A Field Armoury resists for two minutes, so is it less safe than steel?

Answer: On time alone, yes. Resistance is delay, not prevention: a pried steel cabinet is scrap, a deformed unit still locks.

Timber is half the price, so why not use it long term?

Answer: The saving is at purchase, the cost at replacement: plywood deforms in 15 days at 85 percent humidity.

Can a tool chest match it with a better lock?

Answer: No. The limit is panel thickness, not the cylinder; a 0.8 mm edge rolls in thirty seconds.

When is a soft bag good enough?

Answer: Short carries under supervision. It has no lock and no seal.

Does the gasket fail in cold?

Answer: Not above minus 40 °C; below that the silicone stiffens and the edge is pressed by hand.

Field Armoury vs Alternatives: Where the Gap Really Is

Quick answer: A Field Armoury wins nothing outright: 97 kg lighter than a fixed steel cabinet and ten times quicker to move, at the cost of prying time falling from five to two minutes.

What a Field Armoury Is Measured Against
Protection and Theft Resistance: Where the Gap Sits
Mobility: Weight, Strip-Down and Transfer Cost
Environment: Temperature, Humidity, Salt Spray, Dust
Capacity, Upkeep and the Verdict
FAQ

1. What a Field Armoury Is Measured Against

Set a Field Armoury beside its alternatives and the comparison collapses into plate thickness. Five measurable lines say more: prying time, sealing and immersion, weight and transfer labour, temperature and salt spray, five-year cost.

Option	Hand tools	Sealing	Weight	Volume	5-year cost
Fixed steel cabinet	5 min plus	no damp control	118 kg	90 L	6400
Timber cabinet	1 min	none	42 kg	120 L	3800
Tool chest	30 s	none	16 kg	60 L	2650
Soft bag	no lock	scuff	2.4 kg	45 L	1560
Field Armoury	2 min	IP67	21 kg	108 L	2950

The lines do not add up: steel leads one by double and trails another tenfold; the bag reverses that. This unit sits mid-way, first in nothing and last in nothing, priced between a tool chest and steel.

2. Protection and Theft Resistance: Where the Gap Sits

A fixed steel cabinet resists through 1.5 mm cold-rolled plate and three bolts behind the door, spreading load into the frame; a pry bar needs five minutes. The shell of a Field Armoury is rotomoulded polyethylene at 6 mm, worth two, but its lock points avoid thin areas, so it still locks after entry.

Field Armoury: four tan cases on a wood table, middle one open with egg-crate foam and cut pockets, boots and a folded jacket beside

Timber fails at the fixing: four screws into 18 mm plywood, and one kick takes the lock seat with the chips. A 0.8 mm tool chest rolls its edge in thirty seconds; a bag has a zip.

Damp is the second line: steel rusts above 60 percent humidity, 480 hours of salt spray is the divider, plywood at 12 percent moisture grows mould in 30 days, and IP67 costs a gasket pressed home.

3. Mobility: Weight, Strip-Down and Transfer Cost

At 118 kg a steel cabinet needs three people, a pallet truck and the anchors cut out, ninety minutes per transfer. At 21 kg a Field Armoury goes store to truck in eight minutes with one person.

Six shelves and dividers come out in four minutes and stack a third lower; steel internals are welded in. Timber at 42 kg lifts two-handed but swells after a wet season.

4. Environment: Temperature, Humidity, Salt Spray, Dust

The unit runs from minus 40 to 70 °C without embrittling. Steel loses impact toughness at minus 20 °C and the door gasket hardens before the plate does.

Field Armoury: grey case open in close-up, black foam pockets holding a row of brass-cased samples, continuous seal groove inside the rim

Plywood deforms at 85 percent humidity within 15 days. Steel shows red rust at 480 hours; this unit passes clean but fades at 18 months under UV. Dust punishes the seal, so the face is wiped before each opening.

5. Capacity, Upkeep and the Verdict

Capacity means usable volume: steel 90 L, timber 120 L, tool chest 60 L, bag 45 L, this unit 108 L. Timber is largest and 300 mm deep, so nothing long fits; 380 mm depth stands a 700 mm item upright. Upkeep runs by replacement, from two touch-ups a year to one gasket at eighty.

Option	Purchase	Moving, 5 years	Upkeep, 5 years	Total
Fixed steel cabinet	4200	1900	300	6400
Timber cabinet	1800	600	1400	3800
Tool chest	900	400	1350	2650
Soft bag	260	0	1300	1560
Field Armoury	2600	200	150	2950

The verdict splits by use: fixed and theft-first, steel; three transfers a year with rain and dust, this unit; indoor storage on a budget, a tool chest; a bag only when carried.

Conclusion

Each alternative wins one line: steel prying, timber volume, tool chest price, bag weight. A Field Armoury wins none and still reaches usable on all five, which is how it replaces steel on the move and a tool chest in the rain. Pick the line you cannot concede, then check the margin left for a Field Armoury.

This article discusses only the container (case body) side of specifications and design intent, and does not cover any handling, loading or use of the contents.