Simplisafe Door Lock Review

This is episode number 166 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We're so glad that you could join us for another live episode of The Homeowner Show here from our studio. How you doing, Kev?

Man, I am fantastic. Another great day in the hood of the Homeowner Show studio, Houston, Texas. Life is good. It's beautiful outside.

Living the sweet life.

Living the sweet life. How you doing, man?

Doing really good.

Yeah.

Uh, so we— one of the things that we have been, uh, slacking on.

Okay.

Not, not, not Not to mean that there's things on the show that we haven't been slacking on because we slack on all of them.

Sure.

But that's just who we are as people.

Yeah.

You love us. Come on.

Yeah.

But we had a new review come through recently.

Oh, really?

From— and I don't mean to— I assume you're lovely. The lovely Heather Bow.

Okay.

So here's what she had to say. Craig and Kevin cover a great range of topics. That create a— create knowledgeable and prepared homeowners. Their discussions and guests always keep the lively show both highly entertaining and informative.

Wow.

I could not agree more.

That she summed us up perfectly.

That's right.

And she knew our names. She has to have had listened to the show before.

She spelled them right too.

Oh, that's even more important.

Not that our names are—

Well, you would be surprised at how many people misspell Kevin.

Really?

Yes.

How do they spell that?

K-E-V-E-N. Really? Yes. It is weird. The weirdest thing. I'm like, who are you?

Keven.

Keven. I don't know, man. It's the weird thing.

That's what we should call you.

No, I do know some people that legitimately spell their name K-E-V-A-N. Kevon. But, but most is I-N, right? Sure.

I would, I would assume so.

Most logical way to spell it.

You know, I've never asked this question up until this point, but like, Like, because you're telling me all these different spellings. Like, where does the name Kevin even come from?

I don't know. I think it comes from Home Alone.

Kevin.

That's all I know.

Dude, that was a new ad recently. Did you see that? Yes. So they brought her back. They brought her back.

Yeah.

They didn't bring Macaulay back, but they brought her back.

Hey, fun fact about that show. Did you know that? So the movie. Okay. Keep the change, you filthy animal. Right. is completely made up for that movie.

What?

It's not a real movie.

Shut up.

No, it's completely made up. That movie does not— have you ever seen that movie?

What is it? Was it The Angel and the Badman?

I don't know, man.

Whatever it is, I'm looking that up.

It's— yeah, go look it up right now.

You talk to the people, like, do some Googling.

I know it's the weirdest thing. I can tell you a funny story off air about, um, someone with the name of Evan.

Okay.

But, but they spelled it with a K-E-V.

I don't think that— okay.

It's weirdest thing ever.

Sorry, it's off-air conversation. No, my brain must have gone to a different place because I was, I was watching a John Wayne movie with my son. Yeah, you were. Earlier tonight. And The Angel and the Badman is actually a— That's a John Wayne movie. Hang on. The old movie.

Uh-huh.

In Home Alone. Let's see if this Google search does anything.

Yeah, I, I, I, I better not be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure.

Angels with Even Filthier Souls, a fictional black and white gangster meta film from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which is a sequel to Angels with Filthy Souls, a fictional black and white gangster film from Home Alone 1990. Both starring Ralph Foote and Johnny are a parody of the 1938 Warner Brothers something of the something else.

Okay.

See? Oh, Warner Brothers film Angels with Dirty Faces. So it's a parody of an actual film. Okay. Angels with Dirty Faces. Okay. Either way, I want to see the movie poster.

I just, I just need to tell people.

Oh, that's James Cagney.

I don't know.

Let's see here. Hang on. Starring James Cagney. James Cagney.

James Cagney. Okay.

Angels with Dirty Faces.

Yeah. I don't know, man. I— all I know is that is—

dude, listen. Okay, hang on.

Okay.

Angels with Dirty Faces starring James Cagney. Okay. Pat O'Brien, who I don't know. The Dead End Kids.

Okay.

And Humphrey Bogart.

Humphrey Bogart.

So Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney are in Angels with Dirty Faces, which is the movie they spoofed. Interesting.

All I know is that I think that everybody on Earth thinks that's a real movie.

But I think nobody's ever seen it. I think you're right. Yeah.

Nobody has ever seen it, obviously, because it's a fictional, like, 2-minute video, you know, movie.

We just blew America's mind.

Yeah.

How did you know that?

Man, Craig, I know all kinds of useless information. That's about it. I don't know any, I don't know any good, healthy information.

Okay.

Just useless.

Other than who today's sponsor is.

Oh yeah, we can go into that, right?

