We regularly review smart locks and provide our impression on the installation process, daily use, the mobile app, and more. What we can’t tell you is how well the lock will withstand years of exposure to the elements, how many open/close cycles it should deliver before it fails, or how difficult it will be for an intruder to defeat it—either by lockpick or brute force.
To answer those thorny questions, we consult the standards bodies ANSI and BHMA, both of which provide ratings about the long-term physical capabilities of a lock. But what do those ratings mean, and why doesn’t every lock producer use them?
Let’s dig deeper.
BHMA certification is tough. If there are 15 tests in a category, and the lock meets the top level on 14 tests but gets a B grade on one, the lock will earn the lowest grade that comes out of the tests, a B.
ANSI, …