The security needs of home and commercial establishments have undergone tremendous change over the years. Today, companies and homeowners are confronted with complicated issues related to protecting door entry into their property by way of bypassing locks through picking, lock bumping, or forced entry.
Who Makes the Best Locks?
To put the user back in control of their property, leading global lock makers have developed and designed a wide range of high security, technology-intensive, and innovative products that address the evolving needs effectively. Besides, re-engineering door locks, superb designing and craftsmanship, and innovative solutions, today’s global lock-industry players have come through a series of mergers and acquisitions. There has been a consolidation of brands at the top level resulting in a few powerful and truly global lock brands.
If you are in the market to find the best door locking solution for your home or office, here is a list of 6 best door lock brands. This should give you a fair idea of the kind of products, which are available in the market, and what to expect from them. Read more
Padlocks come in different sizes, with different ways to open and with different levels of security. They can be priced from just a few dollars to several hundreds of dollars. But which is the best padlock for you? Over the course of 20 years as a locksmith business we definitely have an opinion on the subject.
For those wanting our top picks, our recommended best padlocks are:
Are you considering access control for your business? There are many advantages to these systems. I am often asked, “What will it cost to install access control?” The answer usually starts with, “What do you want in a system?” but there are some general guidelines. What does access control cost? Access control pricing varies Read more
Many file cabinets come with pre-installed locks. If you lose those keys, no problem. We can make a key for the cabinet at your location or ours. Even if the lock is missing, we can simply replace it and get you one your way with new keys. We Make File Cabinet Keys
But what about when the mechanical linkage is broken within the file cabinet? The lock is present, and the key turns it, but the cabinet can’t be locked. In this case, finding and repairing file cabinet linkage is very difficult if at all possible. If it is an inexpensive file cabinet, it’s not worth it. But if they are expensive file cabinets, their is a more affordable way to secure them.
The simpliest and most secure solution is to install an external file cabinet lock. These locks have three major advantages over the lock that was pre-installed.
File cabinet locking bars are more secure than the factory installed lock
They are locked in place by a padlock, which can be keyed up to your business key (no need for an extra key). Alternatively, a coded padlock can be used.
It is easily retrofitted to the file cabinet.
File Cabinet Locking Bar
The bars are easily opened and spring loaded to be held open until relocked. So when you want a filing cabinet without a lock secured or one where the linkage has broken, we have an affordable solution for that as well.
We’re big fans of access control and even bigger fans of access control that doesn’t require wiring. No wire runs to distant doors/gates and no power supplies required make for more affordable keyless entry solutions.
That’s why we love the Medeco XT solution. With this system the power required to track access and audit locks is maintained within the key. So no power is necessary at the lock.
Who needs the Medeco XT system? When you have doors, padlocks, or other locks across multiple sites or spaced far apart, but not a large number of users, this is the ideal, cost-effective solution.
Product Highlights Include:
Controlled Access – Keys are programmed to allow access to a given lock during a designated timeframe.
Audit Information – Audit trails are recorded at both the lock and the key. Locks record which keys have opened them and when, and the key records which locks they have opened.
Physically Strong – Attack resistant design and temper-proof features protect against forced entry.
Cloud-Based Convenience – Online access to all programming, analytics and reports.
Flexible – Medeco XT cylinders are available for all of the most common locks. There are even padlocks and cam locks.
Eliminate Re-keying – Easily remove keys that are currently authorized.
Key Control – Medeco XT Intelligent Keys cannot be copied like traditional keys.
Lock Highlights:
Hundreds of cylinder formats available
Quick and easy installation
No power or wiring
Stores up to 2000 audit events
-40 to 140 degrees
Break-away stainless steel plug means lock will fail-secure
I my opinion, there are two types of home robberies: what I call smash and grabbers and then the smart ones.
Though devastating, smash and grab robberies are usually done by kids. They quickly take what they can, and they’re out. Your insurance fixes the damage and replaces the property. It impacts your life but the impact is temporary. As the name implies, there’s clear evidence that you’ve been robbed. Broken glass, smashed locks, kicked-in doors; these things can’t be missed.
But the the smart burglar is much harder to detect. They get into your home unnoticed using techniques like lock bumping or picking. These techniques are easily learned online and the tools bought to do them cost less than a couple of dollars. When someone gains access to your house using these techniques, you’ll probably never even know they were there. Your key will still work, and the locks show no damage. But one day you discover you can’t find that expensive piece of family jewelry you had hidden in the closet (did you just misplace it?), or there’s unauthorized charges on your credit card, or worse, there are new credit cards under your name because you’re identity has been taken. Smart robbers leave no trace they’ve been in the home, target items such as mail or a few pieces of jewelry, and the results aren’t found until long after they’ve left.
How do you stop this type of robbery when even the new locks that were specifically designed to stop lock bumping and picking are vulnerable to simple, undetectable attacks? That’s were a lock and security professional comes in.
