Onnais Portable Gun Safe Review: Real World Testing!

After receiving a review copy of the Onnais Gun Safe, I decided to give it a full review. At first, it seems comparable to most low cost biometric gun safes. However, after a closer look, there are some things that make it different. Therefore, in this full Onnais Gun Safe review, I’ll let you know the pros and cons and if it is worth the price.

Why Review this Onnais Gun Safe

Onnais recently contacted me to review their particular safe after having read our review of favorite biometric safes. Normally, I’d say no since we generally have an excellent set of small biometric gun safes reviewed and really… how much more different can they be?

However, there was something a bit unique about this one – it’s portability. In the past, I’ve just wrapped up my Vaultek and put it in the car when traveling for vacation or trips. Unfortunately, the safe wasn’t meant for travel, as all the contents of it shifted. So, I’d have to carry it carefully.

However, the Onnais has seemed to solve this with a simple addition that I will cover later. Furthermore, it seems to be one of the cheaper priced small pistol safes on the market, and appears to have all the right features, and not so many of the over-the-top features that sound good but aren’t practical.

So, because of this, I accepted them sending me one for testing – with the assurance that my review will have no bias based on being sent one. With that, let’s see how it stacks. 

Onnais Alloy SE Features

1 Internal Zipper Pocket

2 RFID Key and Keys

3 Biometric Scanner

4 Retractable Handle

5 Rechargeable Battery

Onnais Gun Safe Review – Our Take

Let’s start with its purpose. The Onnais portable safe was designed to be a portable small safe. Because of this, they meant it to only fit one pistol with a little extra room. It is also generally lightweight.

It has an extendable handle in which you can pull out and carry like a briefcase, and retract when you no longer need to travel with it. 

On the inside, it has an inside zipper pocket and pouch connected to the top door, which allows for you to put specific things like cash or passports in. Generally, I don’t store anything else than my gun and an extra magazine, but that was because I didn’t want to clutter the safe or area around the pistol. However, with this, I might find some uses. Needless to say, something I’m a bit surprise many other handgun safes don’t use or include. 

Another thing I really like is the foam pad that comes with it. This foam pad has removable blocks inside of it. This way, you can place the foam pad, remove the necessary blocks to fit your gun in that section. Because of this, it secures your gun and protects it. This way, when you go to pick up the safe, the gun and its contents don’t slide around. 

Because of the simple use of a foam pad and the handle, this really does add to the safe being an excellent portable safe, and maybe even the safe I will use in my car. I didn’t picture the foam block here because I haven’t figured out which gun I want to put in it and thus, in my car. 

Another thing that I really like about this, that also makes it a good car safe, is that there is no tampering alarm. The Pineworld K3 has a tampering alarm, and it is absolutely annoying. If you bump the nightstand it sits on, it goes off. Sometimes, when the battery is running low, it starts to go off randomly. The point is, if the Onnais has one of those, I couldn’t put it in the car or carry it. If you think you need a tampering alarm, you really don’t. So, I’m glad this one doesn’t. 

Doing a bit of research, I found out that the Onnais portable safe has improved over the years. Apparently, their original models featured just one secure latch to the safe, and didn’t have center cut keys. With one latch, it would be easy to break in, and non center cut keys are easy to manipulate. 

However, I will say, this isn’t the most secure safe I have used. It is lightweight, and I’d venture to guess that the metal used in this isn’t the strongest. They designed this safe to stop children from entering or unwanted guests. However, if someone stole your safe, they’d be able to break in it after a bit of effort. 

While that might sound bad, it really isn’t…not for the purposes of this and its price point.  

Finally, before we get into the cons, it comes with a lithium ion rechargeable battery and a plug. I’m actually fine with this and think it’s a good way to go. The battery seems pretty strong and most of the time, when it is sitting on a bedside table, or desk, it is near an electrical outlet and I can plug it in. If it is in the car, the charge seems to hold for a significant amount of time (I’ll come and update this once I’ve had to recharge it a couple of times and can come up with a good average). 

So, what didn’t I like about it? Well, first, the buttons. I find that the number buttons are just too close together. Because of this, I can’t put all five fingers on it and press as needed. Second, they made it so that if you rest a finger on the buttons, it will engage. 

The reason why I don’t like this is because say the safe is on your bedside and the lights are out. If you need to reach over in the dark, you won’t be able to find where your fingers go without already engaging the buttons and making noises. Instead, you’ll need to turn on the light and press each button, one at a time. 

Another thing is that you are required to choose between 5-15 digits. Personally, I’d prefer them to allow for 4 digits and not sure why they make you have a lower limit. However, one thing I do like about their system is that you can choose any combination of numbers. The Pineworld K5 makes you choose numbers that are not repetitive or patterned. Really?!?!? Shouldn’t I choose what is the code. Luckily, the Onnais doesn’t do this, so you could choose a combination like 1, 1, 1, 1, 1. 

Another thing that I’m not particularly jazzed about is that the lid only opens to about 65-70 degrees. This is a bit of an inconvenience, but not a major problem. 

Overall: Generally, it was well designed for a bedside safe that can be a portable safe. It includes the right aspects to make it that you can travel easily and without your gun sliding around. Furthermore, because it is one of the cheaper gun safes on the market, I think it is a good ROI. You can easily overlook any of the negatives because of its low price. If the price were in the $200’s I’d give it a very poor grade. However, it is more than half that – making it a well priced safe option…especially for those that are looking to put it in the car or travel with it.   

Onnais Alloy SE Pros and Cons