Brinks Electronic Fingerprint/Keypad Deadbolt with Pro-Guard review

Value When Reviewed

$79.99 (out there in satin nickel (as reviewed), matte black, and Tuscan bronze finishes

Greatest Costs Right this moment: Brinks Digital Fingerprint/Keypad Deadbolt with Professional-Guard

$79.99

Brinks might be the largest identify on the earth of armored vehicles, so it stands to purpose the corporate must be reliable sufficient to guard the door to your own home, proper? Properly, don’t get too excited simply but: The Brinks Digital Fingerprint/Keypad Deadbolt with Professional-Guard (whew!) door lock proudly bears the Brinks emblem, however Hampton Merchandise is the precise producer.

Hampton produces an array of locks and door {hardware} merchandise that it markets underneath numerous model names. No shade on Hampton, in fact, however shoppers ought to know who’s behind the gear they purchase.

Specs and particulars

This lock is a simple product, nevertheless it straddles the road between industrial and residential purposes. It’s not formally licensed, however Hampton says the lock meets the commercial-class ANSI Grade 3 requirements—the bottom ANSI industrial certification out there for entry locks—and that “they do take a look at to the identical actual requirements in the identical actual strategies.” The lock doesn’t carry a BHMA certification (which is extra typical for residential use). In the event you’d prefer to know extra about ANSI and BHMA certification, you’ll be able to learn all about it on the previous hyperlink.

Hampton Merchandise

Both means, the Professional-Guard tag within the product identify is Hampton’s moniker for superior safety features in its Brinks {hardware}, together with a metal deadbolt, pick- and drill-resistant pins, and an “anti-pry defend.” However it’s essential to notice that whereas the system has a keypad and fingerprint reader, it’s not a sensible lock and has no wi-fi capabilities. That implies that all lock programming and administration should be completed domestically, by way of the keypad, which I’ll get to intimately in a bit.

First, the {hardware}. Right here, the lock additionally straddles industrial and residential purposes with out fairly touchdown in both world. The comparatively compact exterior escutcheon is out there in three finishes (matte black, satin nickel, and Tuscan bronze) and contains a curving design with scalloped edges that will really feel proper at dwelling on most entrance doorways.

Christopher Null/Foundry

The big, bodily numeric keypad buttons—and even bigger lock button—nonetheless, detract from the in any other case upscale look. The white plastic chicklets look as if they’d be higher suited to an airport than on a cul-de-sac. A fingerprint reader is positioned on the highest of the escutcheon, positioned at a largely horizontal angle, which makes it far more handy to entry than vertically positioned readers. Lastly, the lock could be opened with a bodily. There isn’t a port for emergency energy if the lock’s batteries—4 AA cells, not included—fail. Hampton says contemporary batteries ought to final for as much as two years with regular use. That shouldn’t be troublesome to realize, contemplating there aren’t any power-sucking radios onboard.

In distinction, the inside escutcheon is uninspired, a plasticky black brick with nothing a lot to differentiate it other than a slim thumbturn. A tiny LED beneath the thumbturn turns inexperienced for just a few seconds when the lock is opened and purple when it’s closed.

Setup and set up

Set up is easy, with solely a tiny departure from the standard sensible lock format. Whereas the outside escutcheon is related to a skinny plate on the within of the door, it does so with three bolts as an alternative of the standard two, with the bolts organized in a triangle. The additional help does appear to assist maintain the lock in place higher than most; in my testing, a minimum of, it by no means listed all through days of use.

A single energy cable connects from the outside escutcheon to the inside escutcheon, which is related to the body with three tiny screws. Word that certainly one of these screws is recessed inside a deep, slender channel. I needed to dig out a small, skinny Philips screwdriver to get it seated due to its troublesome placement.

Christopher Null/Foundry

As soon as put in, it’s time to start out establishing entry. Once more, this lock has no conventional sensible options, so all settings must be made by getting into a collection of codes into the keypad. That features all the things from establishing PINs, enrolling fingerprints, and altering operational parameters like auto-locking. The lock can retailer 50 fingerprints, 50 PINs, and 50 extra single-use codes.

As a result of the lock has no clock or connection to an exterior one, all PINs are all-or-nothing affairs. One-time-use codes, nonetheless, are mechanically deleted both after one use or after 72 hours of their creation. Extra settings configurable by the keypad embody auto-lock (0 to 99 seconds), trip mode (which disables all PINs besides the grasp code), and the power to mute system sounds. A wrong-entry safety characteristic disables the system for 1 minute following 5 incorrect PINs or fingerprint scans. This operate can’t be modified or disabled.

Christopher Null/Foundry

To present you a way of what working with the keypad is like, enrolling a PIN appears to be like like this: Maintain down the lock button for 3 seconds, enter the grasp code, press the lock button, press 3, press 1, enter the brand new PIN, press the lock button, enter the brand new PIN once more, after which press the lock button another time. It’s not essentially sophisticated, nevertheless it does take time and requires important consideration to element whereas following the broadsheet person guide (which can be out there online, although it’s not the simplest doc to learn in PDF format).

Enrolling fingerprints takes the same method, with one main twist of a trouble: Every fingerprint should be assigned to a fingerprint slot (1 to 50), and it’s as much as you to recollect whose fingerprint is assigned to every slot. I’d counsel making a log, as a result of ought to you could delete a fingerprint down the highway, you are able to do so solely by offering the related slot quantity. Alternatively, you’ll must delete all the fingerprints en masse and begin over from scratch.

Do you have to purchase a Brinks Digital Fingerprint/Keypad Deadbolt with Professional-Guard?

The excellent news is that, in use, the lock works exceptionally effectively. The buttons may be ugly, however they’re massive sufficient and set far sufficient aside to faucet with out making errors, and the illumination is shiny sufficient to simply see at night time. The fingerprint reader works completely, and it by no means missed a single scan throughout my testing. Since there’s no logging or distant entry options, there isn’t a lot else to check. However what the lock does, it does effectively.

Backside line: In the event you don’t want true sensible options, the Brinks Digital Fingerprint/Keypad Deadbolt with Professional-Guard is a succesful lock at a good value that may free you from the tyranny of keys—so long as you perceive what you’re getting.