- Guys, today we're gonna check out
a brand new fingerprint smart lock from eufy.
Let's check it out.
(upbeat music)
Welcome back friends.
If this is your first time here,
my name is Eric.
If you're in the smart home, home automation,
and especially HomeKit,
you're definitely in the right place.
Today's video unfortunately,
is not part of my HomeKit series just yet
but I will talk more about that in a few moments.
For full disclosure,
eufy did send this out to me for a full honest review,
but that's not gonna sway my opinion
in one way or another.
If I don't like something
I'm definitely gonna let you know.
And I definitely don't like something with this lock.
So stay till the end
and I'll let you know what's going on.
Now that's all out of the way, let's jump into this review.
I gotta tell you from the get-go when I unboxed this thing,
this (chuckling) thing is built like a tank.
This thing is actually one of the heaviest,
if not the heaviest lock I've ever tested or reviewed.
I've reviewed a bunch of 'em.
I've seen a bunch of 'em at CVS and other places.
This thing is a tank.
This thing is full metal everywhere you look is metal.
There is no plastic pieces,
I think the only plastic I actually found
was the back cover where the battery goes,
everything else (chuckling) is full metal
and this thing is definitely built like a tank.
And I understand why they got a BHMA certified, which stands
for the Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association,
which has performance standards that this lock has met.
So if you're looking for a lock that meets those standards,
this is definitely a good choice
but unfortunately, when it comes to smart locks,
they dropped the ball on this one.
In addition to being built like a tank,
they actually have some specialty keys
that I've never seen before.
I used to work at a hardware store when I was younger
and I've never seen keys like this.
I'm sure the LockPickingLawyer has seen keys like this
and he can probably pick something like this
but I definitely have not.
It's actually curved on one side
with the teeth grooves on the other.
I'm not gonna show you what my keys look like
'cause then you can make the key or I'm assuming you could.
They actually include five copies of the key.
So, no worries about getting extra keys,
this is enough for your entire family.
But you definitely don't wanna lose these
'cause I'm sure these are not readily available.
Installation is pretty much just like any other smart lock.
To meet that BHMA standard though,
you will have to install a strike plate reinforcer,
which they do include with some extra long screws.
Unfortunately I'm not into chiseling out
that extra space that you need for this reinforcer.
So I just kept the one that I have.
But otherwise this is pretty much a straightforward install
just like any other smart lock.
It took me maybe about 15 minutes.
If you guys wanna see how I installed this,
just like any other smart lock,
I'll definitely leave a couple other videos right there
where you can check out.
And when it came to setting up with the app,
it's pretty straightforward.
It walks you through the entire process.
(chiming music)
- [Voice Assistant] Welcome to eufy security,
please download the eufy security app to complete setup.
- You will have to calibrate, which is super easy.
Just shut the door and lock it.
- [Voice Assistant] Calibration Complete.
- You then have to set a password for yourself.
It'll have to be between four and eight digits,
has to be a little bit more complex.
It can't be like one, two, three, four,
or one, one, one.
So for this review, I am doing one, three, five, seven.
You'll then have to set up your fingerprints.
It'll have you press on the fingerprint reader
for each finger eight different times
so you can move it around each and every time.
If you want to, you can set other fingers
or you can register the same finger again
and move it around even more
if that way you get less false rejects
when you're actually trying to use the lock.
Also with the fingerprints,
they do mention that they are stored locally,
they are not stored on your phone.
They are not stored in the web.
They are stored on the actual device, which is really cool.
and that way you know your privacy
is a little bit more protected.
This is all calibrated.
You can go ahead and unlock it and lock it via the app.
You just slide up and down and it works fairly well.
Unfortunately, this does work with Bluetooth,
which I'll talk more about in a moment
but let's go ahead and jump into some of the settings
and see what it does.
Now it does have a nice battery meter in the settings.
They do say it lasts about a year or so.
I will be updating my full pros and cons list
and letting you know how the battery life is doing.
So if you guys wanna see that,
definitely check that out right up there.
But not to worry, if your batteries die
you're not going to get locked out of your house.
You can take a little portable charger and plug it in
in the bottom of the device on the exterior assembly,
which will kind of like jumpstart it
just so you can get able to get in
and change out the batteries.
They also have a Auto Lock feature.
So once the door is closed,
it will start a timer depending on what setting you have.
So once the door is shut,
if you have it set for 30 seconds,
it's gonna lock that door in 30 seconds.
Normally, I don't like that type of feature
'cause of it you can get locked out
even though this does have a keypad
and a fingerprint reader on the front.
So it's not a huge deal with this type of lock.
I'm just not big fan of it.
Now with this one, there is a schedule though,
which I really, really like.
That scheduling feature will allow that Auto Lock
to work at a specific time.
So, for instance,
I only want that Auto Lock to work after like nine o'clock
all the way up to six o'clock in the morning.
If it's during the day,
I don't want that Auto Lock to work,
(light music) but after 9:00 p.m.,
I definitely want that Auto Lock to work,
which is really nice.
