Smart lock

travis-powers

I’m about to paint my front door so this would be the ideal time to upgrade lock, as I really appreciate the opinions on this forum I wonder if anyone has any experience with these and are they worth the price? Nobody seem to use them on the new builds I work on (maybe I’ve answered my own question) or are they missing out.
many thanks in advance.

SameOldRoundabout

Funnily enough we are looking into the same thing. We liked the look of both the Yale ENTR and the Conexis, but then Conexis has poor reviews, as does the app that runs them. My other issue is that they seem to replace cylinder locks and as my door has a traditional nightlatch and deadbolt it’s more tricky. The August Pro has great reviews but is super pricey. If I buy one I’m leaning toward the ENTR I think. 

Smart locks appear to be more popular in America, and only just creeping over here. 

FreeBear

Some things to consider...

What happens if your phone dies before you get home.

Will the system rely on the internet, and will you still be able to open the door when the internet is down.

How easy is it for the system to be hacked.

How will you open the door when the electronics fail.

Smart stuff can be very useful, but you do need to be mindful of the "what ifs" when things fail - I have fitted a few smart light switches here. When they fail, I can quickly swap them out for manual switches, and they are not part of a critical system.

ashe

Most smart locks have battery workarounds. you can keep a battery in a key-safe. 

That said, I looked into this too and I found the technology to be too immature and fraught with poor reviews and downsides, i feel like this tech needs another 3-5 years to be viable and work the kinks out, and I'm not willing to pay the costs to be a beta tester. See also video doorbells - just got a smart camera instead that is miles higher quality, and a standard doorbell, and it works a treat - best of both worlds. 

rob7475

I'm not convinced smart locks are a viable solution at the minute. I work in technology so by no means a technophobe but technology doesn't always have to be the best solution. The old fashioned key is a simple but effective solution that can't really be improved currently. A smart lock has the potential to be hacked and there's too many dependencies to make it a fail safe solution.

nik_k

As soon as I can afford it, I'm gonna go for an Ultion Smart Lock.  Lots of info on their website, looks to be very secure and is definitely the future of locks.  Can't wait until I don't have to carry a key with me!

john.h

nik_k said:

As soon as I can afford it, I'm gonna go for an Ultion Smart Lock.  Lots of info on their website, looks to be very secure and is definitely the future of locks.  Can't wait until I don't have to carry a key with me!

Don’t waste your money. I have one it’s absolutely useless.. The auto-unlock never works, so you have to end up getting your phone out to open it. The phone never works first time so you are stood outside your door for 45 seconds trying to open the lock. 

  The auto-lock sometimes doesn’t work, so you end up standing outside your door for 30 seconds (or what ever the time you set it for) to hear if it locks.. 
  All the updates haven’t done anything to help. 

Petriix

I did a fair amount of research into the different options when I was replacing our front door about 18 months ago. The upshot is that there is a baffling lack of decent products available. Everything you can buy requires conformity to its own, highly restrictive, paradigm.

I just want something that will work like remote central locking on a car. I couldn't find anything that would work with an outward opening door or that wouldn't be locked by default or require lifting the handle manually. I need to be able to leave the door unlocked and only lock when I choose. I gave up.

nik_k

john.h said:

nik_k said:

As soon as I can afford it, I'm gonna go for an Ultion Smart Lock.  Lots of info on their website, looks to be very secure and is definitely the future of locks.  Can't wait until I don't have to carry a key with me!

Don’t waste your money. I have one it’s absolutely useless.. The auto-unlock never works, so you have to end up getting your phone out to open it. The phone never works first time so you are stood outside your door for 45 seconds trying to open the lock. 

  The auto-lock sometimes doesn’t work, so you end up standing outside your door for 30 seconds (or what ever the time you set it for) to hear if it locks.. 
  All the updates haven’t done anything to help. 

Hmmm, interesting!  Looks like I need to read a bit more into it from others' real world experiences.  Thanks for the heads-up!

john.h

It’s just the Ultion cylinder added to the Danalock body. Research the Danalock App etc.