2010 SHOT Show First Day On The Floor
Let me start this off with a short, relatively pointless rant.
For the first time, the Las Vegas SHOT Show is not at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Instead, they’re running it at the Sands Convention Center. No biggie, right? The Sands knows how to put on a big show. They can handle this.
But lord have mercy, this is nuts! The layout is insane. It took me a half hour just to find the pressroom, and even longer to find the first vendor I wanted to speak to. The exhibit halls are scattered around on three floors, with some set off in side rooms that I don’t think I’d ever have found if hadn’t been so lost in the first place. In short, it really sucks. It could probably be improved with better signage, and some better communication of the logic behind the layout and placement. Hopefully they’ll get it together, because it looks like we’re here again next year, and possibly afterward.
OK… that’s out of my system for now. The upside? The place was PACKED! Any concerns I may have had about turnout after the range day were put aside as it was literally shoulder to shoulder just to get down the main hall.
So what did I learn today? What new things did I see, or hear about? I’ll beg off with an excuse… I spent so much time and energy just trying to find my way around, I wasn’t able to implement a plan of attack. Instead, I ended up pretty much wandering aimlessly, just looking at stuff. 
I did get a couple of pretty cool ideas. For one, there are some innovative ideas in gun safes. Since my own safe sort of runs over, I’ve been thinking about how to replace it. I didn’t go to the show to focus on gun safes, but after seeing what some folks are doing out there, I was pretty impressed.
The first thing I saw was a new safe from Pendleton Safes. Inside, instead of the standard rows of racks, Pendleton installs a “lazy susan” rotating rack. If you have a bunch of guns, you simply spin it to the one you want and go! My safe is a cluttered mess right now, and to access some of my guns I have to pull several others out of the way.
There’s another potential solution to my own problem, that may not require the purchase of a whole new safe. Gun Storage Solutions makes a really innovative set of rods that attach to the roof of your safe with velcro (provided in the kit). You put the rod down the muzzle of each gun, then stack them neatly in the safe. This utilizes all of the open space, instead of just lining the guns up along the back and sides. I’d seen this on TV commercials a time or two, but seeing it in person really sold me on the idea.
I also noticed several new compact gun safes. I currently own a GunVault, which holds two handguns in a safe, secure place. I really like that these safes allow you to store guns (or valuables) in convenient places, without taking up all the space of a bigger safe.
Most of the compact safes I looked at today were fairly similar. Some are biometric, while others use the old-fashioned numeric code. I think I’ll look more into these this week.
I’m pretty whupped right about now, and haven’t even eaten dinner. I hope this holds everyone for the evening… I’ll try to have a more focused approach tomorrow, and possibly more updates from the pressroom during the day.
I need to get one of those gun vaults for my pistol. I like to have it handy in the bedroom, but with the little one getting bigger and bigger I need to come up with something that makes it easily accessible and secure at the same time. It sounds like a gun vault might do it.
Do you like yours, Phillip?
January 20th, 2010 at 7:47 am
Phillip – I just LOVE the Bobber-Que-Grill…how clever!
Glad you are having a good time with wall to wall people and stuff…Mercy me…Enjoy my friend!
January 20th, 2010 at 9:20 am
That lazy susan from Pendleton is pretty cool! What a great, simple idea. Thanks for the update, Phillip!
January 20th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Any American-made vaults for under $100?
Also a fan of the Bobber-Que-Grill…
January 20th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Arthur, the handgun vaults are definitely a good idea if you like to have a gun handy in the house with kids around. It’s also nice to know your gun and valuables are relatively secure while you’re away from home. Josh, I didn’t really look at the manufacturing location, but you can find them near the $100-$150 mark.
Didn’t really expect that much response to the Bobber-que, but I guess it was kinda cute. It was on display at the Therma-Cell booth, and I dropped by to see what Therma-Cell had cooked up new for the year. They’ve got some new-ish accessories for their trademark units, and are expanding their line of hunting scent dispensers, but I don’t know that any of it was a large departure from what they had last year. However, Therma-Cell always deserves mention, because they make one of the best insect repellant systems I’ve ever used.
January 24th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
For gun safes, check out the Rotator from SOS TV at http://www.sostvonline.com.
January 26th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
I heard about the Bobber-Que-Grill from a friend and when I googled it…your blog came up…Great picture…that grill is the coolest thing I have ever seen!…Does anyone know where you can get one…would love to pick one up for my husband….too cool!
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Hi Amanda, you can find the Bobber-Que at: http://www.bobber-q-grill.com/
It was at the Thermacell booth at the show, but I think it was mostly as a gadget to get attention.
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Phillip, wanted to let you know that I found my Bobber-Q-Grill at Bass Pro and we love it. The grill grate is so easy to clean and nothing falls through the grate. Can’t wait to give these away as Christmas presents, for the price you can’t beat it and what a conversation piece!!!
May 11th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Very cool, Amanda. Glad to hear it actually works!
May 11th, 2010 at 6:41 pm