I used to have Sunnect AP501 lock that was working fine, but after I heard that the company went out of business I had the idea to try something new so I could have automation and would have a product from a company that would be around and would have spare parts and service available.
After doing some research, I decided on Yale Keyfree touchscreen lock since it seemed to do everything I wanted and looks nice.
I have had several problems with the Yale lock over the last year with today having a failure that almost locked me out.
I also have not been totally comfortable with it even on day one when I felt how much more lightweight it felt than the Sunnect lock it replaced.
I’m ready to move on to something else.
I like the idea of being able to unlock the lock with a smartphone over wifi or bluetooth and set the lock to lock automatically after the doors are closed. Internet control of the lock is not required and I would prefer to not have it.
Are there any high quality keyless deadbolt locks left on the market?
I’m looking for locks that are more robust than average construction to prevent tampering and brute force attacks against them.
I am also looking for keyless, so there is zero chance of being picked or bumped.
Second choice after keyless would be a keyed deadbolt with the most bump and pick resistant lock mechanisms available.
I now have a Veraite system controlling my current lock, but I am open to change to something else.
schlage makes a variety of grade 1 and 2 locks (grade 1 is better) deadbolts with keyless entry with various features. Some have no local key override, some are zwave (those models all have local keyed overrides I think), some are local touch screen only, looks like they have some new Bluetooth enabled ones too.
The newer zwave one the “connect” models with the motor in the deadbolt is a bit more reliable then their older manual turn deadbolts from what I hear. I have the older manual turn dead bolt that is zwave enabled and it is a little finicky about talking with other zwave devices but otherwise works great. I think Schlage is one of the only brands that make a grade 1 keyless entry deadbolts.
I will look those up to find more information on them, but I think I remember looking up similar Schlage smart locks and they were found to be relatively easily defeatable with a power drill, lock picking tools or bump keys.
I’ll see if I can find info on the specific locks you mentioned.
Look at the connect versions they are grade 1 locks instead of grade 2. But they have do have a manual key override. I believe the yales are all grade 2.
Manual key override is OK if the manual key mechanism is designed well enough. There are too many of these locks where the manual key hole can be defeated with bump keys ordered off eBay or the mechanisms are not robust to resist a strong power drill.
I just looked up the Schlage Camelot Touchscreen Deadbolt with Alarm BE469NX CAM 619 on Consumer Reports. It got a higher overall rating than than the Yale lock I have and was resistant to picking, however it still failed to the drilling test. In my opinion, if the lock can be opened from the outside with a power drill, that is a fail. Not sure how they gave it a high rating even with a black circle for the drill test.
Maybe look at the Samsung Ezon/Smartdoor line? I think it has its own proprietary remote interface, don’t think it is a DYI project if you want remote access, but if you just want Keyless may fit the bill.
Those locks look nice, but they also look kind of lightweight quality.
Is there any way to check the actual deadbolt quality and ratings against tampering and brute force breakage?
After checking out that lock some more, I stumbled on another Samsung lock that looks really nice. I like the looks of the SHS P717 and P718.
I’ll just have to see if I can find out out if they are equivalent to ANSI 1 so it will be a security upgrade to the Yale Keyfree I have now.
It has RFID and touch screen and the 718 has a finger print sensor.
I think the RFID requires you to touch it. I can live with that since that’s how the Sunnect lock I had worked, but it would be nicer if it had a range of 1 or 2 feet so it could unlock handsfree.
The fingerprint sensor might be the best alternative since you don’t have to have your keyring with the RFID key with you and noone can watch you type your PIN. The finger print model is even more pricey and difficult to find.
With the the Sunnect, they pretty much thought of everything because you can type random numbers in front of your real unlock PIN to make it super long so it would be difficult for anyone nearby to follow and memorize what numbers you are typing.
[quote=“shallowearth, post:2, topic:187057”]schlage makes a variety of grade 1 and 2 locks (grade 1 is better) deadbolts with keyless entry with various features. Some have no local key override, some are zwave (those models all have local keyed overrides I think), some are local touch screen only, looks like they have some new Bluetooth enabled ones too.