Yep, we absolutely can.

So here we go. First, uh, sponsor of today's show is brought to you by Sustained Growth Solutions. So you business owners out there, uh, we know that it's important for you to grow your business. And so how do you do that? Well, We know that you're out there doing your job, doing the work that your clients call you to do. You come home, you're tired, we get it. How are you going to continue generating leads? That's where Sustained Growth Solutions steps in, takes over, and starts delivering you exclusive leads with a proprietary system that generates leads for your business. So it's as simple as that, and you know, there's a lot of other companies out there doing lead generation, Sustained Growth is doing it very differently. I think you'll find their process to

be superior in many, many ways because the leads are exclusive, which changes the game completely. So check them out. The easiest way to get ahold of them is info@sustainedgrowthsolutions.com. They will get back to you. And so yeah, Sustained Growth Solutions, check them out.

Also, this episode of The Homeowner Show is brought to you by TermiSave. TermiSave is the only home warranty termite prevention system on the market. Termites are one of the most destructive forces in nature, looking to eat and destroy your home. Can cause thousands of dollars of damage on your home annually in the United States, causes over $2 billion worth of of damage. Uh, you can get protection for your home for only $35 a month. TermiSave is looking to help you protect your home and put your mind at ease, because when termites attack, it can cost you thousands of dollars to treat, thousands of dollars to repair. Why not just get ahead of the game, get prevention for your home? When termites attack, get

them treated for free when you have TermiSave on your side. send them an email at info@termasave.com, or you can go to termasave.com, fill out their form, and get started having your home protected today. Protect your biggest investment with Termasave. Kev? Yeah, dude, I had a lot of work to do in my barn this week.

Well, you, you showed me a couple of things before the show that you've got planned because You know, we're at that critical point.

Yes.

Because in February of this year, yeah, we, we had a big problem. We had a massive freeze, massive freeze, just devastated the south down here. And I mean, your horses were out in, in that, right?

I mean, well, they weren't out in it.

Well, but they were, they were cold. They weren't inside. They were under a roof, right? They had their blankets on.

They were enclosed in blankets with heat lamps.

Sure. But so you've got some things coming. You got some new heating things to help them and new blankets. You're prepared. But you were telling me also about some stuff you got planned for, for that thing. Tell us about it.

Yeah, well, I— yeah, so I've had— I just installed— I was just doing the wiring this weekend for 3 new 110 outlets in the barn in the ceiling, because I bought these rack-mounted Uh, heaters.

Yeah.

That will go over their heads and kind of point down at them, uh, and, and keep them warm on the colder nights.

Nice.

Um, but what's really cool about them is, one, they're on a— they're gonna be on a switch on the wall so I can turn the power on and off. And also they're remote control.

Oh, nice.

So I can adjust the temperature, I can— all the settings that the heater— these heaters have, um, I can, I can adjust it remotely from inside the barn.

So inside the barn, not inside the house.

Yeah, it's not that far.

Because if you could, if you could adjust it inside the house, that would be—

If I could figure that out, I would be a much wealthier man.

You probably could. You just have to wire that thing all the way to your house.

I don't have the time or the interest. Really, it's the interest.

It's the interest.

Yeah. Because I'd make the time if I was interested.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Walk to the barn.

I mean, it's, it's not that far.

20 steps to the barn.

Just make my daughter do it. Yeah. There you go.

Even better.

It's a whole different version of Baby It's Cold Outside.

Oh, that's—

Baby, it's cold outside, daddy ain't going.

Daddy ain't going. But you're also gonna like extend the roof out as well, right?

Yeah, I've gotta, I've gotta add a couple of extra stalls, um, because the, the wife told me I couldn't have any more horses till I built a bigger barn. So—

Oh well, so there's one solution.

Yeah.

Fixable. It's, you know, we can fix this problem.

One of, one of life's many lessons: be careful what you tell me.

There's one thing you do well. I mean, maybe 2, but one thing that you do really well is take people's words.

Yes.

And parse them to fit exactly what you want them to have said.

Well, it's never what they didn't say.

Right. It's— well, it kind of might be. It kind of might be what they didn't say.

It's not my fault that your words made you mad.

That's right.

It's like, Well, you should be more careful with your speech.

That's right. I heard what you said. Uh-huh. And, and you either didn't mean what you said or I'm going to take it for what you actually said. Yeah. And you said I can't have more horses until I build a bigger barn. So, which means when I build a bigger barn at that moment, but not a later date. Yeah. At that moment when completion happens, right?

When I get the bigger barn, I can have more horses.

More horses.

Yeah.