I'm actually gonna be using that with this lock.
However, I did notice about 10% of the time
it would not auto lock,
even though the door was shut after at 9:00 p.m..
I would like to see that to be 100% reliable
but unfortunately it is not.
I also noticed that it doesn't tell, you in the app,
if the door is open or closed,
even though it's supposed to know.
So I would like to see them update the apps,
just to notify you if the door is actually open or closed,
'cause you can actually lock it and the door not be shut
and it's gonna say that it's actually locked.
I also tested the Jam feature.
If your lock does jam up, it will let you know in the app.
And it also verbally tells you.
(phone chimes)
- [Voice Assistant] The door failed to lock.
Please make sure it's closed
and the deadbolt is not blocked.
- You also have One-Touch locking
which you can hold the lock button on the outside lock
to lock it.
That way you don't have to use the app.
They also have Wrong-Try Protection,
which limits the amount of tries
that someone can try to hack into your lock.
Once that has been reached say,
you know, you can say personally has three tries
before it times out.
And you can put it in different amount of times,
put in different amount of tries.
It's all up to your personal preference.
Scramble password is also a nice feature.
So if someone is standing next to you when you're starting
to put in your four or eight digit password,
you can actually put in additional numbers
and no one's gonna really know what your password is
because they see you put in 12 digits,
but it's actually only four.
So it's really nice that you can do that plus, you know,
the more of fingerprints that you have all over it,
it's less likely someone can know your password
from identifying where your fingerprints are.
And then you can turn on and off the locking sounds
which is a nice feature
and you might save a little bit battery life on that.
It's all personal preference.
You can also manage the access so you can create other users
for passwords or for fingerprints.
You can also control when they can actually access it like,
It'd be like a one-time thing or a specific time
but you have to do all this within Bluetooth range.
You can also see event history
to see who's been using the lock.
But unfortunately, if they've been using it manually,
you can't tell who it's been.
There are four different ways that you can unlock this lock.
There is the key, the keypad, the fingerprint reader
and also the app.
I gotta talk about this fingerprint reader for a moment.
I've actually tested out fingerprint readers before
in other locks, I gotta tell you this is pretty fast.
It's hard to say that it's the fastest,
but it's fast enough.
And they actually say
that you can unlock this lock in 0.3 seconds.
And most of the time that is true.
But if you don't have your finger on there the entire way
or if it's the wrong side,
unfortunately (wheezes) it does give you that error.
I would say nine times out of 10,
you're gonna get in pretty fast,
but it's that one time
that you might have to do it two or three times,
and that's just fingerprint locks for you.
In the near future I might be doing a comparison
of different fingerprint locks.
If you guys wanna see which fingerprint lock
is the fastest,
let me know down in the comments below.
Now unfortunately those are the only four ways
that you can use this lock.
It does not work with Linear, Google or HomeKit.
There's a possibility that those might come
in the near future.
There's a few different ways that they can do this
even though it is a Bluetooth lock.
They hadn't mentioned any other technologies
that are built in here.
No Zigbee, No Z-Wave or anything proprietary.
One, they can use the Bluetooth with like a HomeKit hub,
which also has Bluetooth.
I definitely can see that coming.
They can also do a bridge or a gateway.
Now they already have something called the Homebase
or the Homebase 2.
I'm not quite sure what technologies or communication
that are in those.
Don't think it is Bluetooth
but maybe they're hiding something in here
that will be able to communicate with those in near future.
I'm not quite sure, I was not able to get any answers.
Hopefully they will work in the near future
with those three platforms because without this,
unfortunately (wheezes) this is not much of a smart lock.
And that is the issue I have with this lock.
Even though it's a solid lock, it's built like a tank.
And it is everything you ever wanted in a smart lock,
except for the smart, where is the smart?
There is nothing smart about this.
Yes, it has a fingerprint reader.
Yes, it has a keypad and it works even with your phone.
But to really get advanced, smart technology,
you gotta work with these voice assistants and platforms.
And without that it's just not worth
the $250 they are asking.
I would say probably hold off on this lock
'cause any smart home enthusiasm
knows that this is not really part of your smart home
'cause it doesn't talk with other things.
Yes, it talks with your phone which is great,
but you want a smart lock to work with your home.
And that's the whole point of a smart home lock.
And this doesn't have that just yet.
So, hopefully it will have HomeKit in near future.
It does have Bluetooth so it can work with the HomeKit hub.
Of course your limit is that 30 to 40 foot range
with a single hub.
So if you have a bigger house like I do,
you will have to buy multiple hubs.
Hopefully those will be coming.
Personally I think they will be,
unfortunately the source that I have at eufy
couldn't tell me if those are actually in the works or not.
But knowing eufy and how they have other products
with those innovations,
(pop music) I have a feeling
it is coming.
So, fingers crossed that it will.
If you guys wanna see the next video in my HomeKit series,
check that out right there.
And if you guys like this video,
I hope you will consider subscribing
by pressing that blue circle.
And I will see you on the next video.
Thanks for watching.
♪ No nothing can break me. ♪