One of the neat things about having relatives living somewhere popular is that many times they will let you stay with them saving you the expense of a hotel. In the early 90s my wife and I visited Austin, TX and while we were there we were guests of her brother. He lent us an apartment key to use so we could come and go as we pleased while he was working or with his friends.

Coming home from the movies one time I had something happen to me that has never happened before, I stupidly broke the key off right in the lock and we couldn’t get into the apartment. His place had a window that was directly accessible from the outside walkway and for some reason he had left it unlocked. I stealthily climbed through the opening fearing that if anyone saw me I would be in trouble. Opening the door was easy because the broken key hadn’t interfered with the lock in any way. I got the front door opened easily and decided I should report the problem to the apartment manager.

Luckily for us there was a maintenance worker doing some work as this apartment building did not often have any maintenance personnel on site and they had a locksmith come and replace the lock and give us replacement keys. I remember worrying that we maybe would get questioned since we had been staying at his place for several weeks and I was naïve and thought they might try and charge him more rent but in reality they didn’t really care.

Thinking about this convinced me to shop for a new lock that would replace the 15 year old tumbler lock currently installed. As I had already done some initial research I felt that the following qualities would be very instrumental in making any decision…

  • No-brainer installation
  • Vandalism proof
  • More than one way to open the lock
  • Allowed guest access
  • Tough
  • Attractive
  • Doesn’t cost an arm and a leg

I found a place that had some pretty helpful articles here: electronic deadbolt. Maybe it can help you also but in a nutshell here is what I found…

The lock I chose after spending I don’t know how many hours researching locks (I’m very thorough when I am thinking about purchasing something) was the Sunnect AP501SN. This was primarily based on a 7 page review by The National Locksmith magazine that concluded…

“The Sunnect electronic door lock is a very impressive product. It’s the first stand alone door lock I have seen in a long time that really took a completely different approach in its lock design. It is built like a tank, is a dream to install and operate, and for what you get, has a price point that will make anyone smile. If you do any kind of stand alone lock installations, you owe it to yourself and your potential customers to take a look at the Sunnect product. I think if you do, you will be as impressed with this product as I am, and I can assure you that this one I’m keeping.“

This door lock is far superior than other locks I looked into because of all of the features like…

The lock’s key parts (motor, batteries, computer chips) mounted on the secure inside of the door to protect against extreme weather and vandalism

Simple 3-step code registration process (can use from 3 to 20 digits) and 100% digital keys (can haveup to 20 keys and 1 master) and quick and safe removal of any lost or misplaced keys

Not able to duplicate keys

Comes with 2 digital keys and 4 AA batteries, features visual and audible low-battery warning indicators and a unique 9-Volt external power terminal in case of a complete battery discharge

Special bypass circuitry to protect against high-voltage attacks

Auto lock feature locks door after approximately 3 sec. When door is shut but can be temporarily turned off during high traffic periods

Quality checked over 200,000 times which equals 54 yrs. Of opening a door 10 times a day under extreme weather and temperature conditions

I have never seen a door lock that could be shot at and still work and to me that just reinforced my decision!!!

After looking around I determined that the best overall deal was at Amazon since I have bought many things from them and have never had a problem with an order. Ordering from their site is easy. Most of the time they have the lowest price and they have free shipping to boot and returning stuff is easy as well.

Just in case you are interested in new door locks I have included a link to the Sunnect AP501SN page on Amazon so you can learn more about this cool lock.

Here is the link to the page for the Sunnect lock on Amazon

As I stated before if you want to discover more you can always visit: sunnect AP501 for some very informative posts.

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