With over 250,000 home burglaries per year in England and Wales, keeping our homes safe and secure is an ongoing task and our home security needs should always be looked at, reviewed and updated where necessary. One thing every home or office has is doors with locks, whether that is external doors or even internal doors. With door locks comes door keys, which can be lost, stolen and copied, letting others gain entry into your home or accessing rooms within your home. But as with a lot of home security measures, door locks are getting smarter, and you can ditch those keys and have keyless entry with a smart lock, a fingerprint door lock from WELOCK!
WELOCK is a leading smart home access tech company with over 10 years experience in home access solutions. They focus on smart door lock development and have technology packed smart door locks that use a variety of methods to open them – keypads, smartphone access, fingerprints, WiFi remote access and RFID cards. I have installed and been trying out their Smart Lock SECBN51 Fingerprint Door Lock which unlocks and opens the door using fingerprint, RFID card and Bluetooth App and can be remotely opened if you pair it with their Wifibox bridge.
How many times have you misplaced your keys or can’t find them in your bag? With a fingerprint door lock that is no longer an issue. No more standing at the door hunting for keys. Just put your finger or thumb on the lock and within 1 second the door opens (if you are an authorised user of course). More secure than a key, much faster than a key, more convenient and easier than a key and turns a tedious repetitive task that we all do several times a day just that little bit more hassle-free.
The WELOCK Smart Lock SECBN51 Fingerprint Door Lock is an electronic biometric smart door lock where your fingerprint is the key to unlocking the door. It can also be opened using a RFID card or phone app. It is more secure than a standard key lock as only registered users can gain entry. More convenient than keys as you have nothing to carry around. And gives you better peace of mind as you have no keys to lose, misplace, or have stolen.
Before you rush out and upgrade your doors with smart locks, a word of warning – the WELOCK Smart Lock SECBN51 Fingerprint Door Lock isn’t suitable for all door types. It is suitable for doors with a thickness of 30-70mm with a European Standard Lock Cylinder (it is not compatible with UK Oval Cylinders, Knob Cylinders or Swiss Round Cylinders). The cylinder hole in the door must be 40mm from the door frame. Please check your door carefully before purchasing a smart door lock or use the handy chat function on the WELOCK website to ask any questions before purchase.
In the box:
- WELOCK Fingerprint Smart Lock
- RFID cards (x3)
- Special Allen Key
- Lock Cylinder Extension and Screw
- Small Phillips Screwdriver
- Thimble
- Small Fixing Screws (x4)
- Silicone Plugs (x2)
- Small Storage Box for screws and tools
- Instruction Manuals (English, French, Italian, German and Spanish)
After you have determined that the lock will fit your door and ordered, it really is easy to install, and for those who aren’t great at DIY, no drilling is involved. It should only take around 10 minutes to install.
For extra help you can scan the QR on the handle to view the manual, download the app, read the FAQs or even chat via Whatsapp.
Using the small crosshead screwdriver and hex key that are supplied with the smart lock, open up the lock with the hex hey, adjusting the length, installing 3x AAA batteries (if you use good quality batteries they should last 8-10 months, based on opening the door 10 times per day), and then adding users fingerprints (make sure that you add the admin fingerprint before installing and remove the default one – by default any fingerprint can unlock it). The length of the lock can be easily adjusted to fit most doors by adding the extension. Make sure that the fingerprint handle is on the outside of the door.
The lock is very easy to install on to the door. The lock can have 3 admin fingerprints and support up to 100 fingerprints in total. You can also register up to 20 RFID cards (3 are supplied with the lock). Setting the fingerprints is simple – press the SET/WAKE UP button on the handle for 5 seconds and register the prints (admins will have to verify the fingerprint).
Once the lock is installed and any fingerprints, RFID cards or remote unlocking set up, the door can now be unlocked by pressing the WAKE UP button and putting your finger on the reader. The door will unlock within 0.5 seconds and it has a 98% accuracy rate. I haven’t experienced any failures yet (I would imagine problems arise from dirty fingers, not placing finger on scanner properly – the same type of problems you have if using your fingerprint to unlock your phone).
