Wyze Lock Bolt v2 evaluate: Now with Wi-Fi

Finest Costs As we speak: Wyze Lock Bolt v2

Three years in the past, Wyze did what Wyze does finest, introducing a succesful good lock that coated the bases and nothing extra, with a no-frills providing that might be had for a tune ($70 at launch). Now, Wyze is again with an replace to its unique Lock Bolt, redesigning and upgrading the machine to maintain up with the numerous advances which have hit the good lock house since 2022.

Excellent news: It’s nonetheless extremely cheap, and your entire bundle stays an enormous winner worthy of consideration by budget-minded good house fans.

Specs

Christopher Null/Foundry

To start out, the Wyze Bolt Lock v2 is totally redesigned, now that includes an illuminating glass touchscreen as a substitute of bodily buttons, and there’s now a mechanical key choice the place as soon as there was none. (The fingerprint reader stays intact, and Wyze says it’s been upgraded with an “AI self-learning scanner that logs strain, angle, and even tiny pores and skin shifts” each time it’s operated with the intention to refine its mannequin.)

The largest change nevertheless is underneath the hood: Whereas the Wyze Bolt Lock v1 was a Bluetooth-only system, the Bolt Lock v2 provides Wi-Fi (2.4GHz solely) to the combo, assist for which is de rigueur within the business at present. The unit is powered by eight AA batteries (included, as a substitute of 4 on the mannequin v1), which Wyze says ought to final about eight months. An emergency USB-C port can also be accessible on the underside of the outside escutcheon for emergency use.

IP53 weatherproofing is a bit much less spectacular than what you’ll sometimes discover in the marketplace, however most likely adequate to your entrance door, and its business ANSI Degree 2 certification means that the bodily safety of the lock might be adequate for many suburban houses. For extra info, learn our deep dive on ANSI and BHMA entry lock certifications.

The machine can retailer a most of fifty PINs and 50 fingerprints, which is helpful as a result of the Wyze app consists of assist for a most of fifty customers. One-time passcodes that expire on a schedule you determine—as much as every week away—are additionally included. Auto-locking is configurable from instantaneously to fifteen minutes, although there is no such thing as a open/shut detection system accessible, so the auto-lock will interact whether or not you’ve shut the door or not. The lock can be set to interact at a selected time every day and on sure days of the week, useful for automating your end-of-the-day lockdown. Lastly, integration with the Amazon Alexa or Google Dwelling ecosystems is included.

Set up and setup

Christopher Null/Foundry

There’s little thriller within the setup of the Lock Bolt v2. Like its predecessor, the outside escutcheon attaches to an inside mounting body with two bolts. A single cable connects to the inside escutcheon, which mounts to the body with three smaller bolts. Sadly, the holes into which these three bolts are set had been too slim for my customary screwdriver to suit inside with out marring the inside escutcheon’s plastic case. I needed to fetch a smaller screwdriver from my toolkit to finish the job, although this made issues harder than crucial as a result of the screwdriver head was undersized in comparison with the bolts.

One merchandise of notice must be thought-about when putting in the batteries, as a warning label notes that you need to use 1.5-volt batteries (customary alkalines, eight of that are included as famous above) as a substitute of 1.2-volt batteries, particularly NiMH rechargeables. Whereas NiMH batteries aren’t terribly widespread anymore, it’s nonetheless price noting.

I spent not more than 10 minutes getting the lock into place, after which it was time to onboard it with the Wyze app. Wyze’s now-overloaded app requires you to pick the product you’re including from an inventory (or seek for it by identify), which is changing into an unwieldy option to discover your machine. As I’ve famous with TP-Hyperlink, it’s excessive time for Wyze to embrace auto-discovery throughout its product line. Fortuitously, Wyze solely makes 4 good locks for the time being, so discovering the v2 isn’t tough.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Oddly, preliminary onboarding failed with out clarification, as did my first try and calibrate the lock. Persistence paid off on each fronts, nevertheless, and after making an attempt once more the lock made it by way of the method. After a number of fast parameter settings and a quick firmware replace, I used to be capable of get began utilizing it.

Utilizing the Wyze Lock Bolt v2

Christopher Null/Foundry

Wanting again at my evaluate of the unique Wyze Lock Bolt, it’s clear that whereas the {hardware} has seen an replace, little or no has modified inside the app in three years.

Functionally, the lock works nice, which is consistent with Wyze’s different good lock merchandise. I discovered unlocking the door to be speedy and seamless whether or not I used to be utilizing the keypad or a thumbprint—or interacting with the lock by way of the app whether or not I used to be close by or 200 miles away. Person administration is intuitive and quick, and Wyze makes it straightforward to decide on amongst everlasting, recurring, or momentary customers when establishing new guests. Fingerprints enroll shortly and the scanner was very correct (although not good) in my testing. One-time codes labored flawlessly as effectively, and logging is strong and detailed for all of this.

From a {hardware} perspective, the lock motor is quiet, although it chimes fairly a bit throughout operation, which finally led me to show its “standing and operation” quantity off altogether. That’s a private desire greater than something.

Must you purchase the Wyze Lock Bolt v2?

The Wyze Lock Bolt v2 is barely $10 greater than the v1 was at launch, which says so much about how far this business has are available in simply three years. Higher wanting and way more highly effective because of built-in Wi-Fi, it’s arguably now the very best worth accessible on the good lock market, a minimum of for the second. (Quite a few different locks can be found for lower than $100, however they both don’t have Wi-Fi or lack a fingerprint reader—or each.)

That, in fact, is a state of affairs that modifications quickly, however I’m uncertain we’ll see a greater deal than this one hit within the foreseeable future.

This evaluate is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the finest good locks.