Customer Reviews

Sunnect Advanced Protection Digital Deadbolt Lock

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Let me say first off, I've been a Realtor and owner of my own real estate company for 25-years. I know quality and I see new, neat, high-end products on a daily basis. I've opened 1000's of doors, locks and deadbolts over the past 25-years.

Well, I was at the Ft. Lauderdale Home Show this Memorial day weekend. I go every year, and usually find at least one neat, cool item at the show that's a "must have" for the home and buy it or order it if its not available at the show. Well, the Sunnect AP501SN easily fit the bill this year.

So I bought two Sunnect AP501SN Advanced Protection Digital Deadbolt Locks, one for my front door and one of the door leading into the house from the garage. I installed one of them today.

These are heavy, well made, well constructed, nice looking top-shelf deadbolt locks. The quality, fit and finish is second to none.

It was real easy to install where my original existing deadbolt was located, the directions and photos were well written and easy to follow.

What is even more impressive is the technology that went in to designing and building these deadbolts. The Sunnect AP501SN is by far superior to Schlage, Quickset or anything else on the market.
These are the finest digital keypad deadbolts on the market at any price.

Its got a ton of neat features, including the autolock feature, which automatically locks the door after 3-seconds of closing it. Wow, never forget to lock your door, its automatic, unless you don't want to activate this feature, no problem, you can.

The two included access keys (and you don't need to use them)are 21st Century technology. No key hole, therefore no getting key bumped by the bad guys.

The unit has blue/red colored lights and musical tones/sounds that easily communicate with you so you know by both sight and sound how to program the deadbolt for your personal and individual needs and the status of your lock after you complete the install.

This is a 5-star product, and deserving for any homeowner, apartment owner, property manager, as its been approved by this Realtor.

This is it. Top of the line. There's nowhere to go after this. Impeccable fit and finish. Good looking, sturdy, easy to use, easy to install. Now that I have them in my own home, I can say that the product videos are very accurate representations of what to expect. Watch them. It really is that easy and convenient. The written manual is of similar quality, and clearly explains all the features. My wife was a little concerned about the potential for getting locked out of her house by a crashing computer, but after reading the manual and using them for only a day, she's very comfortable with them. The manual latch on the inside and the 9V terminal on the outside ensure you'll always be able to get in or out. They are a little expensive, but easily pay for themselves the first time you lose a key and DON'T have to call a locksmith. Not to mention the value that comes from knowing they're un-bumpable, and the convenience of being able to hand out temporary codes and keys to house guests, pet sitters, etc.

I will mention one minor snag with installation: the included magnetic strike plates were not the same size as any of the existing strike plates on the doors in my 20-year-old home. (The bolt and bolt plates fit perfectly.) I don't know if things have been standardized since then, or if my builder just didn't follow standards. Some were too large, some too small. Without the magnet, the deadbolts still work, but the more advanced features like auto-lock and alarm are disabled. Fortunately, it is just a magnetic sensor, so simply attaching a tiny neodymium magnet (available online, from hobby stores, or even out of an old hard drive) on the bottom lip of your existing strike plates activates those features without requiring any modifications to the door frame. I just happened to have a bunch of neodymium magnets in my parts box, but if Sunnect had included several sizes of plate, or a neodymium retrofit right in the box, I'd have given them 6 stars for going above and beyond. As is, I'll have to knock them down to "only" 5.

Bottom line, this is as good as it gets, and if you're already interested enough to be reading this, you should probably just click the order button now.

The Good
-Great security
-Easy to use and program entry codes and register keys
-Sleek design and looks just as good in person
-Long battery life, option to hookup 9V if runs out
-Installation was easy with existing door cutouts.

The Bad
-Priced a little high, but well worth the investment.

I just purchased this and received it early today. After the experience I had with the installation I thought I would write up a review. I had been looking for a while for a product that would allow for use of key codes, etc, for access into the home, and was also concerned about common methods of break-in such as bumping.

Our home is just over five years old so the construction is pretty modern. I have a moderate level of handiness and can take on most small to medium sized jobs in the home without bringing in professional help.

My existing deadbolt set is a cheap Kwikset job and it was installed by the builder. I removed this one quite quickly and began installing the AP501. The first thing I will note is that the satin nickel finish on the AP501 is quite a bit shinier than on any of the other nickel finishes throughout my home (all of my door hinges, door handles, etc, are nickel). The door lock is not something that I want to be super shiny, it would be nice to have an option for brushed nickel that is more muted.

