Smart Door Locks: Schlage Camelot Connect Smart Lock w/ Alarm & Handleset EXPIRED

To address some of those hesitating..

We are a brand new "smart home" and do not even own a hub (smartthings, wink).. we just use whatever base stations and apps that come in the box with each respective system we've bought (philips hub, ring alarm base station).

We bought 4 of these Schlage connect sets the last time HD had this deal. I chose the connect model based on some light research as well as reassuring comments from slickdealers that it would integrate seamlessly with our Ring alarm system without needing to purchase another hub.

Some things to be aware of, these models require a deadbolt already being routed into the door, or your willingness to route one out yourself. Our front door did not have a pre existing dead bolt so my husband bought a set of kobalt brand chisels from lowes for this purpose, and spent about 1-2 hours creating one for his first time ever. He is pretty handy from a lifetime of jumping headfirst into these "first time" projects, but by no means an expert.

For these locks to function electronically, the deadbolt must slide both smoothly and completely. One of our doorways was only routed so that the old deadbolt could be slid a half turn rather than a full turn. This made it so the Schlage would sense "resistance" while locking, and revert to unlocked mode, eventually reporting as jammed after multiple attempts at locking. While my husband was chiseling the new deadbolt, i used his electronic router to deepen the existing deadbolt "hole". that was my first time using a router and it went fine.. just additionally needed a philips screwdriver, eye protection, and some common sense.

The third door was not so simple, these locks also require good alignment between door and doorway to function well. Meaning you can't currently need to push the door in or pull It out in order for the deadbolt to slide smoothly. Our third door was like this, so after installing the Schlage, husband had to do some trial and error shimming-type work.. it wasn't hard for him, just a little tedious. That probably took 2-3 hours.

The fourth door/deadbolt was fine at baseline so the lock installed perfectly. All in all, swapping out all 4 points of egress including chiseling a new deadbolt took half a day for a pair of people who'd never done it before, with one being proficiently "handy" and the other (me) being a complete novice.

Some other things to note: We also purchased separate, matching, nonlocking Schlage doorknobs for 3 of the sets because we only wanted to handleset on the front door. Schlage F10GEO716 Georgian Passage Knob, Aged Bronze https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00176K...vDb3W3KAEB
^^these ones, make sure they are "passage" and not dummy so that there is still a latch that retracts when you turn the handle.

The handlesets in this HD set came in its own separate Schlage box, packaged as a complete product with its own SKU, so they were easy to sell on eBay to recoup part of the cost. Kept the whole thing when said and done still a great deal. We sold all 3 handlesets in about 24 hours and pocketed probably $50 a piece after fees and shipping.

The Connects were a little frustrating to connect to ring at first, both a bit glitchy requiring a couple of resets of the lock, but also undoubtedly related to the fact that we're so new at these smart home devices that we don't have pattern recognition yet of how these installs work. Once we got all 4 connected to the ring app (took about an hour) they've been working perfectly.

Another thing, we bought the Connect model and it came with both left and right handles for the bottom/interior portion. I was worried because HD sold both left and right hand models separately at the time, and i needed 2 of each but the left had sold out. I bought 4 Right, thinking I'd try my hand at exchanging with customer service after they delivered. No need because all 4 sets that arrived came with 2 Handles. Made them that much easier to sell on eBay. The model that came was labeled ACC , which i guess indicates that it comes with both handles, rather than LH or RH.

Couldn't be happier with them. Was unsure how much we needed every point of egress in our house to be smart.. but now that they are i can't imagine any other way. Electrician, hvac, cleaning lady, spray foam guy, neighbor, all have their own codes that can be changed, added, usage tracked, or deleted at any time. Husband and I haven't used or carried house keys since install 2 months ago. It makes leaving the house or securing it before bed so easy. Don't have to check and secure ever door. Just leave the house and hit "lock all" in app on the way out. Husband and I used to tiff a bit about locking up, he feels our neighborhood is safe enough to never lock, and I don't feel quite the same. I like coming home knowing there is less than 0% chance someone is hiding out in a random nook in our 2600sqft house.

I imagine with a proper hub and ITTT integration it would be even better! Now that we're getting the hang of how smart home devices work we feel more ready to start looking for a hub and learn the added potentials , but don't think you necessarily need to jump into the deep end right off the bat if you're new to this like we were.

Parenthetically ring alarm was also super easy install and has been undoubtedly a net positive for our (mostly my) peace of mind. I installed it all myself, and it took a few hours. Very intuitive especially if you've previously had ADT

Anyways sorry for length and please forgive bad grammar/spelling/run on sentences, just typing this out super quick on mobile, hoping there's some practical tips here for those on the fence.

Keep in mind if you don't have a "smart hub", only the the Encode and Sense models can be controlled directly by the schlage app. The Connect model requires a hub.

That's a possibility, but I would say a far less possibility than someone picking your lock or just kicking you door in...

First they would need to identify it is a smartlock. I replaced a dumb electric lock and a smart one and there is nothing about my smart Lock that screams my Google home can control it. Also a thief would have to know you have an Alexa or a Google Home or an Apple Homekit device. And finally someone yelling at the top of their lungs for Alexa to open the door, for Google to open the door or Siri open the door is pretty counter productive to being sneaky