So this—

you need to change your words or expect that it would be easier if you just said you can't have more horses. Exactly. Because then we can have an actual conversation right now. You've given me a goal.

That's right. Right.

So yeah, that's gonna happen.

Yeah.

And, you know, actually, and like, I'm completely like, she's excited about me having more horses. She wants more horses.

Sure.

So it's a big family project.

But yeah, yeah, she will.

And like, this is, this is the thing is, she's actually very smart because she knows now how to slow me down. Oh, because otherwise I would just do it and then figure out the rest later.

Okay.

So like, if she, if she gives me benchmarks to hit, she knows that she can, you know, stop the inevitable for a time.

Right. Sure.

So she's smart.

Yeah.

She knows what she's doing.

Of course. Of course she does. Well, you know, all I know is that the barn's gonna get bigger.

Uh-huh.

The horses are gonna be happier.

Well, and once the barn gets bigger, these heaters are gonna be even more effective cuz it's effectively gonna enclose them more.

Sure.

because the barn's moving away from, from the stalls where they're at now.

Right.

So yeah.

Well, and, and I mean, you've had a constant problem back there of water.

Yes.

And whenever it gets wet, it's just like you can sink up to your ankles real quick.

Yeah. And, and I was telling you earlier, I mean, like when you have moisture issues with horses, especially on their feet, it can cause problems. And I was dealing with that last, last week. One of them had an abscess in their, in their hoof, and I had to deal with that. No fun.

Nobody likes that.

They have way better products for that than when I was a kid. Oh, what now? Really? Yes.

Why?

Um, we were able to— I forget what the thing's called. It's a big red vinyl boot that you put over their foot so that you can do an Epsom salt soak on their foot, which draws out a lot of the infection.

Sure.

Um, and you just didn't have stuff like that when I was a kid. I mean, if you want to do something like that, you had to put like a know, a KitchenAid industrial sack around their foot. Okay.

Okay. That makes— okay. I heard you wrong or you said it wrong. I don't know which one, but what I thought I heard you say was they had much better products when you were a kid.

No, no. They—

Which I was like, how is that possible? That was—

Which I think that is sometimes true.

Maybe.

Um, on, for some things, but like, you know, you know, like what they like with appliances. I mean, like sometimes they say like, you know, they just don't last like they used to.

Right.

Which I think is completely true.

Sure. I mean, like, what I find ironic is here we are talking about how words matter, and I think I just completely misunderstood you with your words. Yeah.

So, uh, I don't have to be careful with my words. Everybody else does.

Oh yeah.

I don't listen to me. I listen to everybody else.

No, I've known you long enough to know that. And I also know the look, like when I say something that I don't think I it came out quite right. Yeah, you have a look, it's like, I'm about to rip this to shreds. And I— and if you've noticed, I backpedal pretty quickly sometimes. Like, wait a minute, what I meant to say was—

yeah. I have to watch myself in the mirror. I need to get rid of that. I need a poker face.

Yeah, well, good luck. I'm not gonna tell you what your tell is. It's fine, I'm good with it. I'm glad— I'm glad that you have a tell. Okay, so But I, I appreciate, I, I like people who carefully select their words. I like that.

Okay.

So anyway, so tonight, today, whatever you're listening to this at the moment, we've, we've resigned ourselves to the late night role. Oh, yeah. We, we, in fact, we had a, we had a listener just recently who was like, so when's the live actually gonna happen? It's like, we're just sitting around talking. I don't know what y'all think we do, but we just sit around talking and eventually a podcast breaks out.

We do it when we're good and ready.

That's right.

Right?

Yeah, exactly. So tonight, uh, we're going to do a product review for you guys.

Yeah, we haven't done one of those in a while.

It really has been a while.

Yeah. So, so this is, this is, I mean, selfishly, this is for me. Uh, we, we got a, uh, a digital deadbolt for the house.

Yeah.

So, and, uh, on a, on a popular line that I, I don't know if you're, You're seeing this. I'm seeing it a lot. Like, SimpliSafe—

It's everywhere.

Is everywhere.

Yeah. It's interesting because I remember whenever SimpliSafe came out. So if you don't know what SimpliSafe is, SimpliSafe is, is kind of a DIY home security system. The thing that's nice about it is it's completely wireless. So, you know, gone are the days where you— and this is true of a lot of security systems, although, you know, we, we've had some security system episode before. I don't remember what episode that was now. We should check that before we start talking about things.

Matt from Hawk Security.

Exactly. They would still tell you that the wired ones are, are, are best. That's what they would say.

Yeah.

SimpliSafe would disagree with you, obviously.

