into your house are there to steal items of value. This could be guns, money, jewlery, electronics, etc….
LAME
Ted,
The "sophisticated" criminal that I speak of are the ones who have safecracking equipment, and the willingness to take the time to break into a safe. Such criminals just aren't going to waste their time and risk getting caught to steal most people's guns, since there are such easier ways to get guns. The kind of criminal who tend to commit residential burglary breaks a window, climbs in grabs what they can in a couple of minutes, and runs. They are not wheeling in safe cracking tools and an acetylene torch. If you really want to believe that criminals are even remotely likely to break into your home, Mission Impossible style, to steal a few ordinary guns, then more power to you 🙂
Also, if these criminals who can crack safes do break in to your home, it is almost certain that they will look under your bed for valuables as well. Upon doing so, I bet they will notice that your boxspring is actually a BedBunker gun safe, negating the stealth advantages of this product.
(Obviously, if you have $2,000,000 of guns, then they may go to all that effort. But with black market guns available cheaply on the street it just makes no sense for a sophisticated criminal to crack a safe just to get a $200 gun.)
Finally, note that the BedBunker (and most residential gun safes) will last at most minutes against a professional safe cracker.
By the way, are you in any way connected with the company that sells the BedBunker?
You have some valid points for sure but you need to become more familiar with Safe Construction. Many of the finest and most expensive commercial and gun safes in the world are constructed with exterior hinges. An M-Rated Brown Gun Safe at about $20,000 base price has exterior hinges. Also most home burglars only have a small pry-bar and some pliers or a hammer at most. Anything else is what they find in your tool storage. A pro will get into anything you got under a C-Rated Safe which starts around $10,000 if he is able to stay in the house more than a few minutes.
Do any research on gun security and you will find that an important aspect is the out-of-sight concept which you again don't seem to understand.
I have never seen the gun bunker and can't attest to the quality, etc but if you are going to publish reviews you need to know more about what you are talking about.
The weakest link appears to be the locking mechanisms which you do not even comment on.
The mattress needs to breath underneath. If you sleep in a cold room in the winter, there may be a condensation problem and mold under the mattress.
Hi, Just a note and a Thank You. I didn't want to post anywhere our residence could be traced on line, so I decided to email you directly. I wanted to tell you how pleased we are with the bed bunker. It took six men, a furniture dolly, and sliders to get it up the porch stairs and into our room, but it proved easier than my husband imagined, (his words.) As for me, I chewed my nails the whole time thinking it would fall and crush someone. I had tried to persuade him to get a professional safe mover but you know men.
Now for the good part. WE LOVE IT!
I had worried I would have to make the bed every time we had to get into the safe (if I could get into it.) Not so. The mattress slides easily, and you don't have to slide it very far since you usually open only one side at a time. I can do it without as much as causing a wrinkle to a made up bed. I even put a bed skirt over the safe under the mattress and the bed skirt slides back into place just as easily as everything else.
As for not having a box spring… this of course is something people have to decide for themselves. I thought we had the mattress pretty well supported, but I realized the first night the bed bunker made the bed more comfortable for us. We're pretty hefty people, though. A box spring is usually made so the bed gives a bit, but in our case it caused sagging. We have a pillow top mattress so it makes the bed a little high, but I still love it.
I read a review somewhere that talked about the exposed hinges. The guy didn't do his research. You can cut off the hinges and the safe still won't open. My husband explained this to me… something about a bar across the opening that slides into place so you can't open the safe if you cut off the hinges. Sounds good to me. The safe displays excellent workmanship and is very solid. We've seen on the news where intruders have hacked open the side of a gun safe or even carried the whole thing off. I guarantee you, after seeing this thing, that is not going to happen with this safe.
Anyway, the hardest part about owning it is not being able to show people how cool it is. My husband was always talking about a gun safe but there was no room and I had no plans for featuring a safe in my decor. This was the perfect solution. Thank you so much.
Wow. Never mind the bed bunker. From “quality” internal hinges to box springs, never have I read such ignorant nonsense. Why would anyone make an ass of themselves writing this when a little googled “research” would cover up their total lack of knowledge?
Yea I definitely have to agree! Spending over $1,000 for a gun safe is ludicrous, with such a wide selection to choose from that are currently on the market. I buy mine from: http://www.sportsmansteelsafes.com which have massive steel bodies which are 1/4″ thick and 1/2″ thick doors. That’s pretty impressive considering that most I’ve research have only 1/8″ bodies. This attribute definitely makes them durable and last for years down the road.