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Compact safes that can accommodate a handgun are popular for home defense because they balance secure storage with readiness. These safes have different access methods, but the most common are those with a keycode entry. There are many different keypad designs and they can often be opened quickly but, under stress, it can be easy to input the wrong code and delay access.
There are also RFID safes, which open with chips that must be held or worn. Biometrics have been used increasingly in many devices as well. Fingerprint-scanning safes are out there and can work well, but they have some downsides, too. As a better solution, Hornady just launched the Vexis Night Guard, which uses what it calls Vexis technology. This features an infrared scanner that recognizes the vein pattern in your hand and opens the safe without you even touching it.
Vein Recognition
Like a fingerprint, each person has a unique pattern of superficial blood vessels beneath their skin. Finding a way to quickly recognize those patterns is a sensible option for exclusive access to a device. Fingerprint scanners must be touched and aren’t foolproof. Facial recognition requires the correct light and angle to recognize your face, and can therefore be easily disrupted. An emergency gun safe needs to be quickly accessible in low or no-light conditions and under stressful or just-woke-up conditions. (I’m not at my sharpest when first roused from a deep sleep.) For Hornady, the infrared light of Vexis technology is the answer.
Infrared light, emitted from the scanner in the center of the safe’s front panel, illuminates the contrast between the fatty tissues in your hand and the hemoglobin traveling through the superficial blood vessels just under the skin. That image translates 500,000 data points into a recognizable code that allows the safe to be opened fast — simply by holding your hand in front of it.
Don’t worry, there’s no conspiracy to send your vein patterns to the government. They’re simply translated into a mathematical code that’s stored locally on the safe and can be wiped free — unlike your facial features that Big Brother already has. And if you’re concerned about the boogie man cutting off your hand to open the safe, don’t. The hemoglobin has to be flowing for it to work (or so Hornady tells me).
The Night Guard
The Night Guard safe is a compact bedside or tabletop-type safe with a spring-loaded sliding door. It has a 9.75- x 6.75-inch usable storage space that will accommodate one full-sized handgun. It’s got a rubber interior pad as well as a grippy rubber pad atop the safe itself. The Night Guard can be powered by two 9-volt batteries, but also allows AC power input and comes with a cord. It features a USB-C charging port, too.
While using AC power, the clock on the safe stays illuminated and you can use the keypad to the right of the sensor for both programming and keycode access. In the case of power failure, the safe can also be opened with a key at the rear.
As the end user, you’ll program the safe with both your hands. It can also accomodate multiple users. Programming is very easy and after set-up, you can access the safe by holding the palm of one of your hands about six inches or closer to the sensor. The motion sensor activates the infrared, which then scans your hand and kicks the door open. You can hold your hand in any orientation as long as your palm is facing the scanner.
Once I activated the motion sensor, I found it took two seconds on average for the door to open. If my hand is too far away, it will wake the unit but won’t open the door. After repeated tests I found that the maximum distance was almost exactly six inches. For comparison, I tested my keycode safe (while wide awake) and it averaged about three seconds to open, with a couple of wrong entries in 15 tests. I did have a couple of failures to recognize my handprint if only the edge of my palm was over the scanner, but it was reliable when my whole palm within six inches.
Vexis Technology Takeaways
This is very cool and practical technology for a bedside or quick-access gun safe. In the month I’ve been testing the unit, it seems to work reliably but eats through 9-volt batteries quickly with frequent use. I prefer to leave it plugged in. The exciting implications from this are that hopefully Hornady will be able to leverage this same tech to unlock other safes. It should, ultimately, be a more reliable and secure biometric method that lets us access our guns when we need them.
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