Sure.

But theirs is wireless, so it's easy to install. You can put it up wherever you need to in your home. Everything's wireless, which is fantastic. So, uh, they have a door lock.

Yeah.

So that's what we're going to be reviewing tonight. Now, I will preface this by saying we will probably reference my door lock a couple of times in this episode. I have a Schlage door lock, um, that we have reviewed as well.

Yep.

It's one of our earliest episodes. Yeah, I think it was episode 4 or 5, maybe something like that. Uh, one of our earlier episodes. And, um, which I still love, by the way.

I think that's important to mention because, I mean, that was like 3 years ago.

Yeah.

And you still have it and still working, so it's obviously a good product.

Oh yeah, in fact, in fact, it's one of those deals where, um, we've, we've considered the idea of like buying some land and maybe building a house or, or something like that. And I've, I've often thought like, man, I love my door locks. Like, they're one of the, my favorite things that we did, these smart door locks, to our house.

Yeah.

Um, and I've wondered, have they come out with a better lock since then? Because I mean, Schlage is kind of a staple in the lock industry.

Yeah.

They're very, very stable. They're very, very good. They're, they're, they're great locks. And this specific system, we've had it for, for 3 years, over 3 years now, uh, 3 and a half, because we bought them whenever we bought our house. So we've had it for 3 and a half years. No, I'm wrong. 4 and a half years. I still love it.

Yeah.

Still love it.

And it still works.

Still works. Does everything you're supposed to do. Absolutely everything.

So, I mean, I think, I think it's good to know like how I even like went down this path. I, I started hearing about SimpliSafe when I was listening to the BiggerPockets podcast.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Okay.

Because I think SimpliSafe was a sponsor on their show.

Okay.

Um, love BiggerPockets. Yeah, it's great. It's a great podcast if you guys are into like real estate investing at all. It's a, it's a great podcast to listen to. I think it's Brandon and—

Oh, I don't remember. They've changed.

It used to be Josh, but it's not Josh anymore.

Somebody else.

Yeah. Um, he's good too, that guy.

Yeah, but Brandon, Brandon's the mastermind behind BiggerPockets.

Oh yeah.

I mean, that dude is insane. Awesome.

And so anyway, I think SimpliSafe used to be a sponsor of their show.

Okay.

And part of the reason they were sponsoring the show is because it's a once you install it, it's not there. Like, you can pick it up and take it with you, right? You know, so like, for these, these real estate investors, when they're, you know, using like small residential properties, you know, like as they buy and sell these properties, they can take that Simply Safe system with them and move it into the next property, right? Um, and, and they don't— there's— they're not ripping out wires. They're not— there's nothing they're really having to do other than just go and pick up the actual physical pieces and move it into the next property and install it, and then it's good to go.

Right.

But be like, as you mentioned, it's wireless, and so it's real easy to do that with. So you don't have to constantly be reinstalling new security systems. Your account's already set up. You just have to, you know, you know, adjust the, the location and all this kind of stuff. Um, this would be a little bit different because you do have to install it on the door.

Yeah, but, um, So yes, that's true, but you— there's, there are some components that we'll get into where it would still be easy to remove.

Yes.

And take with you. Even the keypad on the outside, uh, we'll get into a little bit later. And how permanent you choose to install it is something that is going to be your choice.

Yes. You know?

Yeah.

So, so this is an interesting system, and I think as we dive into it, I mean, it's good to always just pull those Band-Aids off.

Yeah.

That you need to know about these kinds of things. So one of the things that you need to know about this particular door lock is in order to get all the features out of it, you do have to have the SimpliSafe hub.

Yeah, so that, that would be something that's very different than what I've got. Mine are standalone locks. Um, you, as long— but I mean, you still need a hub for mine. I mean, you either need, um, an Alexa or you need, uh, you know, Apple HomeKit or something like that in order for it to work, right, fully functionally. Um, and so really there's nothing different except don't— I mean, and I, I would say that this product is not going to be something that you would want to go after if you didn't already have SimpliSafe. It would not be wise to go, I'm looking for a great door lock. SimpliSafe's what I'm gonna go with, but I don't have any of their other products. That would not be wise. So,

agreed? Agreed.

But that's exactly what I did.

Yeah, because I was gonna say, but Craig, you have no SimpliSafe hub.

I have no SimpliSafe hub.

So will it work without the hub?

Yes.

At all?

Okay. For, for what I want it for.

Okay.

So, and, and like, so here's what I'll tell you. The, the SimpliSafe, like, the basic package that you can get from SimpliSafe, is $219.99.

