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The MVB1000 or Microvault XL, as it is also known is a larger, but still portable, gun safe designed for use both in and out of the home by GunVault.

This safe is one of the better ones for use inside vehicles, but can also function really well in the home as a drawer safe. It also comes complete with a with a security cable.

MVB1000 Biometric Gun Safe – GunVault MicroVault XL

Good Features

High Fingerprint Capacity

The MVB1000 has a capacity for approximately 120 scans of your fingerprints. It uses a swiping biometric scanner, these require more practice to use than the pad ones but are definitely worth it for scan capacity and budget. The algorithm used to register and develop a fingerprint over time is the same as on the other GunVault safes and performs very well according to most consumers.

Clever Elastic Pockets

We think that these are the best features and truly make the MVB1000 a portable safe. With the pockets in place you can store small items, such as phones, wallets or money without them being in amongst your firearms. As shown in the picture it can also hold those items off of another, such as an Ipad which reduces the amount of wear they experience as they cant scratch each other.

If driving around with one of these in your car or truck you know you valuables are actually secured against moving from side to side and bumping into each other. It is just another clever feature that makes this safe suitable for vehicles.

Medium Amount of Space

We would rank this as being medium sized, it has plenty of room for two pistols and magazines. The height of the interior allows you to store other things, if using in a vehicle you could put tools inside it as well as handguns. It doesn’t have a very large footprint either and has a similar look to a traditional cash box, meaning it can fit into the corner of a trunk or under seat quite easily. As it has the door on top and not on the front you can open it easily when reaching down into a trunk or drawer.

Hand print alignment

On the top of this safe is the No-Eyes Keypad, it is a standard feature of both biometric and combination safes from GunVault. This serves as a guide for your hands during dark conditions, you can use it to feel your way to the correct button to initialize scanning. Bonus of course is that for this biometric version of the MVB1000 these extra buttons act as decoys as you can’t open the safe using them but a thief may try to and waste their time.

Cons

Needs to be set up perfectly

Initial set up of any biometric safe is more complicated than a traditional combination or digital safe, this is because it is vital to have multiple prints enrolled and you have to practice. If you only use one or two scans of the same fingerprint then it may not work as great as you might be expecting.

Most of the problems people have with the biometric type safes is because of poor set up, we have a guide for all the things you should do to ensure great first time acceptance rates. But overall it can be a bit tricky to set up to get working reliably, but once properly working it should only get better with practice.

Not a spring loaded door

One of the drawbacks is that this door is not spring loaded or gas assisted. When you unlock it the lid slightly pops up and then you have to manually lift it up. This stops it from being a one handed opening safe and if that’s a really big deal then there are alternatives to be found on this site. Other than that the door and lock is considered very strong.

Specifications

Exterior(HWD): 3½” x 10¼” x 12″
Interior: 2½” x 8¼” x 11½”
Steel thickness: 18 Gauge
Fingerprint Scan Capacity: 120
Padded: Yes

Review Summary

This product is medium-sized and can hold at least 2 pistols. It works great in the home as you can secure it to an immovable object such as a radiator using the security cable which is included in the box. However, we think that its best suited as a vehicle gun safe.

The reasons that the Gunvault MVB1000 Microvault XL is one of the best vehicle safes are listed above in the Good Features section, but to summarize it.

  • It has a medium footprint so fits comfortably inside the trunk of a car or under seat in a truck
  • Comes with a security cable with it so it is hard to steal from a vehicle
  • Has extra storage pockets that allow you to put money hidden away in it seperately without getting in the way of your handguns.

There is also a combination version available that uses just the button combinations to unlock which has the same pros and cons as this one but just a different unlocking mechanism.