[chestnut-tree]

A good related article about locks from the BBC: Is the traditional metal key becoming obsolete?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29817520

I'm quite conservative when it comes to locks for the home and prefer the traditional mechanical lock and key. I like the Lockitron feature of recording when a lock is opened/closed but that could be integrated into a mechanical lock without requiring the lock itself to operate electronically.

I think this quote from the BBC article above sums up how I feel:

...what about wear and tear, asks Brian Morland of the History of Locks Museum in Bournemouth. He cannot foresee a time when mechanical locks won't be part of our daily life. "You drop a key in water and it's okay. If you drop an electronic key (or smartphone) it will cause endless problems."

[emhart]

I'm glad you referenced that article with your concerns, I'm actually quoted it in, but I think it was a bit of a shallow examination of a very deep topic.

I have my sole passion on the line when it comes to the decline of purely mechanical locks. My heart is brass and pumps grease. I love locks. That said - folks who can't imagine a time when the majority of door locks are electromechanical might wind up on the wrong side of history.

One of the constant refrains when I first found locks was that electronic locks could never be used in remote places where access to power might be a problem. Then I learned about the Kaba Mas X-series of user-powered safe locks. To the drop-it-in-water concern, many people are already using phones that are fully submersible and all of those people can use their phones to open several of the locks in this article. Not to mention waterproof electronic fobs.

There are a ton of pitfalls, the worst of which I touch on in the section on Yale's Real Living lock. The electronic lock manufacturers need to look to the history of mechanical security engineering before they reintroduce long-since-solved flaws. However, these systems are becoming robust and consumer ready. There are amazing electromechanical locks meant to be used exclusively on shipping containers, holding up to some of the worst weather conditions you can subject your hardware to. The market may not be mature just yet, but it is deep into puberty and whatever comes next will convince many more skeptics.

In the meanwhile, you can find me in a library, reading 19th century engineering texts, pretending the world I love isn't changing just as I learned to love it...

[chestnut-tree]

I realise my conservative attitude is somehwat contradictory given that many apartment blocks have an electronic entry system to the building for guests who ring the doorbell/press the buzzer. And yet, a mechanical lock for my front door still feels more re-assuring to me than an electronic one. But as you say, we're in the "early adopter" phase and perhaps it's just a matter of time before electromechanical locks become commonplace and accepted.

[emhart]

Mechanical locks will always be more comfortable to me, I'm sure. But I think that has something to do with understanding how it works. I'm a mechanical security guy, I'm able to follow the general field of electromechanical security and have a sense of info/network/app security, but I'll probably never completely know how those things are keeping me safe.

[prostoalex]

Don't electronic locks come with a backup key in case the battery goes dead? I have a Schlage Camelot and it does have a spare key, not sure if it's commonplace.

[emhart]

Most do, only the Haven explicitly positions themselves as anti-key, but Yale offers a keyless experience and it is possible to go completely keyless with both Lockitron and August as well.

[marcosdumay]

> You drop a key in water and it's okay.

Exactly like an RFID token.