Installing the deadbolt receiver is a piece of cake. Installing their new hardware for the strike plate on the door frame is not a piece of cake at all. My Kwikset, like most deadbolts just has a simple steel strike plate that is fastened into place with four two inch screws. The AP501 comes with a very thick "inner" strike plate as well as a plastic receiver that includes a magnet and then a metal secondary strike plate that goes over the plastic receiver. Unfortunately because of the large depression at the bottom of the plastic receiver (for the permanent magnet used for the auto-locking and security feature) I had to route out a large area below the existing cavity on my door frame. The new strike plate has two huge screws that are supposed to provide reinforcement. Unfortunately these screws are soft pieces of junk. Even with pre-drilling the torque became high enough when hand tightening them with the appropriate sized screwdriver that both of them became stripped. I then had to spend a considerable amount of time backing them out with some pliers, which was not a lot of fun. The screws that came with my Kwikset, by comparison are indestructible. I have screwed them in and out numerous times and they have never become stripped. Honestly, a $300 deadbolt should come with decent quality hardware, including the screws, etc. These screws for the striker, etc, are really cheap, everything else in the package seemed to be of pretty high quality.

The other problem with the strike plate assembly is how thick it is with all three pieces included. It is a good .25 inch thicker than a regular strike plate, which means there is a good chance that you will wind up not being able to shut the door once you have this thing installed. When I had all three pieces installed it actually bowed out in the middle.

Considering the price of this kit, you would think that they could include a properly designed single strike plate and receiver that was itself magnetized, to prevent the need for the cheesy plastic receiver and cover plate. I have seen people post that they used their existing receiver and simply put a magnet inside the enclosure (tape it inside the old receiver, etc)... if this is such a common need then that should tell Sunnect that they ought to include a separate magnet for those scenarios so people don't take their existing deadbolt out and find that they can't complete their install.

I also had a little bit of trouble with the lock assembly installation. The directions tell you to install the bolt assembly and screw it in, prior to installing the outer and inner part of the AP501. Like a lot of doors, mine was not drilled perfectly straight front to back. It is just offset from the outside of the door to the inside of the door, like the hole saw was not lined up PERFECTLY when they drilled the hole (big surprise). This small offset posed no problem with the original Kwikset deadbolt, but resulted in some problems for the Sunnect which has very tight tolerances due to the outer door keypad requiring a lot of space to get through the hole. I actually had to loosen the screws on the deadbolt plate to get enough "wiggle room" to get the outer part of the lock through the deadbolt receiver hardware. Unfortunately after doing this, hooking up the inside plate, and tightening everything up, the lock cylinder refused to engage with either the motor or with the manual override turn lever.

I was really reluctant to re-drill my door, especially since the offset was so close to fitting, so I loosened all of the parts up to see if I could get the cylinder to engage, before making the decision to re-drill. Unfortunately during this process, one of the very small black wires on the lock motor/sensor snapped off and left me with a lock cylinder that was now useless.

//update (2nd attempt)

Okay, so after I had some time away I took another shot at this. I had forgotten that Sunnect includes two different bolts, for different door offsets. I was able to remove the wire/sensor harness from the undamaged bolt set and install it into the bolt set that had the broken wires. Removing these was not difficult but I would exercise caution when doing so (to tuck the wires back in I used the edge of a credit card so I would not break them).

This time around I left a little more slack in everything initially and quickly got this working with my original door strike plate (in the intervening time I had re-installed the original doorbolt and strike plate). This means that unless I want to put some kind of strong aftermarket magnet behind the plate (I removed the one from the Sunnect plastic receiver but it would not work when I slipped it behind the strike plate) or tackle installation of their crazy thick strike plate hardware setup I will not have the automatic close and alarm features working.

I want to comment on what another reviewer mentioned about friction. If I leave the deadbolt engaged there is probably 1/5 inch or so of clearance on either side between the bolt and strike plate. If I try to open the door with the deadbolt engaged, obviously it will not open. However, after doing this if I then try to open the door with the motor that is inside the AP501, it will try to withdraw the bolt three times (unsuccessfully) and then give up. If I then wiggle the door and try again it will retreat. This is not a huge cause for concern, but it is worth mentioning, as someone (especially a guest, visitor, etc) could try to open the door with the deadbolt in place and then create enough friction that they believe they have locked themselves out. I have read the Sunnect technicians comments regarding friction, etc, and I still have to imagine that this could be fixed with some minor changes, such as five open attempts before giving up or a marginally more powerful motor. This does make me wonder how well this will perform in the winter time when it is possible that there is a little more friction or sticking between the bolt and the strike plate.

