Overall and Final Verdict
Boy, this one has been a long time coming for a lot of different reasons, and even just diving into things and talking about all of the features that the Video Smart Lock and its software has made for an extremely long review. The fact is, this is a device combining the functionality of three different devices or at least two if you are thinking smart lock and video doorbell which in itself combines two things. But that also means that you are getting a lot in one package with the eufy Video Smart Lock. In fact, when I listed out my pros and cons for our final verdict I went well past the four listed on both so reading this entire thing is important because I just can't fit it all in the image down at the bottom.
As a camera, the Video Smart Lock is right in line with the camera on the eufy Video Doorbell Dual and I’ve been extremely happy with that. Like with that the Video Smart Lock has great motion detection with the combination of a radar sensor and PIR sensor that in my testing has completely cut out any false alarms. Of course, for my specific use case using the Video Smart Lock on our garage, I left the full motion detection on and you can see some of the wildlife picked up in the example video in our performance section. The only downside to the camera being on the Video Smart Lock is for people who have a storm door which depending on your door style may block it completely or at least partially not to mention cause more issues with night vision.
The doorbell functionality is also good, you have custom bell options, it is quick to ring, and of course, it will ring to your phone as well where you can talk to people through the Video Smart Lock. I would love to see the option to add custom rings, especially being able to upload files downloaded from the internet where you could have something that better fits your style or even have it play dogs barking. The doorbell also has another issue which is at no fault of eufys but because it is on your deadbolt some people are going to miss it even though they gave it a huge LED lit button. They do include the chime which is nice and echo devices are supported as well. You will need to buy a microSD card for the chime because it is also the bridge and the remote storage as well.
The battery life of the Video Smart Lock was great and on top of that, it does have a replaceable battery which has a type-C connection built in for charging. You can bring it inside while still having a manual lock or even buy extras on amazon and just swap it out (which were on there but now I can’t find at all).
Of course, the lock is the main part of the Video Smart Lock, and if that doesn’t work well none of the other features matter much. The physical lock as far as construction goes is great, I was blown away that the device altogether was over three and a half pounds. Eufy improved on the lock itself from past smart locks by at least using a standard SC1 style key but sadly it can't be repined or rekeyed which if you carry the key on you could lead to a situation where someone has the key and you have to replace the entire lock. Thankfully the smart lock functionality on the Video Smart Lock is amazing. So not carrying the key at all and just utilizing that is the most secure situation in my eyes. The fingerprint sensor was as fast as advertised and held up well in the rain, extreme cold (-0f and -40+ windchill), and snow that I’ve put it through so far. Having the battery inside helps it not deal with the cold as much as a battery-powered doorbell as well. The touchpad gives you the option to give out codes when you need to give people access and the app does a great job of tracking who is using the lock.
The only other big issue I have to bring up is the recent security questions which have been brought out against eufy. The initial issue was that they advertise this as a cloud-free setup but when you use notifications with pictures those photos are being uploaded temporarily to Amazon servers. That issue was more a communication issue and less a security issue, but the app has been updated to include that in the description on the notifications so you can avoid that if it is a concern. The other big issue has been a few people finding ways to access RTSP feeds and feeds through a web interface. I’m not a security professional so I’m not going to comment on any of that but I will say that as a eufy user on other devices, I have seen that they have been making changes to RTSP. So it does look like they are working on fixing those issues. That said, do your research and more importantly, understand limitations. No device is completely secure and when it comes to security cameras constant issues are popping up so keep that in mind with placement. While I wouldn’t ever want anyone viewing my camera footage, I do feel like having exterior cameras helps my security more than the small chance that I end up in the sights of someone hacking them. Interior cameras on the other hand I benefit less and have a lot more to lose privacy-wise. So I personally try to keep them to areas that would be needed but also wouldn’t show anything I wouldn’t want people to see and only have more on when I’m away. Similar to social media really.
As for pricing, with this being a multi-use device the Video Smart Lock is pricy with an MSRP of $399 but it is currently on sale for $349.99 on Amazon and was even less during the holidays. Eufy does have a similarly optioned lock without the doorbell and camera called the Smart Lock Touch which for my specific use case might be a better option and is a good option if you fall into the category where you have a storm door that makes this not an option and that has an MSRP of $215. But once you combined that with a video doorbell you are going to be spending more than the cost of the Video Smart Lock and overcomplicating things with more than one device. So it isn’t cheap, but I wouldn’t say that it is overpriced especially if you catch it on some of the sale pricing. With all of that said I have been extremely impressed with the eufy Security Video Smart Lock and if you don’t have a storm door or are looking to use this on another door that doesn’t have one I think it’s a great pickup. That said there is still room for improvement as well from eufy which means the second go around with this idea if eufy ends up doing it could be even better!
Live Pricing: HERE