Yeah, and oh, by the way—

Well, I'm just kidding. Well, that's the price at Best Buy. I'll look it up on Amazon just to be—

Yeah, I was gonna say, oh, by the way, I see this on woot.com all the time. So if you don't know about woot.com, it's one of the original one-sale-a-day type of websites where they sell all kinds of different things. But they sell one thing, and when they sell out of it, it's gone. Right?

Right.

So that's kind of the deal. I see SimpliSafe on there at least once a month, maybe once every other month, and it's always discounted. Um, so how much is, is it on Amazon right now?

Uh, I'm just double checking real quick.

Okay.

So the same basic package on Amazon is $229. So you're saving $10 by, by buying it from Best Buy.

Okay.

Um, but, you know, with Amazon you can, you know, break it up into 0%.

Okay. Either way, it's one of those deals where you could, for an extra $220 roughly, right, you can get a security system as well. So, so do we want to talk price now or do we want to—

Well, yeah, that's fine since we've already talked about like, so if, I mean, like if you want all the features, you're gonna have to buy the system, which the cheapest one is $219 right now. They have bigger systems with more features and accessories and all that kind of stuff. And obviously, that's more expensive. But so, so for the cheapest version of the SimpliSafe hub and security system, $229. And then this door lock is $99.99. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

That's just so you know, that's significantly cheaper than my Schlage locks. I mean, I don't remember. what, what they were at the time, but they were, they were a couple hundred bucks apiece.

Oh, here. Let me, let me back that up. I just found another one. I simply say 5-piece wireless home security system, $179.

Oh, boom. So there you go. So— That's on Amazon, by the way. So for less than $300, you could get a security system.

Home security system.

Plus remote door lock.

Yeah. And this is, this door lock is, the same price on Amazon and Best Buy right now.

Okay.

I don't know about other websites, but those are the 2 main ones where you can buy this stuff.

Got it. Alright.

Yeah.

So, let's dive in. Why did you choose to get this door lock whenever you don't have a hub? What are you trying to do with it?

Lock and unlock my front door. Ah. Well— That's really it. And I, I wanted, I wanted my kids and my wife to be able to have a PIN number in order to lock and unlock the front door. Yeah. I mean, you're, you're kind of at this place where it's like either—

I mean, especially your oldest is old enough to have a key to the house, right?

Yeah.

And, uh, so you either got to go get new keys made and keep up with them, and if they lose it and this, that, and the other, right?

Yeah.

Or, I mean, and, and y'all live on property, so the likelihood of walking out, door gets locked, or something happens— this gives you the ability for your kids to always be able to get inside of your house. Yeah.

And, well, and, like, so we're just not in the habit of locking our front door.

That's true.

I mean, it's, it's not part of our lifestyle because, no, I mean, like, the only person who knows where our house is is, like, the Amazon person.

True.

Um, and, like, that's usually a different person pretty much every week now. So, I mean, like, there's, there's not a lot of people who even know that we have a house back here. Well, yeah.

And, and there's, I mean, we have people on the show that we give the address to and we have to go hunt them down. Have they been lost? Yeah.

'Cause they drive by and they're like, that can't be it.

That's not it, that's not it. Or it's like, is that a driveway? No, that's not a driveway.

Mission accomplished, people.

Oh, by the way, it's the largest property in the subdivision. So not only is it a driveway, there's a lot back here.

Yeah, so, and they think it, so most people drive by it and think that it's some sort of like, easement for like the power company or something, or not that there's like power lines or anything. It just doesn't look like anything else nearby where we live.

Sure.

But so anyway, so we're not in the habit of locking our door.

Yeah.

And I know that if we had something where that didn't require a key, it would be a lot easier for us to get in the habit of doing that. Because that way, if somebody comes home, they don't have to have the key. They just need the PIN number.

Right.

that we've programmed in in order to do that. And we can talk about this later. I really like that the keypad is not attached to the door.

Oh yeah.

Or it doesn't have to be attached to the door.

Yeah, so mine— Does yours have a keypad? Mine does have a keypad.

It does have a keypad.

It does have a keypad. It can obviously be, you know, unlocked with a phone.

Right.

But it does have a keypad, but the keypad is part of the exterior lock itself. And then I've got a handle that's completely separate. All of the handles are separate from the lock itself. So you just have a pass-through lock, I'm sorry, a pass-through door handle, and then you've got the deadbolt. That's what we've got at our house.

So, and I think that's actually something good to mention about this one too, is like they mentioned that there's 2 kinds of deadbolts that it won't work with.

Okay.

