Best Faraday Box Car Key Signal Blockers of 2022

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If you’re wanting to prevent car thieves from taking your precious keyless car, take a look at the best faraday boxes to block signals from your car keys.

We all have grown to know and love keyless entry and keyless start. It’s great being able to open the door with your hands full and not having to search through your pockets to find your car keys. Unfortunately, this techy feature does have the downside of making your car susceptible to clever thieves. Car thieves have learned how to use relay theft to clone you car key’s signal, allowing them to unlock the car and drive away, all without having access to your key.

What Are Faraday Pouches For?

The plus side is that there are several products now widely available to secure your car. Car key signal blockers, also known as faraday boxes, are small packages which are able to block the signal your car key emits, meaning thieves cannot pick up the signal being transmitted from outside your house. This doesn’t change how you are able to use the car at all. Just put your keys in a signal blocker when you get home and sleep happy in the knowledge your car is now a lot harder to drive off with for potential thieves.

Faraday boxes also work with other devices which wirelessly transmit signals, such as door access cards, phones and even contactless cards. So which signal blocking boxes are the best? Let’s take a look at a few options (including a free one) and see which option is your best bet.

Table Of Contents
  1. What Are Faraday Pouches For?
  2. Defender Signal Blocker- Best Selling Faraday Pouch
  3. Streetwize Car Key Signal Blocking Faraday Box – Best For Protecting Keys In The House
  4. Carbon Fibre Effect Faraday Box (Generic)

How To Test A Key Car Signal Blocker Works

Once you’ve picked one up for yourself, it’s always worth making sure it works for your car. Testing the faraday box is as simple as locking your car, placing the key in the box, and then trying to open the car. If your car remains locked, you’ve got yourself a bona-fide car hacker prevention device!

There are a really wide range of keyless ignition technologies, as well as a range of options on the market so it’s definitely worth checking your car key is actually protected.

What Is The Difference Between A Faraday Box And A Faraday Bag?

The only real difference between a faraday box and bag is one is the more portable, pocket friendly sibling of the other. Both are designed to block all sorts of signals, but one is usually a solid box, with the other typically being a metal-lined fabric pouch.

It could be argued that a faraday box is better if you have multiple car keys for your keyless car, because typically faraday bags are smaller in size and may not accommodate much more than a single key. Today we are focussing on the best of both.

Reviews

Defender Signal Blocker- Best Selling Faraday Pouch

You can’t really go wrong with one of these. The Defender signal blocker is one of the best selling faraday pouches for sale in the UK. It’s a winner of the Auto Express 2019 Mini Test and features a secured by design rating. This means it’s manufactured to UK police-approved specification, unlike a majority of other options on the market.

The Defender signal blocker’s new and improved design has been featured on multiple consumer advice programmes, including on the BBC.

The only real downside of this faraday pouch is its look. If you own a high-end luxury vehicle such as an Audi RSQ8 or Range Rover, it’s going to feel a bit out of place.

Defender faraday pouch
Price
Community Rating
Police Approved Specification?
Style
Ease of Use
Portability
Trustworthy?

Summary

It’s not the best looking option on the market, but for a little over £5, this is a no-brainer recommendation. It’s just about big enough to squeeze two keys in depending on the make, and it’s pocket friendly dimensions means you are able to block you car key’s signal while you are out the house as well.

Pros:
+ Police Approved.
+ Affordable.
+ Very well reviewed across the board.

Cons:
– It isn’t a looker.

4.6

Streetwize Car Key Signal Blocking Faraday Box – Best For Protecting Keys In The House

If you want a signal blocker that stays in your home, this is it. The Streetwize signal blocker (sold by Argos) is a handsome, well built faraday box that can fit plenty of gear in it. As far as I can see, it doesn’t appear to have the coveted “secured by design” badge unlike the Defender, but it certainly does the job. It’s a little more at around the £20 mark, but the build quality and size speak for the added value here. You can easily fit a good few car keys in here, and probably a phone too while you’re at it.

The Streetwize is encased in a leather effect texture, and feels well built. It seems to have a pretty good seal when shut, and there is very little to speak of in terms of negative feedback from other customers. As always, it’s worth testing it yourself to make sure your box isn’t faulty but overall these seem to be very high quality compared with most of the other options.

Streetwize faraday box for blocking car key signal
Price
Community Rating
Police Approved Specification?
Style
Ease of Use
Portability
Trustworthy?

Summary

If the Defender pouch wasn’t big or beautiful enough, the Streetwize should be right up your street (haha). At £20, it’s hardly a big investment, and the added convenience of being able to pick one up from Argos is useful if you need to protect your car keys ASAP. With the base being 16cm x 12cm, you should easily fit all the family’s keys in without any issues. It’s also discreet and small enough that you can put this away so that a burglar wouldn’t easily be able to find your keys. The main downsides are the lack of portability and that from my research, I don’t think it has got the official UK Police stamp of approval.

Pros:
+ Spacious
+ Much nicer looking than the Defender faraday pouch
+ Very well reviewed across the board.

Cons:
– Isn’t official UK Police approved design
– Lack of portability – you would need very large pockets for this 🤣

3.9

Carbon Fibre Effect Faraday Box (Generic)

A reasonably priced alternative to the Streetwize faraday box is this. The carbon fibre (effect) signal blocker is a sleek box which is a bit smaller and cheaper than the last one. Like the last box, it isn’t officially UK Police approved, which gives it minus points when compared to the Defender. It’s more affordable than the Streetwize and comes in at the middle price point of around £10, which is obvious when looking at the build quality and materials. It’s a little more premium than the Defender, but this comes at the expense of both price and portability. The plus side is that fitting multiple keys in is easy.

The box is wrapped in a fake carbon fibre material, and in my opinion looks a bit tacky, but that’s just down to personal preference. All sorts of cars have fake carbon fibre these days, and they sell like hotcakes! It has a pretty good seal when the box is closed, and the inner lining looks very similar to the Streetwize box. I would definitely give it a test to make sure your box is properly blocking signals before going to sleep with your car keys in this.

Price
Community Rating
Police Approved Specification?
Style
Ease of Use
Portability
Trustworthy?

Summary

This box is considerably more affordable and smaller than the Streetwize. If you’re a carbon fibre effect fan then this will have to be the one to go for.

Pros:
+ Cheap
+ Reasonably spacious
+ Okay build quality

Cons:
– Isn’t official UK Police approved design
– Lack of portability
– Not as practical as the other options

3.6

Bonus Free Alternative – Making A Tinfoil Signal Blocker

A free but less elegant option I have heard some have had success with is to just wrap their key in tin foil. I gave this a go and it didn’t work. I’m not too sure why, perhaps the key wasn’t completely sealed or wasn’t thick enough. Anyway, for now this method will have to earn 0 stars as it just didn’t work for me.

Another alternative free option which may work is to use a biscuit tin. Again, not as elegant or portable but it might just do the job. I can’t personally comment because (with great regret) I didn’t have a biscuit tin to hand at the time of writing this.

Conclusion – The Best Car Key Signal Blocker Is The Defender.

So there you have it. Out of the three top options for car key signal blockers, I’ll have to give it to the Defender faraday pouch. It’s the cheapest of the bunch and isn’t too attractive, but at the end of the day it does the job and it’s “secured by design”. The UK Police seal of approval on the design of this pouch really does make it a head above the rest.

Pairing this with the hundreds of positive reviews from other buyers and I can see why this thing is a best seller. Who would have thought that one of the best ways to secure a £50,000 car could cost the same as a pint?

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