I have been using the August for a few months now and I have a hard time recommending it to people. Smart locks need to be reliable and if they aren't then you lose trust in your lock, and, well if you lose trust in your lock, what's the point of owning it.<p>* Auto-unlock is great when and if it works, and is the only reason to own the August. Unfortunately it's currently iOS only.<p>* Everlock is currently in "beta" (it's the feature that auto-locks your door after 30 seconds), but one night after my friends left the house, it didn't re-lock itself, so now we can't trust one of the few features of the lock anymore.<p>* Opening the door with your phone itself is a slow and painful process. It takes anywhere from 5-10 seconds for the phone to connect to the lock before you can control it (this doesn't include unlocking your phone, opening the app, and selecting which lock to connect to). It's absolutely unusable for day-to-day users. There's no point in using this when your keys work faster. However, I can say this is useful for people that do not live in the home, i.e. friends, cleaners, pet sitters, etc.<p>That said, I have an extra August coming in that I'm not sure what to do with. Christmas is coming up and I absolutely do not want to give it out as a present because it's just not ready.
I replaced all of my door locks with Samsung SHS-3320/SHS-3321. These are standard RFID and I can (and did) buy cards/fobs for them super cheap. You can even stick a fob inside your hand/arm/face/whatever if you like: <a href="https://dangerousthings.com/shop/xnt-ntag216-2x12mm-glass-tag/" rel="nofollow">https://dangerousthings.com/shop/xnt-ntag216-2x12mm-glass-ta...</a><p>I've been super happy with them with a single caveat. They don't have Z-Wave support. If they made these exact same locks with Z-Wave support I'd replace all of my locks immediately with them. I really would prefer Z-Wave primarily for programming purposes because the existing touch-screen programming can be a bit limiting and it would be nice to be able to combine watching visitors (dog walker or cleaning lady, etc) with allowing access remotely via z-wave (currently they all have their own codes).<p>That said these locks are rock-solid and I wouldn't give up the physical security that comes from their great construction for anything.
A good related article about locks from the BBC: <i>Is the traditional metal key becoming obsolete?</i><p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29817520" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29817520</a><p>I'm quite conservative when it comes to locks for the home and prefer the traditional mechanical lock and key. I like the Lockitron feature of recording when a lock is opened/closed but that could be integrated into a mechanical lock without requiring the lock itself to operate electronically.<p>I think this quote from the BBC article above sums up how I feel:<p><i>...what about wear and tear, asks Brian Morland of the History of Locks Museum in Bournemouth. He cannot foresee a time when mechanical locks won't be part of our daily life. "You drop a key in water and it's okay. If you drop an electronic key (or smartphone) it will cause endless problems."</i>
I've tried a few of these. Kevo, lockitron, and some RFID one from samsung (which was my favorite). The main problem for me, mentioned in the article, is that residential doors are often not well aligned. if you try to open the door while locked you can end up putting enough pressure on the deadbolt that the motor can't open it. Humans recognize this with mechanical locks and we automatically adjust.<p>The worst part of that, though, is when the smart lock tries to reset it self and try again. You end up standing there while it goes back and forth, and in the end it's a huge hassle.<p>Humans are good at adapting to new situations and dealing with ambiguity like misaligned doors. With my mechanical lock, I can get really good and really fast at opening it in all circumstances. but with the smart lock I'm subject to it's slow speed and inability to adapt to new situations. I can't make it go faster.<p>I'd rather doors be redesigned to be more like car doors.
What a thorough and interesting review. I was wondering why all the attention is placed on the locks and have been thinking that, a la many apartment buildings in cities with their buzz-in door locks, why not approach the "smart lock" problem by using electric strikes? A drawback would be you would need to supply power to the door frame, but then you wouldn't have to deal with worrying about when the batteries run out of juice.<p>To put it another way, suppose that, planning ahead, I install an electric strike that allows me to "buzz in" people. Then what I would like to do is be able to "buzz in" using a smartphone app, say.
Would love to have seen the Schlage locks included in the comparison - I think they're the front-runners. Perhaps I'm overlooking some terrible flaw?
Great Read.
I see a ton of the GE Supra iBox Lockboxes. I hear they cost realtors a lot and they have no alternative. Perhaps for the VRBO or non-Realtor properties too.<p>This is a really stupid question, but will there be hybrid locks not for door/access but stuff we never thought could be locked in the old mechanical days? a pack of cigarettes? pill bottle? sleeve to a jacket? briefcase? mouse? baby child-proofing? an envelope?
