Don't buy it. Doesn't work and can't get my money back
I ordered this in September but did not have it installed until November. Less than a month after installing the lock, it still would not allow me to use the fingerprint to open or tapping on my phone. And the low battery indicator started. So I replaced the batteries and then the door locked me out. I could not use the external key - it wouldn't open. The battery was not working and the key didnt' work. I called the manufacturer and they basically said sorry, call a lock smith. I paid $191 for the lock and $140 for the lock smith. The next day the lock locked me out again. I was so mad I jiggled the door and then it unlocked. Needless to say, I immediately removed the door lock and purchased another one from Home Depot that has been working great. I did not trust the lock. Amazon can't give me a full refund because it's been over 30 days since purchased. I don't want a replacement, I don't trust it. Don't buy this lock. I'm out $191 for the lock, $140 for the lock smith, and $150 for a replacement lock. Right before christmas.
1its awesome. Setting it up is easy
If your thinking about this lock, its awesome. Setting it up is easy, however if you are going to setup the Bluetooth on multiple phones under multiple accounts, you need to let it rest for a bit between setups (I don't know why, maybe its processing just like when I reset my router it takes 3 min to see the signal again) . anyway after you set it up on one phone and test that it works, power off that phone or turn off Bluetooth and wait 5min (a real five min, time it) then set up the 2nd phone. if you try to set them up right after eachother you can expect a headache and you might even think its defective. its not. just give it 5 min before programing the next number.Intstall was a piece of cake. fits any normal door knob hole.
5Not a perfect system, but still worth a purchase
I purchased this for my apartment building in December. A few things: first, I don't own the building, but I am a longtime tenant. It is a 7 unit-building with three exterior entrances. The property manager lives in the building and runs the (absentee) owner's company. We live a few blocks off Haight Street in San Francisco, and package theft for items left on the front porch has been an issue. I offered to purchase locks for the exterior doors (all three) if the property manager took care of the installation (and any flak from the owner). Since I plan on staying in the building for a long time, it was an expense that I was willing to bear.That out of the way, here are my impressions and those of my fellow tenants:Ease of Setup: 2 stars. It isn't too difficult to set up the Utraloqs on first blush, and it looks like you can quickly copy the setup from one lock to another, but it is actually a pain if you are trying to create entries for multiple users. For our setup, the property manager and I were to be administrators. In my professional life, I have more than a passing familiarity with good security (technical and otherwise) practices, and I also set up a separate user account for both of us (which was good, because the property manager quickly forgot the administrator account that I had set up but had no problem remembering the user account). But for each unit in the building, I had to assign a number to each intended user, because you use the keypad to add all the new accounts and it is numeric only. I had to assign one for each tenant, and not each apartment, because the biometric captures only one finger per user account. Then I realized that some of us (myself included) wanted to record a finger from each hand, to make it easier to use if we were carrying a package, which meant I had to make two user accounts for each person that wanted to record two fingers. And while using the keypad is convenient in that you don't need an app to add users, it is certainly a pain from the perspective of User Interface. It should be noted that there is a place in the Ultraloq App for you to add a name to a user, but more on that below.Installation: I didn't handle this, a trained locksmith did, but he said it was painless and asked me about the locks, as he may start recommending them to others.Battery life: 5 out of 5. They have been in use constantly for four months with no issues. Batteries are AA, and I am using AmazonBasics rechargeables without an issue.Usage - Keypad: 4 out of 5. The keypad stays asleep (and dark) until you need to use it, then it wakes up. You type in your code and press the enter key, which is a symbol (look at the picture of the keypad if you don't know what I mean). I have only had one person that couldn't figure out how to use the keypad, and to be fair, there's no indication that you need to press enter, but everyone else, from delivery drivers to cleaning services, figured it out on their own.Usage - Biometrics: 4 out of 5. The reader wakes up very quickly, and when it gets it right on the first try, it is amazingly fast. However, your mileage will vary based on the placement of your finger (relative to when you originally recorded it), the weather (if it is cold or very dry, the reader may have more difficulty than during warmer weather), the cleanliness of the reader (obviously, if it is smudged with mud, it won't work so well) and the condition of your chosen finger. One trick that works when it's cold or your skin is dry - touch the surface of your finger to your forehead, then touch the reader, and the additional transferred skin oil aids the reader in picking up your whorls and ridges.Usage - Bluetooth: NR. Honestly, none of us use this. I tested it and it works, but a sample size of one test use is insufficient for a rating.Usage - Manual Key: NR. The keys exist for emergencies and should not be used as a regular means of opening the locks. The company says this, our locksmith said this, and they definitely feel flimsy.Ultraloq App: 2 out of 5. The app exists. It shows you the locks. It works most of the time to open them. It has difficulty maintaining a connection when performing administrative maintenance. It lacks the ability to move most of the administration work from the lock to the app. It *does* keep a security log of who has successfully used the lock and any unsuccessful attempts, as well as administrative logins; however, it is difficult to maintain a connection long enough to download the log. It does monitor rough battery status, but I have found this to be very unreliable.Right now, I am awaiting the release of the bridges that upgrade the usability of these locks. In theory this will allow me to set certain codes to only work during certain days / times (like delivery drivers) and more easily administer the locks for the building. I purchased three of the bridges, but they have yet to be released by Ultraloq.In conclusion, despite the fact I didn't just give everything five stars and say the locks are amazing, these are pretty good locks for the money. They do about 75% of what we need them to do, and they work flawlessly about 90% of the time. Not a single tenant has complained about the switch; on the contrary, almost everyone in the building has thanked me for purchasing them for the building. The property manager has left me with the responsibility of maintaining the user database until it's a bit easier, but I don't mind. Most of the delivery companies have no problems using the codes we have given them, with the notable exception of Amazon Logistics (who keeps leaving packages on the porch without even trying the code, but we are working on this) and OnTrac (although we may have them onboard now). If the functionality of the smartphone interface, the ease of adding, deleting, and modifying users, or the enhanced capabilities of the forthcoming bridges were addressed, I would not hesitate to give this five stars. Until then, this is not a perfect system, but I do recommend it.
