C-level lock cylinder, 6 ways to open the door, safety is the last word, Spotcat W500 fingerprint lock review!

The smart lock market has been very chaotic in the past two years. The cheapest smart fingerprint lock is less than a thousand yuan. Do you dare to do it? Most people will be tempted when they see such a cheap price, but if you think about it carefully, only a C-level lock cylinder costs nearly 300 yuan. Is a thousand-yuan smart lock really safe? I almost bought a fingerprint lock worth about 1,000 yuan. Fortunately, an incident involving a Tesla coil black box unlocking in 3 seconds was exposed some time ago, which was a blow to my head. Later, when I chose a fingerprint lock, I was more cautious. After comparing the security and ease of use of the lock for a long time, I finally chose the Spotcat W500 IoT fingerprint lock.

When choosing this lock, we focused on both safety and convenience. According to relevant national regulations, smart locks must have mechanical keys for emergency needs. Therefore, one of the weaknesses of smart locks is still the mechanical lock cylinder. Many smart locks on the market, especially some cheap smart locks, are still stuck in the B-level lock cylinder, but this one uses a C-level lock cylinder; on the other hand, This smart lock can resist the Tesla coil small black box and has relatively high security in the electronic part.

Convenience mainly considers the multiple ways to unlock the lock. For example, if the daughter-in-law’s fingerprint is very shallow, she can use the mobile phone’s Bluetooth to unlock the lock and the password; the parents are old and come over occasionally, but they can’t remember the password and the smartphone can’t. You can use a physical magnetic card to unlock the door; when there is no one at home, if a courier is delivered, you can remotely open the lock for the courier through the APP. After such a detailed calculation, various usage scenarios can be taken care of, which is indeed quite convenient.

The packaging of the Spotcat W500 IoT fingerprint lock is as shown above. Although the design is relatively simple, it is very heavy and the weight is very sufficient. After opening the package, there is a warranty card, installation instructions, and instructions for use. The door lock panel is red bronze, which looks more high-end than black or silver, and this color matches the security door at home.

After receiving the lock, I immediately contacted the salesperson for installation. The installation was free. The appointment was made at 2 p.m. Before the installer came to the door, I opened the package and took a closer look. There are many accessories for the IoT fingerprint lock. Various types of screws are packaged independently, the guide blades are made of alloy steel, and there are protective gaskets on the inner and outer panels.

The smart lock also comes standard with two emergency mechanical keys and two magnetic keys. The magnetic keys should be NFC chips. I originally wanted to copy the magnetic keys to the mobile phone, but I tried it with Huawei and Apple. It cannot be identified even after trying it. It is estimated that a non-standard frequency is used or other encryption technology is used. The advantage is that it eliminates the risk of disks being easily copied.

At the bottom of the outer panel are the mechanical keyhole and USB power supply interface. The interfaces are all integrated and have high security and will not be easily opened. When the battery of the smart lock is low and the mechanical key is not around, you can use a mobile power supply to power the lock through the USB interface.

Both the outer panel and the inner panel support the left and right adjustment function of the handle. The direction of the lock handle can be adjusted through the small hole on the right side. Whether it is opening the door left or right, it can be adjusted and adapted.

The panel of the lock is very heavy and the material is very thick. The surface of the panel adopts the IMD process, which has good color and brightness, and is also dust-proof, moisture-proof, and scratch-proof. You don’t have to worry about the panel being scratched in a short period of time.

The panel has a layer of buffer protection pad when it is installed, which allows the panel of the door lock to fit better with the door, and also prevents the panel from scratching the surface of the door.

My parents’ smart lock requires a sliding action every time I need to use my fingerprint, which feels cumbersome to use. The Spotted Cat has an integrated fingerprint and handle design. This design is very convenient. There is no need to press the fingerprint when opening the door.

The upper part of the panel is the password input area and the magnetic sensor area.