The newer zwave one the “connect” models with the motor in the deadbolt is a bit more reliable then their older manual turn deadbolts from what I hear. I have the older manual turn dead bolt that is zwave enabled and it is a little finicky about talking with other zwave devices but otherwise works great. I think Schlage is one of the only brands that make a grade 1 keyless entry deadbolts.[/quote]
So, the Schlage Connect looks like it will be the best upgrade. I think the Samsung lock I liked won’t be a direct plug and play replacement and might require getting a whole new door installed and painted. Too huge of a project.
I really don’t want to get anything described as “finicky” connecting. I am tired of fighting with the the unreliability I have had with the Yale.
I called Yale support and they will send out a replacement for the defective touch screen since it is still under warranty. I read that there is also a recall for this issue that may have covered it out of warranty also.
I’m debating whether to install the replacement Yale or get the Schlage and just keep the replacement I receive to use for a less important door or leave it in the box to keep as a back up in case the Schlage turns out to be worse.
I have a Vera Lite and think the Schlage is only officially supported on Z-Wave when used with the Nexia device for $9.99 per month.
I recently installed a Schlage Connect FE469NX Camelot Touch pad lock set. Integration with Vera was very straight forward. The lock seems to work very well with my Vera Edge and the quality seemed decent. It does have a key as well which I figured would come in handy incase the touch pad died for any reason. I looked at the Yales and didn’t like their style as much so I chose the Schlage in large part due to aesthetics and reviews. While it’s only been a couple weeks since I installed it, overall I am very pleased.
Yes, my understanding is that the Schlage Connect (the touch screen ones) don’t have the same “finicky” issues as the older manual turn dead bolts by Schlage (if you look through the forums all the Schlage complaints are about the BE365 and FE599 models)
If you go with the Connect touch screen line (FE469 models) you should be fine.
Yale locks are Grade 2, Schlage locks are Grade 1 so security wise you are upgrading slightly even with the power drill vulnerability.
I use a Schlage lock [BE469NX], it replaced a Kwikset unit I had on the front entry. I can say this, the Schlage has amazing battery retention compared to the Kwikset. I installed that unit 3 months ago and the batteries show 90% where I’d be replacing the Kwikset batteries at this time if not sooner.
However I will say that every once in awhile, Vera isn’t getting the notification from Schlage that someone just unlocked and subsequently locked the door behind them. This happened on UI5 - I’ve since upgraded to 7 and can’t report whether or not that resolved the issue.
Does anyone know if the Schlage Connect housings are physically bigger or smaller than the Yale Key Free Touchscreen?
I’d prefer it is larger or else, if I replace the lock, I will have to repaint the door to fix any unpainted areas that were previously covered over by the Yale lock.
You can enable/disable the lock and leave feature as well as the auto lock feature. Not sure there is enough configurability there, it looks like it has a motion sensor in it so not sure if the auto lock will on fire when door is closed and length of delay. They don’t give you access to the motion sensor directly to trigger scenes, so Triggering the lock on door closed would probably require you to add a door sensor to trigger a scenes and disable the auto lock feature.
Just kind of guessing here, I only have the older schlage lock and haven’t tried to do what you are asking. I just leave the auto lock on, and then periodically send a lock command to the lock since the kids tend to un lock it and leave it unlocked. I also set it to lock when I arm my alarm system or set the Vera to away or night mode.
Autolocking based on a fixed time doesn’t work for me. The lock bolt ends up extending and putting a dent in the door jamb if you don’t notice or if it happens to start locking right when you are in the process of shutting the door.
It’s smarter for the door to autolock after you shut the door. Some locks like the Sunnect and the Samsungs have a magnet you put in the door frame so it can sense when the door is closed.
Yep, to get similar functionality you would need to have the autolock feature disabled, add a z-wave door sensor, and just trigger the lock to lock when the door sensor goes from open to closed or similar type of action (to be really sure you should probably do something like… trigger on open to closed state, wait 30 seconds, then check again it is still in a closed state, then lock the lock).
I just got the Yale lock swapped out for a Schlage Connect touchscreen with alarm model BE469NXCAM605.
I don’t see any instructions in the manual on how to set up Z-Wave access.
How is this done?
[quote=“webuser, post:19, topic:187057”]I just got the Yale lock swapped out for a Schlage Connect touchscreen with alarm model BE469NXCAM605.
I don’t see any instructions in the manual on how to set up Z-Wave access.
How is this done?[/quote]