Disclaimer: This is my setup. What I mentioned here is entirely my opinion and should not be treated as fact. This is also not a guide, and what I did here is relevant to me but might not apply to your situation. Of course, you can learn from my mistake on what NOT to do😂. Lastly, Enjoy and feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Happy Monday, another week passed. You should know the drill by now; Time for another post. This week I guess I will be writing about my smart home journey as I started dipping my feet in the water because I know this topic will be vast. Plus, everyone’s setup will be different based on individual situation needs. I just want to show mine and maybe provide some entertainment. At the very least, you can see what not to do by looking at me making mistakes 😉.

As you know, I recently moved and have my place. I designed my home network and had it up and running because that is the foundation for a smart home. Without a suitable network backbone, you will only experience more issues down the line, and that is why I put so much effort into building a good foundation for my home network in case I want to expand more in the future.

All my preparation is from setting up a dedicated VLAN network for smart devices to researching what I deem suitable for my home and my budget, and I will be glad to share what I came up with all of you.

Why?

This is my brand-new home (at least to me), so the first thing plan to change when I moved in was to change all the door locks, as that is the standard practice for a new home. I mean, it should be pretty obvious you should change the door lock because who knows if someone managed to get the key from the previous owner 🤷‍♂️. It is better to be safe than sorry, so that I would change the door locks regardless. The question was, do I go with the traditional door locks or smart locks? If I decided to get a smart lock, what should I go with? You should probably guess that I decided to go with a smart lock because I figured if I was going to change the lock anyway, I should start from the most critical item and build up from there.

If you have to google smart lock, you will probably see a gazillion types of smart locks that come in different shapes, sizes, and functions…And so, to make my life easier, I came up with criteria that were tailored to my current situation to narrow down the selection. This was my criteria when it came to picking a door lock:

1. It needs to have an option for physical keys 🔑 in case something goes wrong.
   • Well, I might appear to be happy goes lucky type of person, but I do worry about something, and this is one of the times I always thought of the worst. I mean. Everything that relies on power will sometime stop working if the power goes outright? So even though most of the smart door locks are battery-powered, if the battery runs out, what then? Do I get locked out of my own home? Would I ever encounter this situation? Mostly not, but I always want to give myself a way out and not have to go through more hassle. That is why I required an alternate method for this specific situation.
2. It can be operated remotely.
   • What I was looking for was the ability to open and close the door even when I’m not home with my phone. For example, If my relative were to show up when I’m out, I can unlock the door remotely and allow them to wait for me inside the house. Of course, to make this more practical, I plan to implement a video doorbell and indoor camera for security and awareness.
3. Different Profiles and entries
   • I wanted to have a profile for each individual I wanted to grant access to my home, and it would be better if I could set a schedule and allow entry for only a specific time. What I have envisioned was probably a door lock with a keypad, so that might be what I will go with.
4. Security
   • Since this is my home, I am talking about it here. I want to have good security, so the lock needs a good defense mechanism and is hard to be tampered with. There is no point if the lock has weak security that everyone can open your door without much effort, would it?
5. Reliable
   • I want it to be reliable and work most of the time. Ideally, I want it to work 100 percent of the time, but this isn’t a perfect world, so I did not aim for that high.
6. Aesthetically pleasing and not break the bank (well, my bank at least😅)
   • This is pretty self-explanatory. I am hoping to get some lock I found aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and I deem it not too expensive for the amount spent compared to what I get. Of course, this criteria, in particular, is very subjective, and your opinion is different from mine 🤷‍♂️. But hey, you do whatever makes you happy, am I right?

The decision

I am applying my criteria to the search. I finally decided on the Eufy Smart door lock with built-in Wi-Fi as my choice. Let me tell you; it was not easy because I know there are so many other excellent options out there. I was very torn but had to decide in the end.

First, let me be honest, I am a sucker for a clean look, and this suits my taste very much, and that is where the majority of my decision comes from. Of course, it also satisfies all the criteria I have listed. Let’s go over them one by one, shall we?

1. It needs to have an option for physical keys 🔑 in case something goes wrong. ✅
   • This door luck came with physical keys, and to my surprise, Eufy was pretty generous to include 6 keys. Yes, 6, not the regular 2 keys like most locks. Though I probably won’t be using it most of the time, I was always ensured to know that I have the key just in case.
2. It can be operated remotely ✅
   • It is pretty apparent from the name; it has built-in Wi-Fi, so there is no way you could not control it remotely, right?😂. Wi-Fi is an acceptable option. Personally, I wanted something like Zigbee or Z-Wave as the communication protocol, but that also raised additional challenges themself, so in the end, I settled for Wi-Fi, and it has been great. My only worry is that it might fail on me if the internet is out, but nothing is perfect after all.
3. Different Profiles and entries ✅
   • I created multiple profiles for access to give to my family member or friends. The best part is that I can give them the code knowing that code only works at that particular time. Once it expired, I no longer needed to worry that someone came into my home uninvited.
4. Security ✅
   • The door lock built quality is pretty good in my options, and the security is as good as it can get. There are 2 ways to unlock (3 if we count the physical key) that are keypad codes and fingerprint biometric authentication. Personally, I prefer using my fingerprint to unlock my door rather than enter the code, and the biometric worked really well, and everything is saved locally on the device with good encryption 👍
5. Reliable ✅
   • It has been pretty reliable, and I have been using this for a little over 3 months. Let’s hope it keeps up. I could only complain that this lock does not have door closing detection, but that is a simple issue to solve by adding a contact sensor to the door. I was hoping they integrated with the lock from the get-go rather than I have to do it myself.
6. Aesthetically pleasing and not break the bank (well, my bank at least😅) ✅
   • Well, I guess this is the best reason I decided to go with it. I loved the look of this lock, and the silver color looks great. I’m not saying this weight 100% in my final decision…maybe like 80%, but still, I am a sucker for this look, okay, don’t judge me 😅. The price of this is on a bit of the expensive end. This costs $249, but I managed to get it a little over $220 after taxes during a sale, so I wouldn’t say it is too bad.

Here is the Product Link to the Smart lock if you want to take a look. These are Amazon-affiliated links.

Conclusion

And that is why I decided to pick Eufy Smart lock for my front door. The reason might be as shallow as you said because I like the look, but hey, this is my house, and I can do whatever I want, alright 😈. With that said, I do feel like this is a good product, and it has satisfied my need so far. I am still very please with its performance after 3 months of usage. If you ask whether I recommend this product? The answer would be yes. Of course, it is my opinion, and everyone is entitled to their own. I’m not going to shove it down your throat, saying this is the best smart lock because it might not be the best for you. But if you are looking for a smart lock, perhaps give this one a shot. You might never know if you might like it or not until you try, right?

That is all I have for this week. Next week I will have the follow-up part 2 on how I installed these door locks in my home. Of course, even with clear instructions and ease of installation, knowing my luck, there will always be some issues that pop up 🥲 but that is okay; I am used to it already. So please look forward to next week’s post. Until next time, have a wonderful week!

-Laz