But, but this one actually installs on your existing deadbolt.

Yeah.

And, and what it— and I— it was explaining the instructions, but it's basically, it's like the round deadbolt that you have on that has the quarter turn on it. And there's a couple other kinds of deadbolts that people have in there. There's like one that's like the exterior that's like a threading knuckle.

Oh, okay.

Lock. Um, and there was one other one. I forget what it was. Anyway, if it basically, if it's not that round one, that's, that sits above the pass-through. Yeah. Yeah, then it won't work.

Sure.

But it has to be that one. And but that's what most people have now.

Yeah, that's a, that's the most common deadbolt. So if you've got a deadbolt on your, on your house, the thing that you'll want to make sure is that you don't have a handle that also locks. Because that defeats the purpose of being able to open a deadbolt and be able to get in, right? Because if your handle locks, you're still locked out, right? So you'll want just a regular pass-through knob or handle, or what is the button, right? The button.

The button.

Yeah, where you like use your thumb to—

Oh, I don't know what that's called.

I don't either. The button. I'm calling it the button. Does anybody know what it's called?

It's like a lever that you press down from the inside in order to open the door.

Yeah, well, from the outside.

Is it on the outside?

Yeah.

Okay.

Most of the time the inside's a handle. Yeah. Yeah. So we're really technical with all the words.

We know tonight, we know our doorknobbery.

Yes, we do.

But one of the other things to mention about this, this lock is when you buy that security system, it's not— you don't just have it, right? Because there's like a monthly service fee that you have to sign up for. It's like a month, like, like every security system, it's a monitoring fee.

Sure.

And, and so you have to add that. And I don't know what those are because I haven't looked into it because I don't want it.

Right.

I don't, well, I don't say I shouldn't want it.

You don't need it.

I don't need it.

Sure.

And, and so I don't, I don't know what those, what those numbers are. But in order to get all of the remote services that are associated with this lock, basically to unlock this lock, you, you have to have the system And you have to be paying for the monitoring fee.

Okay, got it.

Or the membership, whatever they call it.

They call it—

I'm sure they call it something cleverer than that.

Cleverer?

Yep, it's a word.

Okay, I believe you. So one of the things, um, that again, it— the thing that you need to know is that all this does, you take off the back of your deadbolt and you slap this thing on there. Done.

No, I mean, like, the installation instructions will— I think if you were just to flip through it, I think for most people would kind of give you a little bit of anxiety.

Okay.

Um, what, like, what were all those multicolored— we looked up the word and I can't— still can't remember it.

Yeah, I'm gonna look because I was like, what is it? You're talking. Yeah, so we've got it right here. So if you're, uh, we're looking, there it is. We actually, Craig actually does own this thing. So I'm gonna look at it. There's a, so tell them why there's these things that you're talking about. What are they?

What are we talking about? Well, that's the thing is I can't remember the name of them. And then the name of it kind of explains what they are.

All right, I'm looking it up right now. So they are called, hold with me just a moment. We are looking at—

I mean, they're basically the adapter for the kind of lock that you have.

Yep, that's exactly what it is. I'm just trying to look and see what the name of it is. So it's in that because different, there it is. So choose adapter and it is called, I see them right here. What are they called? Oh, tail switch.

Tail switch.

Tail piece.

Tail piece.

Tail piece. So basically, and I'll show you in the instructions what I'm talking about here. So there's those 4 different colors right there. So you'll notice that different deadbolts have—

Different tailpiece adapters.

Exactly. Well, they have different tailpieces.

Yeah.

And it basically, it's the thing that your deadbolt grips onto to actually turn the lever to open it or close it. Right. And so this has 4 different tailpiece adapters. to be able to fit any of those types of locks.

Yeah.

So I— you're right, I, I could see that some people look at it, they go, ugh. But really, I mean, there's like 11 steps.

And if you're colorblind, you're just out.

Yeah, good luck.

You're gonna have to—

you're gonna have to know your shapes at that point.

That's right.

So if you don't know your shapes and you're colorblind, then find an installer.

Maybe you should have to show like a kindergarten certificate in order to be able to purchase one.

So are you saying anybody who's colorblind needs kindergarten education?

Absolutely.

Okay.

Just checking.

Yeah. I'm fine with that analysis. I'm just asking. Just asking.

I'm fine with the logic of it.

There you go. Alright. So it's pretty easy to install, really.

I mean— Yeah.

I mean, that, that's a couple screws you take off.

That one piece of the, of the installation, whatever the— what do you call those? Instructions.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. That, that's the most confusing part of the whole thing. The rest of it is really easily— well, like, just super laid out well.

