One massive improvement the U50 made over the U100 is to the physical key. The U100 used some weird non-standard keying and cylinder which made it difficult to get copies made and basically impossible to rekey. The U50 though uses a standard Schlage SC1 setup, so you can easily make copies and rekey your locks so they all use the same key.
I'd spend the extra money on the U100. I love homekey and the keypad works well but beyond the first few times using it we always use the fingerprint sensor. It works great for me, my wife , and two kids. And the battery life on the U100 is crazy, I got it last October and it's still registering as high.
Only thing I can think of why our fingeprint isn't great is maybe humidity levels in the region. We just use the code now but still forget to wake it up as our Kwiksets don't need the wakeup press. I do agree on the battery life...still kicking right along.
It's more or less a bridge for zigbee and thread devices but I wouldn't really use it for that it you are an HA user. It would be great if Aqara worked with the HA and Zigbee2mqtt devs like other companies do to get the lock directly into HA. www.aqara.com/us/product/hub-m3/
0:48 These things can easily be unlocked with a Fleer thermal camera attachment but the surface of that seems to leak the code without a thermal camera - you can see the grease gathering on the numbers 7 and 8(and a few others but not as obvious). That surface is preserving the code nicely
It's not possible to program or even enable or disable codes from HA, which makes it pretty useless for me. The ideal lock is still the Yale Assure Zigbee; unfortunately, they do not produce them anymore.
yup just out to your east. That high has setup and just been chunking storms across the region for a while. We've had a few power outages from it with the winds, the rain doesn't bother me though as it keeps the pool filled.
Aqara has made it extremely difficult to disconnect these devices from the internet. I have the u100 and the m2 hub going into home assistant over matter. However if the hub loses power or the ethernet cord is disconnect from the device it requires you to reconnect to the internet to get matter up and running again. Now granted you can block internet access and restart the router and it will lose internet connect and continue working but it is painfully clear they want you connecting to their servers. Probably so they can say well we have to charge a monthly fee to maintain the servers. When they aren't even needed in the first place. I hate when companies create problem to then fix them by charging us more money.
Assuming you have more than one entrance I find the Key the biggest vulnerability in these as nearly all the smart lock brands use low end / very average security key cylinders.
Very true, I've seen the Kwikset ones be pretty decent but I've seen people fill them with glue or something too on smart locks as they didn't want the key option.
2:23 Uhhh. I'd rather that USB port be on the inside. Or at least come with a cap. Also, I really prefer manual locks over 'smart locks'. All it takes is one data breach or CVE and lots of homes are now vulnerable. Data breaches less of a concern for fully local solutions, but CVE's are still possible, thus I'll probably never have a smart lock due to trust issues.
@@digiblurDIY Yeah but there's a keyhole on the exterior for such cases. A usb port could potentially give someone access to your network in theory. No idea how good their firmware is tbh, though.
Little bit of a stretch there. I highly doubt it is possible but if you think it is, then just fill it with something to disable the port much like people do with the key holes on smart locks. It might be easier to go through the window though.
@@Genesis8934 the usb port is probably just wired for power, not data. It is there for when you don't have the key with you (Many people don't always carry it when they have a smart lock) and the battery completely dies. You can connect your phone or a battery pack to it to give it enough juice for you to type the code in and get inside.
The problem I see with these smart locks is the manufacturers pay little attention to the security of the physical lock. Watch channels like the lock picking lawyer and you see they can be bump picked or raked open in a few seconds. I feel better about getting a better quality physical lock and attaching something like the SwitchBot Pro.
I use fingerprint 99% of time on U100. Don’t buy U50. Both suck cause they don’t integrate well into HA. They dropped off matter-server some time ago. You might be misleading people.
I use the U100 for quite a while now. Between the three of us we found the fingerprint sensor to work half the time. Possibly maybe due to humidity levels in the region. The U100 seems to be fine here on Matter with the M2 bridge controlling it. I have had issues once with the lock not working but that was due to bad update by the HA Matter devs. Not trying to mislead anyone as I always tell it like it is without sales, paid sponsors etc influencing things I say.
@@digiblurDIY did not mean it that way always appreciate your vids. I’m on E1 hub maybe that’s the difference. I’m in NC so still pretty humid. We only use right hand thumbs FWIW and fingerprint is pretty reliable.
I did forget to include the B roll I had of me touching the fingerprint over and over until it locks up and goes into fail mode. I have thumb and index and it always gets me so I just do the code but then I screw up the code because it is awake already. Lol. They are decent locks and I like the build quality, they just need a little software work.
One massive improvement the U50 made over the U100 is to the physical key. The U100 used some weird non-standard keying and cylinder which made it difficult to get copies made and basically impossible to rekey. The U50 though uses a standard Schlage SC1 setup, so you can easily make copies and rekey your locks so they all use the same key.
I'd spend the extra money on the U100. I love homekey and the keypad works well but beyond the first few times using it we always use the fingerprint sensor. It works great for me, my wife , and two kids. And the battery life on the U100 is crazy, I got it last October and it's still registering as high.
Only thing I can think of why our fingeprint isn't great is maybe humidity levels in the region. We just use the code now but still forget to wake it up as our Kwiksets don't need the wakeup press. I do agree on the battery life...still kicking right along.
Thanks for share! Did you try updating your M2 HUB to V 4.1.4_0008.0650 or latest fireware?