You can also use RFID cards to gain access by touching the card to the reader. These are perfect for guest access so that you don’t have to register/de-register fingerprints just for one off or very occasional use. Once the cards are paired with the lock, just give the card to your guest and they can gain access to the room only whilst in possession of the card. Extremely handy for giving someone temporary access to a room. You can also unlock the door using the app on your phone (it is available for free for Android and iOS).
This is an electronic lock, that means it requires a power source. It is powered by 3x AAA batteries and anything that requires battery power can be a source of worry – what happens if the batteries run out? Are you then locked out forever? No, the lock features a battery status indicator, audible alarm and portable power bank emergency backup power option if they did expire. The battery status is displayed on the screen and will alert you when the batteries are low and need changing. This is simple and quick to do using the tools provided. If the worst did happen and the batteries did run out of power, there is no need to worry about getting access to the room. The lock features a portable power bank option to unlock it. Just pull down the rubber cover where the QR code is and plug a portable power bank in to the micro USB port. Don’t worry, no one can just plug in a power bank and open the door, once the power bank is plugged you will need to use the app (and be a registered user) to open the door.
The WELOCK smart door lock is IP54 weatherproof rated (dust and water resilient) and is suited for internal doors or external doors that have a roof covering like a porch, not doors or gates that are permanently exposed and open to direct wet weather. It has a working temperature of between -10°C and 60°C.
Using the free app will also unlock the door (Bluetooth and remote unlock) but also has other features. Through the app you can manage fingerprints and RFID access and all unlock records are synced to the app so you can see who and at what time somebody accessed the door.
Overall, the WELOCK Smart Lock SECBN51 Fingerprint Door Lock is a great electronic lock for secure keyless entry. Prefect for internal doors, home office or bedroom etc., but it can also be used on external doors is the right circumstance as long as they have a roof covering and some protection from the weather.
If you have a porch or roof covered door, depending on how comfortable you are with having a smart lock on your main door, you don’t have to worry about forgetting your keys, the kids can let themselves in after school, carers can gain quick and easy access without the need for a key and there is no need for hideaway keys or wall-mounted external key safes.
Personally, I’m not sure about using a smart lock on the main door even though it is no less secure than a key lock (it is probably more secure). Although to use remotely you do need to use it with the WELOCK Wifibox. I am however very happy to use it internally on bedroom doors and my home office and it isn’t just for the home, it would be perfect for the workplace too.
As it can be remotely unlocked (with the addition of the optional Wifibox, sold separately), there is a very small risk of hacking but WELOCK use state-of-the-art banking-grade encryption technology to ensure each lock is encrypted and protected. Using with the app and Bluetooth requires you to have the phone and app within 10ft of the door lock.
The lock is extremely easy to install if you have a suitable door and cylinder lock. No drilling or cutting into the door or frame is required. Once installed, it is simple to setup and administer with access easily monitored on the app.
As for the look of the lock, it is aesthetically pleasing in black and silver and the handles don’t protrude too far from the door. Unlocking is simple with a fingerprint and then twisting to open – you just open as normal from inside the room – no fingerprints, cards or app needed. It makes opening a door quicker than looking for your keys and you don’t have to worry about forgetting them.
If you have embraced smart security within your home, the WELOCK Smart Lock SECBN51 Fingerprint Door Lock is a piece of hi-tech equipment to keep doors locked and only giving access to people that require it. That could be for bedrooms, office doors or even storage cupboards or basement doors that you don’t want the kids to access but you still need simple quick and easy access to. I would say that it is much more suited for internal security rather than the main door. It is a prefect and secure lock and the convenience of not having to search for keys is excellent as well as adding some extra security to doors inside your home or workplace.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £199 (£159 with discount code below)
For more information or to buy, visit welock.com. To save £40, use discount code welock40 at checkout.