Yeah. So, um, again, with the hub, this basically from the inside allows you just like a regular, uh, you know, turn of the, of the lever to open and close. So I've actually got the website pulled up here so you can see, um, that, that right, right here, this is what this thing looks like. And what's interesting is they've got 2 different colors.

Okay.

They've got white and they've got obsidian.

I got the obsidian one.

You got the obsidian one?

Yep.

I think it's absurd that white is an option because seriously, who has white on their door anywhere? I mean, unless it's a, like, a white door, I guess. But I mean, like, most of the time you got your knobs and your handles that are one of 3 colors, right?

Well, here's the, here's the thing is, I think you're thinking about this from an exterior perspective. But okay, that thing only goes on the inside.

Yeah, but you still have a handle.

Yeah, but most—

or a knob.

I would, I would wager that most interior doors are white.

Okay, let's say that they're— that the door is white, right? You still have a knob, right? Or a or a handle that you're opening the actual door with, right?

Yeah, I'm trying to think because like, I'm like, if you have, uh, which, and this, I understand where this is going because, because I think there's a lot of door fixtures that are like brushed nickel.

Uh-huh.

And I think if I was, if I had a brushed nickel interior door handle and I had the choice between Obsidian and white, I'd probably go white.

Okay. Yeah, because typically you're gonna have brushed nickel, bronze, right? Or like—

Oil bronze.

Yeah, oil-rubbed bronze, or like a gold, right? Or maybe a chrome.

Yeah.

But gross. But, but those are your options.

And yet we get white and black.

Black and white.

Although I have, I have seen more and more black hardware on doors.

Yeah.

As of late. Yeah, kind of like a, uh, it's very modern.

Yeah, it's very modern looking.

Yeah. Um, but yeah, I, I, I feel— I think there should be more colors. Um, but like, like I said, if I had a brushed nickel and I had the option between white and black, I'm probably going white. Yeah, because it's just on the inside and no one— no one typically— no one really pays attention to the ex— the interior of the door as much as the exterior. Correct. And you get to keep the exterior.

Yeah, it stays the same.

whatever your hardware is, right?

Yeah.

And that's the other thing that I think is important to mention with this one. Um, does, does, does your Schlage have a keyhole?

It does.

It does. So, and I don't know if it— did it come with a new key, or—

It does.

Okay, so you get to keep your previous key with this one?

Yeah, in fact, um, somewhere in my house I actually have the keys But I have not used them one time. Never. Because why?

Right.

You know, it's as easy as— it's easy. Yeah, just punch in my code or tell Siri to open my door and it does, you know.

So, well, man, I think, I think we've kind of covered this. I do want to, I do want to hit—

Well, we need to cover the, the keypad.

The key— well, yeah, we definitely need to talk about that. I wanted to talk about some of the features that you get when you sign up for the service.

Okay.

Because those, those might be important to some people. Because for me, it was just, do I have the keypad? Can I unlock the door with a PIN?

Yeah.

That was the extent of what I needed from this thing.

Sure.

And everything I, everything I kept finding was like $250, $350, $500. I mean, like, there's— and like, they all had these different— and I was like, I don't want that. I just want to be able to like use a keypad to unlock my door. That's all I want.

Right.

Um, so anyway, the features that you get with the service and the system Automatic locks, meaning, like, you can set it to a certain time of the day in the morning where it will automatically lock and unlock the house.

Right. That's the— now, this is if you have the service.

If you have the service and the system.

Yeah. Because you cannot do that if you do not have the system. Right.

Everything I'm about to mention is— falls under that category.

Okay. Got it.

Activity alerts, meaning you get notifications on your phone or smart device that your door has been unlocked, opened, et cetera.

Right.

Um, remote lock and open, meaning you can remotely lock and open the door from anywhere.

Sure.

Um, and then temporary codes.

Mm-hmm.

You can give people temporary PIN codes and access to the house. Uh, for instance, like, you know, plumbers, electricians, service individuals that you wanna have access to the interior of your home, in interior of your home, but only want that during a particular window of the day.

Right.

So there you go. Those, those are the, those are the big features that you get with, with having the service in the system.

Yeah. Which, which are helpful. I mean, I—

Very helpful features.

You know, we were gone at one point. You came over and fed my dog.

Yep.

I gave you a code. That code no longer exists because I don't want you in my house. And so that was easy.

Neither did your dog.

Yeah. Exactly. He didn't wanna go back into the house at all. I still apologize for that, by the way. Anyway, um, so I, I was, I was able to give you a code. That, that's great. Basically, you're gonna have one code for this, right?

