Hollon HS-500D 2 Hour Fireproof Home Safe

Solidly built, good side for personal small items.

Korean made sheet metal fire safe, with some good news and some bad newsIf this were advertised as a Korean made fire safe, had instructions to watch the YouTube video on how to open the safe, and was shipped packed with some 2" styrofoam around the safe, I would give the safe 5 stars.It doesn't. Hollon could be upfront that this is not a US made safe, add a dollar or two of foam to the packing, put accurate instructions in the box, or at least point you to their YouTube video, but the don't. Each a missed opportunity to do the right thing.I spent a fair amount of time trying to follow the included instructions which might charitably be called unclear. So make sure that you watch the instructions on YouTube on how to open the safe.This is a fire safe, which is basically an inner and outer tin can, with the gap filled with a cement like material that will decompose at higher temperatures, limiting the temperature rise inside the safe. I would say that it is a well made can. The door lifts off if you need to, and that does help get the included tray in and out in tight areas.Like many others, mine arrived with shipping imperfections due to poor shipping packaging. No biggie for me, as I am not putting it next to the front door in view.If you search "Booling safe" you will find a safe that looks identical, BS-500. On the web, there is more information on its actual performance in furnace testing. According to those tests, the Booling safe made it to three hours holding the inside at 175F. So good news.One thing to be aware of is that when the fire safe material decomposes, it vents water. The main vent is on the outside floor of the safe, but the door vents into the safe. I would recommend the precaution of a silicone type water resistant fire envelope for your documents inside to help keep them drier.There is an included 3/8" wedge anchor bolt that needs a 0.5+" (just slightly oversize) hole in concrete. I could not get the wedge down into a 0.5" hole. Sloppy drilling with a 0.5" masonary drill works. The bolt is longer than typical, so standard wedge anchor setting tools will not work. I used a 10" piece of steel tubing with a 0.5"OD, and a 0.4+/-" ID to set the anchor and it worked great. The hole in the floor of the safe would take a 1/2" bolt, but you would need to use a different anchoring system.The safe isn't advertised as waterproof, but I caulked the floor hole just to keep moisture rising from the concrete out.All in all, I'm happy with the safe itself. Hollon less so.

From what I can tell this is one of the best value safes around, because it has a 2 hour fire rating.The combination is a little complicated so it takes some getting use to. If you are looking for something you want to open quickly I would suggest looking elsewhere.

Great

This is a modestly priced safe. I compared it with the Amsec FS149, which a friend owns. This is slightly larger, and slightly more expensive. There is an adage about always buying a bigger safe than you think you need. Neither of these are especially big, but they're both large enough for envelopes and documents, certainly jewelry, handguns, and so forth.The door on the Amsec seems more solid. It's either heavier, or the Hollon's hinges make its door seem really light. Both doors are "stepped" to make them harder to break into. Each has two locking cylinders. Each is about 2.5" thick.They both have four digit combinations and use the key as a door handle. The Hollon's key is two sided and uses a modern security key. The Amsec uses a common one-sided tumbler key. I'm afraid of the electronic locks, so I didn't look into those options. Both dials go up to 100. Both dials have slop in them (i.e., if the combination is 50, and you turn it to 48 or 52, it will probably open). That means there are really fewer than 100^4 combinations (which means it's easier to crack). But, it's also easier for someone with less dexterity or poor vision to open.Both safes have a shallow (perhaps 1" high by the width and depth of the safe) tray with fixed mounts in the top of the safe. The Hollon has an adjustable shelf in addition to its tray. The Amsec's tray has a molded full-length handle which makes it easy to grab. The Hollon's tray has a curved cutout which makes it harder to grab.They both come with mounting anchors and have a hole in the bottom of the safe for mounting.They're both hinged on the right. If you're mounting in a corner, the Hollon needs to be about 8" away from the wall in order for the door to open fully for the tray to pull out completely. I don't have a similar measurement on the Amsec. But the Hollon's dial is mounted closer to the hinge and protrudes more, which requires a wider opening angle. If you're not putting anything wide in it or using the tray, this is less of a consideration. Or just mount it so that the door opens away from any walls. Both doors swing open 180 degrees.The fit and finish on the Amsec is a little better. The horizontal painted surfaces on each are a little gritty (especially the top of the door) - almost like they weren't painted in clean rooms. This is worse on the Hollon. If you're building these into a cabinet or something, that's less of an issue.The panel on the front of the Hollon is plastic (there is no such panel on the front of the Amsec). It feels flimsy. I'm not sure it serves a purpose.

Hollon needs to step up their game and stop sending out dented (damaged) safes. I can not recommend this company for the simple fact that they are sending out damaged goods and not at all inspecting these items when they arrive from china.