MLJ 8.1 CuFt Extra Large Heavy Duty Home Safe Box with Hidden Lock Box

So let me give you the bad first. The safe does have a voice that guides you but it is weak with an accent. If you are in a quiet room you can make it out otherwise it is difficult to understand. To open the safe you must insert all 3 keys it comes with. 2 of them turn and the keys can be removed 1 turns 45 degrees and must stay in. Now in order to program the safe with new codes and fingerprints you must first insert batteries in the battery tray. Make sure you put the batteries in correctly and put the tray back in the same way as you took it out. It will fit backwards but the safe won’t work so make sure the open part of the tray faces out towards you. Then you must push the red button on the hinge part of the door. Now the keyboard will light up you must then enter 1,2,3,4,5,6,# then press 1. Now put in the code you want then # Repeat the code then push #. Now you can add fingerprints by pushing 2. Put your finger on the reader till it turns green. You will have to do this 3 more times. Repeat for other people that you want to add. Every time you do any of these steps the voice will confirm the step. Sometimes you will understand sometimes you won’t but as you continue to do things you will understand it better. I hope this helps folks as I read many reviews that complain because they can get the safe set up correctly. I really like the safe and the size is great. For the money it’s well worth it.

Don't buy this safe its junk!!! This thing is a joke, its barely above a locking file cabinet is quality. Shelf and drawer were damaged from factory, Handle for latch is very lose, you have to push fairly hard on door and handle to lock safe. safe is also on wheels for quick getaway. No where to mount safe to floor. There is a place to mount the safe on the back to a wall but the holes are behind the non-removable shelf. Go figure. I contacted seller about the drawer and handle latch and they were going to review it and get back to me in 2-3 days. That was May 9th 2025 and haven't heard back. contacted Amazon about this and said it would take up to 3 days, its been 5 and heard nothing.

The main reason I bought this safe is mostly for size and the convenience of a fingerprint reader to open the safe, and it looks pretty cool too. It has 3 keys, which seems a bit overkill for me, but it was also very important to me to have a safe that can still be opened even if the electronics go bad, which just happened to me with an old Sentry safe, which I still need to get opened. My newer second Sentry safe is only 2.05 cubic feet in size, but weighs more than this 8.1 cubic feel safe, so I am skeptical about the fire protection and sturdiness of the walls of this safe. The instructions are a bit difficult, but there is a YouTube video that walks you through everything, I think. But I think the best part is the voice instructions that speak from the electronics in the safe control pad. It is really helpful, but can be hard to understand because of the heavy Chinese accent (I am assuming), and probably could be louder (volume control would be great). Once programed (must set the open code first) the fingerprint reader has worked very well. My only complaint is that the handle doesn't quite sit straight, it is leaning a little towards the open position, which makes me think someone tried hard to open it when it was locked. I can also see the LED lights through the edge of the safe, so I doubt there is much water protection too. What I am doing is getting water proof and fire proof pouches for my important paperwork and valuables. They aren't that expensive and provide another layer of projection. I've only had the safe about a month, but so far I am very happy with it. I have put my 125 pound second Sentry safe on top of this one to at least make it a little harder for someone to cart out of my house until I look into bolting it down. I can tell you we accidently tested the alarm system a couple of times when trying to get it set up. Would be nice if that came in the off position until you get it set up and are ready to turn it on.

I’ve had this safe for almost a month and it has not disappoint. Its interior is well built with nice drawers. The door and locking mechanism are heavy duty and appear reliable. The controller is easy to program and easy to use. The side panels appear thin and hollow but according to the specs the walls are made of 5-layer metal panels. They could’ve easily made this better by filling the space between the metal sheets with high density fire retardant foam insulation. Despite the appearance of lighter construction the safe does not tilt when the heavy door is fully open. The safe comes with provisions to anchor it to wall studs. Why 5 stars and not 4? At 132 lbs I knew what to expect. A similar safe with full metal thick panels will cost thousands and be too heavy to transport. The stuff I keep in the office in my home office with the added home security are enough in my case. My previous safe had a faulty controller and despite getting getting it replaced twice it never worked. So far so good with this one. I’ll update the review of something else comes up.

First, let me say that this safe is quite big, allows for various means of opening, and looks good. Once you figure out the extraordinarily unclear directions (more on that later), it is easy to use and seems quite secure to house your valuables. Second, however, let me warn you that it will come only partially complete. In my case, this amounted to having to figure out how to reattach the shelving racks that came off during shipping. Though it looked simple, it was anything but. I must have spent 4 hours kneeling and on my back trying to get the racks to attach securely to the safe's walls. I assume that the racks came off because they were poorly attached at the plant since the safe came in a double box with tons of padding. Besides the difficulty reattaching the shelving, I had to re-read or, better, rewrite through guessing the meaning of the directions which suffered severely from the writer's struggles with English. Eventually I figured everything out, but it was extremely frustrating and unnecessary had the directions been both clearer and more thorough. To compound the problem, the English directions included no mention of the interior safety box. Those directions were on a back label to the safety box door and were only in Mandarin. Other difficulties to overcome: 1. The voice activated directions are difficult to understand mainly because of the very low volume but also because of the speaker's heavy accent. 2. The two keys that must be turned in order for you to enter the code to open the safe often refuse to turn. Eventually they will, but not necessarily when you need them to. However, after guessing at one particularly ambiguous set of directions, I figured out that if you turn the keys clockwise (when you can and as you must if the safe is to every open) take the keys out in their open position. Once you do that you can open the safe solely with your pass code or figure print, and you never have to insert the keys again. This makes it quick and easy to open the safe when you want. If, however, you want to make opening the safe even more secure, you can code it to require both the keys, the code, and a finger print. I am not sure I would buy it again, but I might since it is difficult to find a safe this large at a reasonable price.

I’m really impressed with the MLJ large security safe. It’s heavy-duty and feels solid right out of the box. The interior has plenty of space for documents, cash, jewelry, and even a few small electronics. I like the adjustable shelf and interior light — they make organizing and accessing items much easier. The digital keypad is responsive and easy to program, and there’s a key backup in case you forget your code or the battery runs out. It also comes with pre-drilled holes and hardware for anchoring it to the wall or floor, which adds an extra layer of security. This safe offers great peace of mind and feels like a smart investment for protecting valuables at home or in the office. Highly recommended if you're looking for a solid, no-nonsense security solution.

This safe is not heavy duty. I don’t believe it is water proof at all and doesn’t seem like it would last long in a fire due to thin metal. The locking mechanisms are plastics and will melt in a fire. This is a cheaply made safe that is selling for way more than it should. I believe it would be worth $150 at most, not over $450. This is s equivalent to school lockers.

This is a great home safe at an affordable price. Owned the safe for almost a year and misplaced one of the three security keys but was able to open it with the emergency electronic backup supplied with the safe. Contacted the company and within 10 days, I received a replacement key at no cost! Outstanding customer service!