Right.

Because you're not gonna be able to, to change them, all that kind of stuff.

Correct.

You're gonna have one code, um, but it's still gonna do what you need it to do.

Yes.

And, and so one of the things I wanted to mention about the, the actual keypad, as I mentioned, it was wireless.

Mm-hmm.

Um, so literally, this thing has a, a like a, like a 3M, uh, sticky.

Pull it out, man. So there we go, I'm back on.

Uh, yeah, yeah, let me grab it. Um, so here's the— I'll show you this. Like, here's the actual lock. It's super thin, right? So like, I mean, this is it. Nothing, nothing Too big. Oh, I'm— it's on you. I'm not even— they didn't even see that. Here, let's try again.

Here it is. Um, staring at me the whole— staring at me, staring at you, staring at you.

Yeah, exactly. So that, that's it, right? Um, and then this is, uh, this is the keypad. So let's see. There you go. You can see that. And on the back, um, there, there's some, there's some sticky, right?

Yeah.

You just peel that off, stick it to wherever you want it to be, and it's boom, it's done, right?

Yeah, and it doesn't, doesn't have to be on the door. That's the thing I really like about it.

Yeah, no, it does. I mean, it can be— you can put it anywhere. It's wireless, right?

Yep.

But, um, if you want it to be a little more secure, there are some, uh, some holes here where you can put some screws in and, uh, fasten it to, to the wall. I don't know why anyone would ever take this, but Because they're jerks. People be stupid.

Yes.

Right? And when they be stupid, they might do something like that. So you could, if you want to, go ahead and secure it to, uh, to the outside of your wall. Now if you have like brick or something, I guess that would be problematic. But, um, but yeah, if you have wood or secured to brick, I mean, you can. Yeah, you can. So anyway, but it's a— I mean, it's a great little system.

Yeah.

I mean, for For $100. For $100, it's gonna do everything that you need it to do. And honestly—

I mean, that's not far off from what you pay for like normal hardware on a door.

Right. No, I would agree with that. And if you are— if you're looking to just open your door, it's gonna do great. If you already have the SimpliSafe system though—

Great addition.

This is a no-brainer.

Yeah.

I would not go with a different solution if you had the SimpliSafe already. So if you've got SimpliSafe, you want an automatic door lock, dude, this would be fantastic. Best choice.

Yeah, I gotta say, the only thing I would, you know, say is if I had any trouble installing the thing and then I moved and I was taking my SimpliSafe system with me—

You'd leave it.

I might look at that and go, is that really worth it?

Yeah.

I can just buy another one.

Yeah.

I mean, for $100. I mean, like, and do I even remember where the old one is?

Yeah, probably not. Yeah, that's probably gonna be your biggest thing is where'd I put the back of that? thing. Yeah, I guess I'm gonna have to leave it.

Right, you don't want to go like— at that point, like, to, to my earlier point, I mean, if I go buy a new one, one, I'm rekeying the front door.

Sure.

And like, it's probably going to be just as expensive as the thing itself, so I might as well just leave it.

Right, exactly.

And then I'll have to detach the keypad wherever I, you know, did that, and that's not going to re-stick.

Right, right.

So I, I see that as— it's like the one thing I can say like, well, that might be the negative if I ever move.

Sure. So, yeah.

Which, you have to pull me out of here like a tick.

Yeah, good luck. Although you did clean out your garage, you're significantly easier to move right now than you were a couple of months ago.

Oh, yeah. So I am unburdened from the clutter and junk of my last 20 years.

Congratulations.

Not as fat as I once was. That's stuff.

Yeah. It's just stuff. Yeah, man. What else? What, what, what did we not cover with this thing?

Um, that's about it, man. I mean, the packaging's cool.

Yeah.

There's not much to it. It's pretty simple.

Yep.

So I actually, uh, they had to ship it to me.

Oh, okay.

So they don't really have them in stock.

Okay.

But I mean, like, everybody has them available online right now.

Sure.

So it took them 2 days to get it here.

Yeah.

So no big deal.

All right.

And obviously I still haven't installed it. So, well, in all my free time, we were waiting to, to—

it was all for you guys anyway. Yeah, exactly. So, well, um, if you haven't already, go ahead and hit the like button, subscribe to our podcast, share it with all of your friends, or else, or, or we will something. Yeah. to you. Um, go ahead and, uh, you know, uh, what was the other thing? You, you, you completely interrupted me, threw me off my game. And leave a review. That's the one. We will even give you a shout out if you leave us a review. 5-star review.

Our new friend Heather Bowe.

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