Yes. It was on the latest firmware. It works via the hub but wouldn't expose it via matter which was weird.
9:07
Any other use for the aqara m3 hub? Its a pretty expensive box for just 1 function.
It's more or less a bridge for zigbee and thread devices but I wouldn't really use it for that it you are an HA user. It would be great if Aqara worked with the HA and Zigbee2mqtt devs like other companies do to get the lock directly into HA.
www.aqara.com/us/product/hub-m3/
0:48 These things can easily be unlocked with a Fleer thermal camera attachment but the surface of that seems to leak the code without a thermal camera - you can see the grease gathering on the numbers 7 and 8(and a few others but not as obvious). That surface is preserving the code nicely
Oddly enough 7 and 8 aren't in any of the passwords I had on this. I was using 202405
7:50 Yes, you can see clear marks on 2 and 4 at a later point.
Yep. High humidity area issues. One of the reasons I prefer the rubber button ones like the Kwikset 914
It's not possible to program or even enable or disable codes from HA, which makes it pretty useless for me. The ideal lock is still the Yale Assure Zigbee; unfortunately, they do not produce them anymore.
I have the Kwikset Zigbee ones and they work pretty good for us.
You can add a code with the homekit integration via Bluetooth if you have a Bluetooth adapter
@@kevinsonodoes it work over bluetooth proxy?
Uh qwhere uh. The middle syllable sounds like where but has a 'qwugh' sound at the start
Yeah that's how I said it before CES. Kinda like. Aquarium but they say that is wrong. So now I butchered it into two different ways. Lol
@@digiblurDIY Haha Yeah you can't win. Also howdy from Houston. Hope ya'll weathered that recent derecho storm. It caused chaos here.
yup just out to your east. That high has setup and just been chunking storms across the region for a while. We've had a few power outages from it with the winds, the rain doesn't bother me though as it keeps the pool filled.
Aqara has made it extremely difficult to disconnect these devices from the internet. I have the u100 and the m2 hub going into home assistant over matter. However if the hub loses power or the ethernet cord is disconnect from the device it requires you to reconnect to the internet to get matter up and running again. Now granted you can block internet access and restart the router and it will lose internet connect and continue working but it is painfully clear they want you connecting to their servers. Probably so they can say well we have to charge a monthly fee to maintain the servers. When they aren't even needed in the first place. I hate when companies create problem to then fix them by charging us more money.
Yes! This is the major issue I have with Matter. It's just kind of local. I prefer Zigbee/Zwave as it is local from the very start of things.
Thanks Travis.
Assuming you have more than one entrance I find the Key the biggest vulnerability in these as nearly all the smart lock brands use low end / very average security key cylinders.
Very true, I've seen the Kwikset ones be pretty decent but I've seen people fill them with glue or something too on smart locks as they didn't want the key option.
2:23 Uhhh. I'd rather that USB port be on the inside. Or at least come with a cap.
Also, I really prefer manual locks over 'smart locks'. All it takes is one data breach or CVE and lots of homes are now vulnerable. Data breaches less of a concern for fully local solutions, but CVE's are still possible, thus I'll probably never have a smart lock due to trust issues.
That port faces down and is for emergency power if it dies when you are away. Not useful on the inside as you would just unlock it by hand.
@@digiblurDIY Yeah but there's a keyhole on the exterior for such cases. A usb port could potentially give someone access to your network in theory. No idea how good their firmware is tbh, though.
Little bit of a stretch there. I highly doubt it is possible but if you think it is, then just fill it with something to disable the port much like people do with the key holes on smart locks. It might be easier to go through the window though.
@@Genesis8934 the usb port is probably just wired for power, not data. It is there for when you don't have the key with you (Many people don't always carry it when they have a smart lock) and the battery completely dies. You can connect your phone or a battery pack to it to give it enough juice for you to type the code in and get inside.
@@OmairArif Fair, and I hope that is the case.
The problem I see with these smart locks is the manufacturers pay little attention to the security of the physical lock. Watch channels like the lock picking lawyer and you see they can be bump picked or raked open in a few seconds. I feel better about getting a better quality physical lock and attaching something like the SwitchBot Pro.
Possibly but people aren't picking locks to get into places.
most American homes have glass doors anyway lol
I don't trust my home to that lock 😄
I do prefer the simplicity of the Kwikset Zigbee locks in Zigbee2mqtt.
I'm pretty ambivalent about this lock.
I use fingerprint 99% of time on U100. Don’t buy U50. Both suck cause they don’t integrate well into HA. They dropped off matter-server some time ago. You might be misleading people.
I use the U100 for quite a while now. Between the three of us we found the fingerprint sensor to work half the time. Possibly maybe due to humidity levels in the region.
The U100 seems to be fine here on Matter with the M2 bridge controlling it. I have had issues once with the lock not working but that was due to bad update by the HA Matter devs.
Not trying to mislead anyone as I always tell it like it is without sales, paid sponsors etc influencing things I say.
@@digiblurDIY did not mean it that way always appreciate your vids. I’m on E1 hub maybe that’s the difference. I’m in NC so still pretty humid. We only use right hand thumbs FWIW and fingerprint is pretty reliable.
I did forget to include the B roll I had of me touching the fingerprint over and over until it locks up and goes into fail mode. I have thumb and index and it always gets me so I just do the code but then I screw up the code because it is awake already. Lol.
They are decent locks and I like the build quality, they just need a little software work.