Keyless Front Door Locks / Cameras

[Anonymous]

I almost put this in the tech forum, but figured it belongs here.

We just moved into a new house and their front door lock is bizarrely complicated. I want to replace it with something keyless, and also want a camera, but have no idea where to start. Do I just get a Ring with some kind of smartlock? What kind of smartlock? Are they hard to install or do I need a locksmith to do it? One that takes multiple codes would be great as I could set one up for our dog walkers.

Thanks, forgive my ignorance with regard to tech.

[Anonymous]

I have a keyless door, and a ring camera doorbell.

One code, but you can change it. Why do you need multiple codes? Change the battery once a year.

Get a ring doorbell cam. Charge when needed. Not complicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a keyless door, and a ring camera doorbell.

One code, but you can change it. Why do you need multiple codes? Change the battery once a year.

Get a ring doorbell cam. Charge when needed. Not complicated.

If you have a lot of service folks in and out of your home -- cleaners, dog walkers, etc -- it's best to program it with multiple codes. Then you don't have to change your own code every time you switch service providers.

[Anonymous]

It a fan of the keyless locks. I’ve had the battery go dead on me when I tried to enter late at night on a cold day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: It a fan of the keyless locks. I’ve had the battery go dead on me when I tried to enter late at night on a cold day.

Oh. Gosh. Ok. Hadn't thought of that.

[Anonymous]

We have a Yale keyless lock. It speaks (when you enter the code) to tell you that the battery is low, replace the battery. It's the only time it speaks. I just changed the batteries for the 3rd time in the almost 6 years we've had this lock. You can have different codes. Ours is connected to our home security app so I can also unlock it from my cell if someone has arrived at our house before me or something and I need to let them in. I think there's a Yale app too, but not sure since ours is accessed thru the home security app. We have a wired ring doorbell too, though I think the wireless ones are fine too, you just have to charge more often maybe. (Even the wired ones, you do have to charge the rechargeable battery maybe every year? to keep all the video-ing going, but if wired it will ring as a doorbell in your house even if the battery-powered video recording and intercom functionality is dead by any chance.

[Anonymous]

We have a keyless lock on the front door only, so if the battery dies (which it hasn’t, btw) we’d just use a key to enter a different door. You should still carry a house key even if you have a keyless lock.

[Anonymous]

I hate my keyless door but I rent so not much I can do about it but I'm moving soon. New place will have a locking door with key and ring camera.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: It a fan of the keyless locks. I’ve had the battery go dead on me when I tried to enter late at night on a cold day.

Oh. Gosh. Ok. Hadn't thought of that.

Most of these have manual locks in case the keypad fails - look at Kwikset and Schlage.

[Anonymous]

Can be hacked in under 3 seconds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can be hacked in under 3 seconds.

Yup. Not to mention monitored by others.
People love new tech and are easily swayed by marketing gimmicks.

[Anonymous]

We have an August lock that has both a key and remote entry. Batteries need to be replaced relatively often (multiple times a year) but it’s great for remotely letting people into the house and for peace of mind (did I forget to lock the door?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a Yale keyless lock. It speaks (when you enter the code) to tell you that the battery is low, replace the battery. It's the only time it speaks. I just changed the batteries for the 3rd time in the almost 6 years we've had this lock. You can have different codes. Ours is connected to our home security app so I can also unlock it from my cell if someone has arrived at our house before me or something and I need to let them in. I think there's a Yale app too, but not sure since ours is accessed thru the home security app. We have a wired ring doorbell too, though I think the wireless ones are fine too, you just have to charge more often maybe. (Even the wired ones, you do have to charge the rechargeable battery maybe every year? to keep all the video-ing going, but if wired it will ring as a doorbell in your house even if the battery-powered video recording and intercom functionality is dead by any chance.

Have thr nest yale lock paired with nest camera and it does everything describing above through our nest app which may be changing soon

[Anonymous]

When your kids get to the tween years they can let themselves in without having to worry about them losing keys. This is one major advantage for us.

[Anonymous]

We have the Schlage Encode and love it. I installed it myself, and I am not all that handy. It is great - you can have lots of codes, and you can set them for only certain times (for contractors etc). It has a key backup; I've never used it. The batteries last awhile, and you get a warning when they are low.

https://www.schlage.com/en/home/smart-locks/encode.html

For doorbell cameras, I've used Ring and Eufy. Both are fine. Ring you need to pay a subscription to have access to video recordings; Eufy you don't (recordings are stored locally).