At ACME Locksmith, we evaluate your home’s entire security and identify weak areas and possible points of entry – even the ways someone can get in undetected. We recommend solutions that you can implement yourself or, if you prefer, we’d be happy to help. Our security evaluations will tell you how to:
Stop someone from getting in through weak security points such as garage doors, french doors, and sliding glass doors
Prevent your locks from being bumped or picked
Stop someone from getting your mail
Properly beef up and secure your entry doors
All home evaluations are Free if we’re onsite performing any other service.
A latch guard is a sheet of metal that covers the latch on a door. Most often, they are installed on commercial exterior doors to prevent someone from prying the door open and easily gaining access to your business. The goal of prying open a door is to move the frame of the door just enough so the latch pops out of the frame and the door opens. This is usually accomplished by a breaker bar or some other long narrow object being inserted in the crack at the latch location. Latch guards prevent objects from being inserted into the crack near the commercial door latch thus the latch can’t be forced to pop out of the door frame.
Is it overkill? Not for this business. This is a fire riser room door.
Door That Was Not Secure and Pried Open.
Almost all Arizona commercial properties have one on the building. We were recently called out to perform emergency commercial door service to secure this door. The door was pried open by a burglar. He then cut a hole in the drywall of the fire riser room to gain access to the adjacent business. The business was cleaned out.
This is door after we finished the repair. Simple fixes can make big security improvements. Don’t skimp on door security.
Latch Guard Installed on Commercial Door to Prevent Prying Door Open
We are loving this new card access lock from Schlage. At its price point, it’s one of the best card access locks available and feature rich. Full installation (parts and labor) for less than half of previous stand alone, card access systems with audit trail capability.
Replaces existing commercial-grade levers
Half the cost of traditional wireless access control for very affordable implementation
No wiring, no power supplies, always ready in case of power or network failure
Up to 5000 users
2000 event access report (audit trail)
Add and control up to 100 locks
Wifi and Bluetooth enabled for access and programming from computer computer or smartphone
Send daily automatic updates from the cloud or manually from the app
20,000 cycle battery life for up to two years of access
Supports schedules (enable and disable access based on time of day or date) with auto-lock or auto-unlock scheduling
Works with smart cards, FOBs, or proximity cards
Field reversible for left handled and right handed door
Weather resistant for exterior doors
Standard cylinder and IC Core format key override available
Bluetooth Locks are Being Released by Many Lock Manufactures. Are They Needed?
Locks just keep getting smarter and smarter. But what is needed vs what is too much?
For the past year, lock manufactures have been releasing deadbolts that can be opened via Bluetooth devices. And Master Lock has just released a padlock that can be opened via Bluetooth.
But are these devices worth it or are they just looking to jump on a technology that is currently a hot buzzword with consumers? Here’s ACME Locksmith’s thoughts.
Bluetooth locking devices tout the following benefits:
No need for keys
Share electronic access (via electronic key codes) with someone needing access right away
Some offer access history and tamper alerts
I acknowledge, I like these benefits. But with a list price over $400 is it worth it? Especially when you consider that electronic deadbolts are less than half that price and offer the SAME benefits as the Bluetooth devices. Electronic deadbolts offer Keyless entry, temporary pin codes or pin codes that can be easily removed, and in some cases (depending on the lock manufacture) tamper alerts and access history.
Our main concern with the Bluetooth home deadbolts lie within the technology itself. Bluetooth is a proximity based technology. That is, when your Bluetooth device is near the Bluetooth lock, the lock can be opened by anyone. So, if you just got home, entered the home and locked the door behind you, it is technically possible that someone behind you can then simply open the door because your Bluetooth device is near the lock. Thus the lock will offer NO PROTECTION. The home deadbolt manufactures are implementing technology that allows the lock to sense whether the Bluetooth device is outside or inside the home, but just how good this technology is has yet to be tested. Does the Bluetooth device need to be several feet inside the home??? Or is 2 feet sufficient??? Many of the deadbolts offer a calibration feature to improve the sensing of the device. How much at risk are you if you skip the calibration step? As a locksmith and security professional,these are our concerns, and we’ll wait until the technology has demonstrated itself secure before recommending it.
The new Master Lock Bluetooth padlock is more reasonably priced at around $70 (list price), and doesn’t have the same proximity security risk that the deadbolts do since they will typically be used on gates and noticing someone is possible since no door restricts your view causing a false sense of security. But, they too can be as much as 3X a good combination padlock offering many of the same benefits.
If the proximity technology proves safe, I like the idea of Bluetooth locks once the price comes down, but currently the additional benefits to justify such a large price increase (over a more proven electronic deadbolt or simply a combination padlock) just isn’t there in ACME Locksmith’s opinion. Save your money. With time, pricing will come down, the technology improved, and the Bluetooth locks will be more attractive.