4Did not hold up after 4.5 months of use. Buyer beware.
I bought this product for our home in a beach community. The door and lock are under cover and not exposed to wind or rain at all but are outside under the house. We have lots of friends and family come by so thought this would be a great product. We installed this 7.15.18. In September we had a friend borrow the house and they had difficulty opening the door. Only the admin code worked. Fast forward to 11.30.18 and I go down to let in a repair person. The door would say it would open and would not release the locking mechanism. Tried multiple times, with phone, keypad and fingerprint and it would not open.I had to call a locksmith in order to have them open which they did, in less then two seconds with a readily available item they were able to enter the house. While further examining the lock I noticed in less then 4.5 months there was noticeable pitting of the metal (please see pictures). This lock would never hold up even if I replaced it with a new one. I had to replace the lock immediately as I couldn t just live without one.I contacted the manufacturer and told them of the issue and they said they would replace. I said that I didn t want a replacement that I would like a refund. Unfortunately their product wouldn t hold up as it had been only 4.5 months and it fell apart. The declined as I bought through Amazon. Thankfully the people at Amazon took this product back, but I wouldn t buy again. Their customer service group has something to be desired. Buy this product at your own risk for exterior entry. The fact that it degraded in such a short period of time and was able to be bypassed by a locksmith in under two seconds should give you second thoughts.
1Nice design but poor functionality
Nice design/build quality. But the fingerprint recognition simply does not work. I use this lock at my office for an employee-only door for about 25 people. We ALL have trouble with the fingerprint scanner occasionally not recognizing our fingerprints and not letting us in. We've tried re-scanning, wiping our fingers, cleaning the glass, etc. The fingerprint access works about 50% of the time, and there doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason when it works and when it doesn't. Sometimes the same person will fail about 10 times, then on the 11th time (doing nothing different) the lock decides to work. It's become so frustrating that we all just enter our 4-digit codes instead of using our fingerprints -- which entirely defeats the purpose of getting this device. Not sure if the company can come out with a firmware update or not (perhaps the tolerance threshold is too high?) but for now (May 2018), I cannot recommend this product.
1Very difficult to use when exposed to direct sun light.
Seems to be built well but that s about it. Finger print reader is spotty at best, just will not read my prints. knock to open does not work & it s very slow to hook up to bluetooth. Using number code to open seems to work pretty good but you can t see the numbers in the morning when the sun is coming up. Hard to program! Should have provision for programming on the desk before installation. Needs allot of work!
1Well designed and simply installed.