I loved this writeup, but was sorry to see the Sunnect digital deadbolt missing from the lineup (<a href="http://www.sunnectlock.com/products.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.sunnectlock.com/products.html</a>).<p>I've had mine for 4+ years and have found it very reliable. It's keyless and non-networked, both of which I consider to be features. Aside from initial installation (which was a pain), no other complaints.
Could the power/charging issue be handled by a rotatable handle/component that can charge up a battery if it goes flat and leaves you outside? A bit like the wind-up torches you see around the place?<p>Or would it require minutes and minutes of manpower to realistically charge?
I was hoping for more of a security testing/review of each of the locks. It's hard to find any real world tests that have been done on these locks to see how hard they are to physically compromise.<p>I have the Yale lock but without the keyhole on it and without the z-wave module in it. I chose this one because it was one of the few that avoided having an actual keyhole on it to lessen the chances of being picked or bumped. I'm still wondering how it stacks up to being hit with a hammer or any other physical attacks.
@billyvg - I'm part of the team at August and sorry to hear you're not having the best experience. Auto Unlock is coming to Android soon and we are quickly fixing issues in the field as they come in. Many are new issues that are either specific to the user environment, manufacturing batches or didn't show up in QA/beta. If you wouldn't mind pinging me at bv@august.com, would love to debug any issues your lock might have.
Interesting read! Do you have any thoughts on the qKey system from the Dutch startup Ubiqu? <a href="http://www.ubiqu.nl/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ubiqu.nl/</a>
There's also "smart with a somewhat traditional key" as in <a href="http://www.iloq.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.iloq.com</a>. Doesn't talk to your smartphone; actually, doesn't talk at all until a key is inserted. That removes many privacy/security concerns. Open question for me is how easy this is to crack and how reliable it will be (if you have a valid key, will you be able to get in, even after a few years of wear and tear?)
I'm somewhat disenchanted with the prospects of keeping a house safe with the use of a lock. Even if the lock itself is perfectly safe, any sliding doors or windows are easy points of entry. And even if those aren't an option, many doors and frames are flimsy enough that a prybar or a ram will split them.<p>Sure, there are ways around all of these, but you'd end up feeling like you live in a prison...
Kwikset makes several deadbolts with keypads and keyZ-Wave support that I've been very pleased with. I'm a big fan of the quick rekeying feature most Kwikset locks have these days so I can always rekey just all my doors and give that key to someone (since putting Z-Wave enabled deadbolts on all my doors would be fairly expensive).
> who want to bring a keyless hotel lock experience to the US<p>No thanks. Those keyless hotel locks fail too often when I use them to ever want them for my home. At least in the hotel, I can go back to the front desk and they'll fix it. I also don't care for the slowness of operating them vs a regular key.
It would be more interesting to get a write up of your kickstarter fiasco. <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/schuyler/lockpicks-by-open-locksport" rel="nofollow">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/schuyler/lockpicks-by-o...</a>
For anyone interested in this space, i recommend looking into ethereum, a bitcoin-like network. There's been lots of talk of "smart property" relating to blockchain technology, and imho, locks are the perfect starter use-case. I mean, locks are all about proving ownership, so what better arena to test the idea of using a cryptographic ledger of ownership. I've spent a little time considering how to port the lockitron api into an ethereum contract, and I don't expect it to be too difficult
It is stunning to me that these products exist and are going to be widely deployed.<p>Your front door lock should not talk on the network. It should not have "social features". It should not rely on electricity.<p>Your smoke detector should not be connecting to google servers. Your thermostat should not be connected to facebook.<p>Those are facts.<p>Either you instinctively understand those facts or you will learn them accompanied by much pain.
Mo,<p>Having recently purchased a home, and piled rocks, loose stones, bricks and the like next to my window laden front entryway door, what lock do you recommend I purchase?<p>Bear in mind, I don't want anything that my neighbors will understand, or industry experts will look down on. As a technophile, I want to walk only the bleedingiest of edges, employ the most futuristic of tech, and employ the bare minimum of common sense.<p>In fact, if it could be expensive enough be the target of break-in, so much the better!<p>love,
shmoo