Another minor gripe is that there should be some kind of indicator on the interior side of the door to make it obvious, even from a distance away whether or not the deadbolt is in the locked position. There is a manual release that moves from left to right, but since it is exactly the same finish as the rest of the assembly it is difficult to tell if the lock is engaged or not. Maybe a future version could have a small red or black dot or stripe on the manual override lever so you could tell from across the room if the deadbolt is in the locked position.

All in all this is a good product, but I feel it's a little over-rated and that the install is more complicated than it needs to be. Realistically though it is about the same cost as a high quality double cylinder lock that is "bump proof", and you get all of the added features. The drawback is that the install is a little bit tougher than anticipated and the motor for the deadbolt is pretty weak, so it is possible to jiggle the door, get the deadbolt to stick and believe you've locked yourself out.

I will keep my original dead bolt and keys "just in case" and try to get through a year with this AP501 to see what I think. I am looking forward to be able to give out a tag key or code to someone while we are away and if that code is compromised or that key stolen I can easily re-program the lock. I will also search for a strong permanent magnet that I can slip behind my strike plate to activate the automatic locking and alarm features... or, failing to do that, I will consider re-installing the Sunnect three piece strike plate assembly again.

My wife and I bought 5 Sunnect locks because of a passionate recommendation from a friend.

Plus the customer reviews from all the web sites we found said nothing but fabulous things about this lock, and the negative reviews were all about installation.

We figured if the lock itself was as good as they say, it was worth a try. We started with one lock and ended up with five, 2 at home and 3 at my office.

All five locks are just fantastic and installation was straightforward. (One door had slight misalignment and the plate in the door frame had to be moved a little before the deadbolt could move in and out freely.)

The installation video was somewhat simplistic but still very helpful in visualizing the installation procedure.

I had to call their tech support about the keys and learned that I needed to register all the keys in one session instead of trying to register them one at a time. The tech walked me through the whole procedure without first asking me all the usual administrative questionnaire, which I really appreciated.

Now we carry only one key both for home and the office. Our kids just use the combination code. The best thing about the lock is the automatic locking feature. We just shut the door and the lock flashes a blue light to confirm that the door is locked.

Having used these locks for a while, here is the bottom line. This Sunnect lock is the most BEAUTIFUL lock we have seen (the product actually looks better than the photos) and it is indeed the best lock money can buy! We recommend this lock to you with the same passion our friend showed us.

I first went to Lowes and Home Depot looking for a Deadbolt for my home. I have a 3 and 2 year old children. Babysitter, Maid, and friends are always coming and going and so I was always forgetting to lock the door. One time I found my two children outside since the door wasn't locked and I was busy with my 3 month old. Having such young children makes this household very, very, very busy! After the initial shock of my children being outside, I decided to change the lock. I first bought a lock from Homedepot but it didn't have autolock which was what I was really looking for. They did have one that did but the buttons and lock looked so cheap that I decided to pass. I installed their most expensive one which was around $120 but after two days I decided to order this lock from amazon. As soon as I received it, I could tell a huge difference in locks. This one was a lot heavier and seem more secure than the other lock. It did take me a bit of time to install it because the deadbolt was a different size than my existing one but I love it. On the door jamb side is a magnetic part which knows when the door is closed and auto locks the door for me. It looks ten times better than the home depot one. The only issue I have is that there is only one programable code for the lock. I think. The other was able to handle 20 different codes but I guess it is no big deal for me. I wouldn't be able to tell who opened the door anyway like my alarm company does when I use a code. If I didn't have the alarm, it would be a different story but overall I do love this lock.

The previous reviewer was correct that this lock requires more than just a phillips screwdriver, only if you enable the autolock feature. If using the existing strike plate, it wouldn't be needed to install their strike plate with a built in magnet for the autolock feature. But this lock is the best lock I've ever seen and I was debating between this or a Kwikset/Schlage keypad. This is by far much more high tech and better looking than those locks. The lock's durability is also far superior also and looks 100X better than any other deadbolt.

It did take me about an hour to install this lock since I had to dremel a deeper groove for the strikeplate. But once installed, this locks works perfectly. The only thing I am afraid is that if it runs out of battery and getting into the house. It's not convenient to carry a 9V battery with you.

