I'm about to replace the front door on my house and I'm using it as an excuse to upgrade to a smart lock. What are everyone's favorites these days? I could do z-wave or zigbee.
I was looking at the offerings from Kwikset (916 and the 620) but I wondered what everyone else was using and what their experience has been like. I'm looking for a smart deadbolt for an American front door.
TIA!
Schlage Connect Zigbee
Some good information here and on the link included for Comments & Feedback....
Been very happy with a few Yale Real Living zigbee deadbolts for a few years now.
All three have keypads, one has a keyway as well and the cylinder was even replaceable so I could use my preferred brand of lock (mul-t-lock).
IIRC they come in z-wave flavor too.
Thanks for the quick replies.... but I think I'm going crazy. I'm not seeing zigbee options on Yale or Schlage's websites.
That being said does you have a z-preference for the connectivity? I have strong meshes for both. My one concern with z-wave is battery reporting as z-wave devices tend to have less accurate battery reporting.
Also, what's it like living with these? How often do you have to charge them?
The front door lock is just one of those things that MUST work reliably. My wife will put up with some of the other smart stuff in the house not being perfect every time. No so with the front door lock.
I have a Yale Assure SL on the front door: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076WR53B3
Works great. Kids use it every day when they get home to unlock with the keypad.
If you want auto-unlock though, get the Assure 2 which comes with BT so that the auto-unlock can work.
Have an Alfred DB1 on another door which has auto-unlock. I have had mixed results with that feature but do not use it very often. I think I may just need to set the delay longer, it may be timing out by the time we go to open the door. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08128MSWJ/ Otherwise lock itself works great. It is the door going from garage to house and I have it lock automatically when my good night rule runs, has been very reliable.
Here is some more info I provided on my locks in another post: Suggestion for Smart door latch, and how to control it - #12 by jtp10181
Mine are both battery... I'm not aware of ones that are chargeable. They usually don't recommend chargeable batteries for smart locks.
Love mine, an old Schlage Z-Wave and a new Yale Zigbee. I won't ever go back to a dumb lock. All of mine also work with a key, as a fail safe against battery issues.
The smart locks are one of my wife's few smart devices she likes.
I just put in the Kwikset 620.
It appears to be better designed, and better insulated than Schlage offerings.
So far, it's been rock solid, and the use of zwave 700 means that the batteries should last longer.
I have a couple of Kwikset 916 Zigbee. They're fine. Been fine on the mesh and haven't fallen off. Used on C7, migrated to C8, and migrated to C8 Pro.
There are two things you need to consider.
How well do the locks work with your preferred wireless protocol (WiFi, Z-wave, Zigbee, Bluetooth).
How well do the locks work with your preferred infrastructure (Alexa, Google Nest, Apple Home/Siri, Android or iPhone).
How secure to you want/need the locks to be? ANSI rates locks based on how easily they can be defeated.
Grade 3 locks are for light-duty residential rating, which means something like a lock you put on your home office to prevent kids from rummaging through your papers.
Grade 2 is the most common grade for locks for medium duty residential and commercial use. The Kwikset Kevo smart lock, which has now been discontinued, was rated ANSI Grade 2, but there were plenty of YouTube videos showing how that lock could be defeated in a few seconds using a flat-head screwdriver and an adjustable wrench to turn the lockset. Hopefully, the Kwikset locks that replaced it are more secure. I believe most locks other than Schlage are Grade 2.
There are only a limited number of Grade 1 smart locks. They are designed for heavy-duty residential and commercial applications are are more difficult to defeat.
The Schlage smart locks are ANSI 1 rated. That is what I purchased for my house. I use a Schlage Connect smart lock which connects using the Z-wave Plus protocol (S2 Access Control). Schlage also offers other wireless options if they are more suitable for your needs.
Oh now that is some GREAT FEEDBACK that I hadn't considered. Thank you!
We switched to an Alfred DB2-B with a keypad a couple of years ago and have been pleased with it, both using it (with kids) and automating it.
I do use rechargeable AAs in it, so battery life reporting loses some accuracy (though they do last several months). I keep a micro-USB cable in my garage in case it goes dead, but I haven't had to use it yet.
We had a terrible time (mostly due to flaky auto-unlock) with an August Gen 2 before that.
I just started into smart locks, replacing some well-worn Schlage electronic (but not motorized/smart) locks with the Yale Assure 2 Z-Wave locks.
I had a little bit of a hard time getting the first one set up because I didn't read the instructions carefully, and I had to relocate my hub to a better spot to get it to connect reliably. The second one connected right up even though it is about as far away from the new hub location as the first one was from the old hub location and it's been completely reliable, so I'm not sure why I had issues at first. I have a third one on the way to replace my last old lock.
Downsides are that I'm not thrilled that they use older 500-series z-wave chips and connect using S0. Upsides are they are available in a keyless model, so there is no concern with bump/pick attacks. The outside part of the keyless model is very small which I think looks nicer than bulkier options. I went with the keypad model over the touchscreen because two of the locks will get a lot of afternoon sun and I wasn't sure how the touchscreen would hold up over time, plus you have to touch the touch screen to wake it up before typing the code, which effectively makes every unlock take an extra press.
While I have zigbee door sensors on all of my doors, the Yale locks come with a magnet that can be installed to detect if the door is open and to ensure it only locks once closed if you use the auto-lock function. It also has bluetooth and can auto-unlock using the Yale app. I haven't tried the auto-lock or auto-unlock yet, nor have I had them long enough to assess battery life. If you buy direct from Yale there is a 10% off coupon code you can find online.
I have had great luck with Yale Assure 2 ZWave. I now have 3 of them.
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