For rifles, hanguns, ammo, personals... I know I need a vault/safe, but wanted one for quick access. It does no good to store your weapons in something you have to spin a dial back and forth. And I don't want to keep them out in the open.
Sorry, my internet was down for a couple days and wasn't able to reply.
For a bedside, ready accessible single handgun vault, this model is very good. It has a biometric scan where all you need to do is put your finger on the scaner and it opens up with the weapon readily presented.
SVB500 SpeedVault | GunVault | GunVault
Not knowing your family situation, meaning small children, I am hesitant to give advice on home defense. Assuming you do not have small children in the house, I would probably go to sleep with the vault open to reduce fumbling around if you are woken out of a sound sleep. If you have children, leave it locked.
This model has a plate where you can mount it to a night table or bedframe. If it was me, when I was gone for the day, I would actually hide the weapon somewhere else. If someone sees a vault mounted to your bed during a break in, odds are they will try to break it loose and carry it away with them to try to open later.
I don't have kids so my methods vary. I keep a very powerful flashlight and a revolver next to my bed, between the bed and the nightstand. When I leave for the day, I either lock the gun in a larger safe or hide it in one of the numerous books I have. If I have my nephews down or friends with kids over, every thing is locked up in a safe.
I hollowed out pages of a few large books that are large enough to hold a gun, kinda like how Andy Dufrense hid the rock hammer in Shawshank Redemption. I figure thieves are going to not bother with a wall of books. At least, when I was broken into in Texas, they didn't. I had my nightstand drawer opened and flung everywhere, bearuea drawers opened and emptied out but not a book was touched. I guess Hemingway and Capstick wasn't their cup of tea?
As far as a large, lockable vault type safe, the only advice I can give you is to buy the highest quality you can afford and go bigger than you think you will ever need.
I wound up storing jewelry and wills for friends on deployment, I keep copies of my medical and service record in mine, along with momentos that I don't want to lose.
Try to mount it, either to a floor or to the wall to make it tougher for any thieves to flip it on it's side. Dessicant is good to have for them too, unless you can get one that has a way to run a goldenrod dehumidifier into.
If you want, PM me and I will give you the contact info for a professional locksmith who deals in safes. He is a wealth of knowledge on this subject.