Smart Locks

# Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt Review — 6 Months in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer The **Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt** earns my recommendation primarily for its native Matter support and reliable local control via the Z-Wave bridge

# August Smart Lock 4th Gen Review — Six Months in a Portland Proxmox Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer In my testing over the last six months within a dense 2.4 GHz apartment environment, the **August Smart Lock 4th Gen** proved

# Lockly Secure Pro Review — 6 Months in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer In my testing of the **Lockly Secure Pro**, I found it to be a reliable local-first option that struggles slightly with WiFi stability compared to

# Eufy Smart Lock Touch Review — 6 Months in the Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer If you are running Zigbee2MQTT on a local controller and want a lock that survives frequent power fluctuations without losing pairing state, this is

# Smart Lock Security Audit — Can They Be Hacked? Real Lab Findings from Portland *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer The concept of a “hacked” smart lock usually stems from unpatched firmware vulnerabilities or weak encryption keys found in older Tuya-based ecosystems. In

# Fingerprint Access Without Phone Smart Lock Review — 6 Months in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer There is no single winner for pure **fingerprint access without phone** among standard smart locks because most lack true biometric readers; however,

# Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro Smart Lock Review — 6 Months in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer The **Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro** is my current favorite Zigbee deadbolt for the **Home Assistant** ecosystem because it maintains sub-120 ms MQTT round-trip latency

# Schlage Encode Plus Smart Deadbolt Review **By Marcus Webb, Senior Network Architect & Home Lab Engineer** If you are looking for a smart lock that integrates deeply with Zigbee networks without sacrificing the tactile feel of a physical keypad, the Schlage Encode Plus is a strong contender. It features a large 5-inch OLED touchscreen,

August WiFi Smart Lock REVIEW: HOME LAB INTEGRATION TEST By Marcus Webb, Senior Home Automation Engineer ## The Short Answer The August WiFi Smart Lock is a compelling entry point into smart locking, offering native 802.11 connectivity that eliminates the need for a separate hub in many setups. However, our testing on a 4-node Proxmox

# Lockly Vision Elite vs Eufy Smart Lock Touch — A Deep Dive into Local Control and Latency *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer If you need a lock that respects your local network rules and offers a genuine alternative to the cloud-dependent Eufy