I'm a mechanical engineer and sort of a first adopter. I discovered Ultraloq on Indigogo early this year and decided to fund and order 2 units. These were not on Amazon at that point. Recently I received my units and I am quite impressed. This unit combines more access feature/methods than any other in my research. Their website based info, printed template and instruction sheet and even tools you need are supplied in a well designed product box. There are a choice of finishes, I selected the satin as it is nearly a perfect match to my existing home hardware. And, because you can simply adapt the handle for either direction I knew I could have choices of where I installed this.If you have a garage with a normal fireproof door that allows you to enter your home like I do, you will appreciate the unit. I have to carry a lot of keys and usually have both hands full as I approach the door. I have found it easy to stick out 1 or another of my fingers to open via the Ultraloq scanner in just a few seconds and do not need to put down my stuff first. My photos and videos uploaded here show the various finger, code, phone app or standard key method to open. The code tag and 2 keys they supply are really only needed in the event you have not noticed the low battery warnings which (they claim) come long before they are unable to power the latch. Note that it takes a few steps from the lock itself or phone app to put this lock into "passage" mode where it remains unlocked. I do wish that were easier or geo-fenced so that doing that on occasion is not necessary.Mechanically this unit is very solidly built in my opinion. The handle normally rotates when the door is locked. But the mechanism does not move the interior bolt until the electronics operate the internal motor. This does feel different than ordinary locks and confuses our visitors if we forget to mention it.I decided to program the finger scanner for several fingers on each hand and also for my wife. I'd say it reads and opens maybe 90% on first try. It is a bit fussy. Entering a code is easy and always works. I like that you only need 4 digits, but you can enter other digits before and after those if someone is watching and it is highly unlikely they could memorize all those. The lock sees your particular code within what you enter.When I went to install this, it was very simple. Removing the old lock and handles allowed me to measure and see no modifications at all were needed in my case. The Ultraloq fit installed per instructions. As my door is metal skinned I did have a concern because there are two "teeth" on the door side of the lock that need to bite into the surface to aid security from force turning it. It takes a lot of tightening to make those dig in. Otherwise it does not sit flat either. I was just nervous about over tightening and breaking something. If you take off the lock later, there will be little dents from this. You may not need to install the frame strike the supply if you old one fits. I decided to do that anyways, and needed to notch the wood corners to fit as the original one at curved corners.I do wish the lock stayed open longer which is why I had to go 4 vs 5 stars. It is only about 10 seconds which I found inconvenient. But this uses a lot of the battery power and I understand why it is kept short to prolong battery life. Those are 3 AA under the black cover on the interior side. Another reason to keep it short are commercial use applications where you want to make it difficult for a second person to re-open immediately with no code and sneak in. I hope the few photos of the app and videos of lock open methods are useful. I just hope I can get them out of my iphone. (Amazon does not allow multiple videos, so I will come back and upload a combined one.Also, actually programming the sensor to identify your finger took several tries to get the sequence of that correct and working.Before you order, make sure you are getting the model you want. Must decide metal finish, and with or without Bluetooth option although they may have standardized on the latter.This is a good product and I recommend it.
4Not reliable in colder weather
I looked very hard to find a biometric and keypad device for our exterior door. I saw that reviews were good for this product and it had the features I wanted. Sadly I could have spent half the money and just gotten a keypad device. As soon as the temp dropped below 50 degrees the fingerprint scanner is completely unreliable. A lot of times it doesn't even try to read the print, other times after about 10 seconds it will just come back and say failure. The key pad does seem to still work. But I feel like I got half a product for twice the price. Would not recommend it if the temp in you area drops below 50 degrees F.
1Great concepts, execution isn't there yet
Bought this electronic lock for our back door two years ago. My wife had been wanting more smart style devices in the house and I thought the UL3 would be a cool addition. Out of the box everything looks great. The two assemblies are hefty and seem well made. Installation was straightforward, the descriptions were clear and concise. The phone app is OK, I was able to get our codes and fingerprints put into the system easily enough.Over the long haul, things aren't so smooth. The knock on your phone feature has never worked on either of our phones. The fingerprint reader works well when the outside temperature is above the mid-60s, below that and the success rate falls. The 5 on the light-up number pad has gotten quirky, we have to press it several times for it to register.Mechanically, the lock has been less impressive. A year into ownership the inside handle had become jiggly. I contacted u-tec customer service and they sent me a video of how to fix it. Unfortunately, that became a monthly ritual.More recently, the spring within the inside knob post has broken, so now the inside knob flops down after turning the handle. We're still able to get into and out of the house, but we have to manually twist the handle back up. Again, I contacted customer service, sent them a video, and to their credit, on a Sunday they sent me an RMA form for a new spring along with videos of how to replace it.So now two years into it I've had to perform several manual repairs on a lock that cost $250. My wife and I aren't hard on doorknobs, we've never had to replace one for mechanical reasons. I think the Ultraloq is a great concept but the quality of some of the internals isn't there. I certainly expected the mechanicals to outlast the 10 year old $30 knob it replaced. Now I'm having to decide between repairing this lock or just buying something else.
2It's easy to use
This lock is ALMOST the complete package, It's easy to use, has great features. The fingerprint identification is fast, key entry works great, and flawless bluetooth. I love the little perk where you can knock on the phone in your pocket 4 times and the lock will open. I love that it keeps a log of entries as well, and that the keys and fingerprint reader are backlit.Seems really high quality build. Easy handle change for direction of door.The only feature that this lock is missing, is the ability to send a 'key' to another smart phone, so that you can remotely provide access to a third party. Since the lock already works with my phone's bluetooth, it would seem to be reasonable to expect a software upgrade in the future where the company provides this ability. I should be able to send a 'key' to someone else's phone that would enable their phone's bluetooth to open the lock, similar to what August and others do. I hope to see that feature in the future, which would be the final element to make this lock perfect.
4
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