For any home built in America this lock is complete overkill, let me say it again, this lock is complete overkill. Unless you live in a cave 500' underground and have a bank vault for your front door, this lock will never be the path of least resistance. Intruders will take one look at this monstrosity then find the nearest window to break in. With that being said after watching the videos and seeing the pictures and reading about the features YOU HAVE TO HAVE ONE.

Only once in a long while does something come along that you simply know you must have. After seeing this lock you will not be able to sleep at night until you have it, you will never look at your puny doorknobs and deadbolts the same again, you won't be able to think straight knowing only 5 pins and a tumbler separate your personal belongings from the rest of the world, and you will finally breathe a sigh of relief once you've placed this lock in your Amazon cart.

Ok enough with the emotions, what about the facts?

Installation

Installation for me took about 3hrs, way longer than I would have liked. For the most part this was through no fault of the lock's. You take for granted that your house is reasonably well built until you try to do something that should be simple such as installing a deadbolt and expecting the strike plate to line up with the door frame. The first .5hrs of the installation for me was using a dremel to widen the strike plate so that the deadbolt would engage without sticking.

The next 2hrs was spent using the dremel to deepen the groove for the strike plate in the door jamb because this lock has 3 layers of plates that must be installed in the door jamb. By the time they were all in place the door would not close. I do think Sunnect could have improved this part and found a better way to mount the magnet without adding another layer to the strike plate, and I also had to file down the strike plate so that it didn't stick out so much from the backing plate.

After all of that was done the bolt finally smoothly engaged and disengaged from the strike plate and backing plate. Note: You MUST ensure engagement and disengagement is silky smooth, the motor is not very strong and if the two are not perfectly lined up, it will not engage. I also adjusted my doorknob's strike plate to try to take some of the back pressure from the closed door and insulation off of the deadbolt. After all of this was done it finally worked as advertised.

Programming

Programming was a little weird, mainly the left handed vs right handed thing, but after I got that figured out it wasn't so bad. I did not bother programming in a keytag, only a passcode and it was straight forward.

Auto Lock

The auto lock feature is great, I also like that it audibly tells you when it is locking the door so that if you are in a hurry you do not have to pull on the door to check it.

Other Features

The alarm was just weird to me, not loud enough in my opinion to be heard from the bedroom, so I turned it off.

The Bad

The ONLY reason I gave this lock 4 stars was because it only lets you store one user passcode at a time. That to me is completely unacceptable at this price point. Locks half the price of this one lets you store 15 or more passcodes, for this one to only let you store one is hard to believe. I knew this before buying the lock and it almost made me go with a different brand. I know exactly why they only let you store one user passcode; each stored passcode exponentially decreases the number of tries it would take to brute force hack the passcode not to mention old passcodes laying around may accidentally let in a long lost 'guest' since they were never deleted, however, the fact that Sunnect didn't just come out and say this BUT, still let users DECIDE if they wanted to store additional codes anyway is an epic fail in my book.

There is a fine balance between security and useability and Sunnect dropped the ball in this area. The first thing I wanted to do with this lock was create a temporary PIN that I could give a visiting friend then delete the PIN when they left but instead I will have to change my own PIN once they are gone.

Feature Wish List

1) It would be nice if this lock let you input random numbers in front of and behind your actual passcode. Instead it only lets you input random numbers in front of your passcode, since you have to press star to actually submit your code, I would think it wouldn't be too hard to let you do both.

2) As I mentioned before, 3 layers of backing plates proved to be really bulky for my door jamb, finding a different way to sense when the door was open or closed without needing the magnet would greatly improve the installation process for people with door jambs that aren't that deep. Maybe the magnet could be attached behind the deadbolt's backing plate instead, etc.

3) It would be nice if the external cover slid closed once the lock engaged. Nothing fancy, just a latch and release that let the cover fall back in place over the keypad once the door had been opened and closed. My first two times opening it I forgot to close the sliding cover.

4) Maybe an upscale model in the $500 range could be developed that randomized the numbers in the keypad so that shoulder surfers would have a much harder time watching you type your passcode.

FYI - I'm a mom who appreciates a cordless drill and a good challenge. This being said...

Love this lock - works like butter, not to mention it's fun. Potentially, installation is not for the faint of heart. The actual installation is quite simple, the instructions are very good, but in some cases, the fine tuning and prep work will take patience and skill (and tools).

