OK, so I'd been aware that some of the cheap little biometric lock-boxes (typically for stashing, gun, hand, 1ea.) used cheesy solenoids to unlock....
Now look at this. A not-so-cheap safe, with multiple big impressive bolts and everything. And the unlocking mechanism is: a solenoid!
Yeesh! They save single-digit bucks by using a - dink! - solenoid to unwedge the mechanism, instead of using a motor and geartrain (as in, e.g., a cheap little model-airplane servo) to disengage the lock (or, better, to engage a transfer bar of some sort).
So there's one fiddly little bit that needs to be moved out of the way, and it can be moved by a strong magnetic field (as shown at the link), or by acceleration (seems some of these things can be unlocked by simple vibration).
Caveat, as the feller said, emptor.
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