Best Zwave or Zigbee Locks

After fighting with my August Pro for years… I’m ready to move on. They seem to last about 2 years and start glitching.

What is everyone using and what kind of problems are you facing?

Danalock works pretty well.

Just tried a Schlage Connect Zigbee BE468GBAK lock yesterday. It interfaced to Home Assistant rather quickly, and was easy to install and setup. But the lock firmware had a problem. It would retract the bolt immediately any time it extended the bolt, even in open air. Home Depot has the newer Z-Wave Plus version BE469ZP.

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I have three Schlage connect locks (ghr older pre ZWave plus versions) that have run for many years. If they ever go out (and schlage doesnt warranty replace them) I’d get more Schlage locks. In fact In the US id only pick Schlage or Yale. They’re proven lock manufacturers. Of those I tend to prefer schlage due to their customer support and their warranty on the locks are awesome. If one needs replacement they do it fast with no questions.

(also @FredTheFrog call thier support if you haven’t already)

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I agree with @NathanCu in that Yale and Schlage are quite good locks. While they can be a pain to pair with your Z-Wave controller at times, they are solid. The only problem I have had, and it is recent, is the Yale is eating through batteries like candy suddenly - however it worked fine for years prior, so it is yet unknown the cause. I would buy another Schlage or Yale in a heartbeat.

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Thanks, @NathanCu . I did in fact speak with their support yesterday to diagnose the faulty lock. Kim from their support team was excellent to work with. Essentially, she had me factory reset the lock (had done that already, just in case) and then manually turn the inside thumbscrew three to four rotations to be certain nothing internally was stopping the lock. The firmware was dated May 2021, so seemed about as recent as necessary. In fact, everything about the unit worked well, EXCEPT for the fact it kept retracting the bolt. Zigbee paired easily and quickly. Telling it to lock fired it almost instantly, but of course it retracted the bolt again.

Went to Home Depot last night, got the “new and improved” BE469 unit, but that one is Z-Wave Plus only, no Zigbee whatsoever. :frowning: Returned that unit this morning. One of the things I don’t like about Home Depot’s web pages is they don’t include detailed manufacturer model numbers on their items. :frowning: I have another lock coming from Amazon by the weekend, just hoping it doesn’t exhibit the same faulty operating habits.

Your door alignment might have shifted a touch. I’ve definitely seen that before!

Good to know. Have you had any issues with it not reporting its state back? That’s my biggest complaint of August, about a 50% failure on reporting back it was successful or not. Which has left my doors unlocked for days without me knowing…

No reporting problems at all. I have it tied to HomeKit and I can tell you that within 1/2 second of it locking or unlocking my watch, phone and tablet all register the change. There were some bad delays back in the Open Z-Wave days, but since ZwaveJS it’s been perfect.

As for the door being out of alignment and causing more friction on the lock, I don’t think so but it’s a great idea and perhaps I’ll take the time to lubricate the mechanism as well.

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If there is ANY friction in the door lock at all between the bolt and the strike plate your lock may go into a high power mode to compensate (Schlage DEFINITELY doea this and im pretty sure Yale does as well)

That mode eats batteries for lunch.

Your bolt should be able to be thrown with two fingera and zero effort. If its not, adjust the strike plate and or door alignment.

any recommendation for outdoor locks for the UK?

Yale and August appear to be the same company now. With how junky the August Pro is, I’m thinking Schlage might be a better option.

Although yales swappable modules is quite enticing

The replacement BE468GBAK Zigbee lock from Schlage arrived today. Works perfectly. Apparently, some sensor inside the first unit must have been faulty. Much like the first it paired easily and quickly, and operated perfectly from the very first action. Just wanted to update anyone reading.

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Appreciate the update seems this is the one I’m
going for :slight_smile:

I have to fill you in on a few quirks. One, sometimes the lock responds quite quickly, other times, it takes a few seconds. I have no idea what may be transpiring behind the scenes with ZHA, but my Zigbee bridge is within line-of-sight of the lock AND a wifi access point, so that should not be any issues. Also, apparently, the touchpads on these (and other) Schlage locks tend to lock up/go dead. Our first Schlage Sense (Apple HomeKit/Bluetooth/Wifi) with beige touchpads never had any issue whatsoever. But these Zigbee/Z-wave units with dark/black touchpads have been notorious. I’m currently awaiting a replacement for mine. :frowning:

Oh damn… okay I might hold up I appreciate the update.

I was thinking of getting maybe this Z wave one

Decided to purchase the Yale YRD226NR619 with Zigbee module. So far been flawless, setup took about 15 mins, integration to ZHA immediately, and responds super quick! I have 30 days from Amazon for returns so we shall see, but so far it rocks and I am super happy. Been -30 here last few days no issues.

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