The door strike plate and lining box (on doorjamb side) are larger than what the average door already has, so that needs to be addressed. If you do not have the tools or patience - call an installer.

On the actual door, if the cross-bore (the large 2" hole) and the edge-bore (where the deadbolt moves) are not perfectly perpendicular (like my door) it will cause the deadbold to not fully retract when you unlock. What that means, is that you may unlock but the door still acts like locked because the deadbolt still sticks out a bit. For this reason, do all installation and testing with door open.

In my case, the deadbolt, when retracted would still stick out between 1mm to 1/8" or so, although, by pushing it in with a finger, it would go in very easily (in other words, it did not feel stuck). Customer service (800 number) was most helpful, very kind, very patient. They explained the importance of having both holes in the door perfectly perpendicular (the cross-bore and edge-bore). After fine-tuning the holes and reinstalling, the lock worked perfectly. Later, when all worked well, customer service also guided me in programming the swing of the door (right or left handed door), as well as ensuring that my keys were programmed. Very good experience with them (called them about 3-4 times).

SUGGESTION (tip). Should you install yourself, before removing the old deadbolt, open the door, pretend you lock it, deadbold will come out. Put red lipstick on edge of deadbolt. "Unlock" the door, shut the door and lock a few times without pushing on door. After you open the door you will see on the doorjamb side where lipstick is touching some edge of the strikeplate (if it does). What this will tell you is where to enlarge the hole, in order to have a smooth access of the new deadbolt, so it won't rub. By doing this, and avoiding possible friction, etc., you will not have to "pull" the door when you leave, in order for it to lock, etc. The bottom line for this lock is that it needs to work smoothly, unimpeded.

SWING OF DOOR (left or right handed). One easy way to determine if your door is right-handed or left-handed is to open the door and put your back to the area where the two sides of the hinges mounting plates normally butt together (the butt-to-butt method). Now, reach out your arm towards the door handle. Whatever arm you use, that's what the swing of the door is.

Regarding the long wood screws which come with the package for the strike frame reinforcer (by doorjam), I've read some comments that some had difficulty with them. For ease, I used drywall screws instead, after drilling pilot holes (any hardware store has them). Worked like a charm.

Hope this helps.

We just got this lock installed by an excellent local locksmith. Our door was NOT pre-drilled for a deadbolt, and I figured they would have the right tools and experience to align everything properly, (important; as noted in the other reviews) - which he did. Everything works fabulously, the auto-lock is brilliant and this thing appears to be incredibly tough. I am SO glad we didn't settle for a different - cheaper - lock. It's easy to program for basic functions - changing codes, etc. The buttons to initiate code changes are inside the battery compartment and require a screwdriver to access; if you need to change codes frequently that could be a slight bother. It's great that it allows very long passcodes if you feel you want them. I wish it would allow more passcodes, though, along with ability to turn them on or off. It's easy enough to program that I suspect it won't be a problem, though ideally I'd like a code for the pet-sitter that I could enable/disable individually, one for the plumber... etc. The digital keys work great, and it looks really classy as well - the cover over the keypad makes it look a little less - um - DIGITAL. We have a rustic style home and was concerned it would look out of place, but it appears it will fit it with most any style home. So far, REALLY, REALLY happy. Can't say anything about long term durability and function, wintertime performance, or battery life as yet.

UPDATE: 8 months later. Works fine in winter temperatures, still on original batteries with no problems. I find the dual locking systems are great and use both; if can can easily get the key I use it, but other times (carrying something awkward) it's great to have the combo pad option, since I'd drop everything looking in my pocket for the key. As a added precaution against sudden battery death, I keep a 9V battery in a baggie in my glove box in the car.

Only thing I've had trouble with is setting a "master" pass combination and master key, I tried following the directions in the book and couldn't get it to work after a couple tries [NOTE: probably due to trying to set with the "*", see update 2 below]. Not a crucial problem, but would like it to work at some point. Still way better than anything else I've seen.

UPDATE 2: 1.5 years, still on original batteries. Did find out one thing about setting the combinations on the lock; when you open the lock with the keypad, you press the combo and then "*", like "1-2-3-4-5-*". When you want to CHANGE the combo, DO NOT use the "*" at the end, that will cancel the setting sequence, so to change the combo, hit the "change" key, then new combo: "5-4-3-2-1", and then the change key again. Your new combo should be set.