The inner door panel has the same style as the outer panel in appearance. The slight difference is that the password area in the upper part becomes the battery compartment, and the spotted cat LOGO in the lower part becomes the anti-locking mechanism.

This IoT fingerprint lock of Spotted Cat is powered by 8 batteries. Batteries are provided in the accessories. According to the official promotion, the battery life is 180 days, and the batteries can be replaced once a year. When the battery power is lower than 20%, the smart lock will actively remind the user to replace it in time through the APP and the lock body.

The lock body of Spotted Cat is made of very thick material. The lock body alone weighs 1KG. The lock body supports the top and bottom hooks of the anti-theft door. Please pay attention when installing.

The lock tongue can also be adjusted 180 degrees, and is also suitable for left and right door openings. The lock tongue has a hook design, which can prevent cards from being unlocked, further improving security.

The installation master came on time at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. After showing various certificates, the installation started. At first glance, I saw that this master was an experienced driver, and his skills were very skillful. He drilled holes three times, five times, and divided by two, and then installed them. After installation, at my request, the master specially took out the small black box of the Tesla coil to help me verify the safety on site. This lock withstood the 360-degree electromagnetic interference of the small black box without blind spots. Now the electronic safety I feel relieved sexually too.

After the installation, the effect looks quite beautiful. The red and bronze color matches the security door better, and it looks more upscale.

When unlocking the door from the outside, you only need to put your finger on the fingerprint, and there will be a reaction time of about 1 second. After a beep, a human voice will remind you that the door lock has been opened. The unlocking process is smooth and natural. I have been using it for nearly three months now. It can be opened almost in one go regardless of whether my hands are dry or wet, and no adjustment is required. By the way, fingerprints will become more sensitive as time is used. This is the self-learning improvement mechanism of fingerprints.

My daughter-in-law’s fingerprint is very shallow and she can only use the password to unlock. Every time she needs to enter the password, she can wake up the button light by lightly touching the panel. Because the password supports a 16-digit privacy password, you can open the lock as long as the number you enter contains a complete and continuous correct password. This operation is convenient and safe, and the door lock also supports setting a set of coercion passwords. When this set of passwords is entered, the door lock will immediately alert family members.

In addition to the physical password, the door lock can also be unlocked by entering the password via Bluetooth + APP.

What should I do if the elderly are forgetful, have shallow fingerprints, and cannot use a smartphone? Don't worry, you can also use a magnetic piece to unlock it. The magnetic piece needs to be paired with the fingerprint lock before being enabled.

The magnetic piece is very small and can be easily put into the protective case of the mobile phone. We carry our mobile phones with us, so we don’t need to worry about forgetting to take the magnetic strips with us when we go out.

The door lock can also be opened easily by placing the magnetic piece in the mobile phone case.

Let’s look at the effect inside the door. There is an anti-locking mechanism inside the door. The anti-locking is mainly to prevent the cat’s eye from unlocking. After being locked, the door cannot be opened at all if it is not manually released.

This point does not need to be mentioned, but after the Internet celebrity Mijia smart door lock is locked, unlocking the door from outside can actually open the anti-locking mechanism in conjunction with it. This is more embarrassing. The anti-locking function is to prevent unlocking from the outside. Yes, I don’t know what the meaning of Mijia’s doing this is? From this point of view, the safety factor of spotted cats is even higher.

The Spotted Cat APP is also designed with both safety and convenience in mind. Every time you enter the APP, you need to verify it to prevent criminals from performing illegal operations or making mistakes when using it yourself. When logging in, you can choose to use the fingerprint already entered in the mobile phone instead of entering the password, which is indeed more convenient.

In the APP, users of smart locks can be managed, and different permissions and unlocking methods can be assigned to different users. In addition to simple fingerprints, passwords, and magnetic cards, the unlocking methods can also be set to hybrid verification. method, so that every time you open the lock, you need to pass both methods at the same time before you can open the door. For example, the unlocking method you set for your parents is magnetic disk + password. If someone picks up the magnetic disk, they will not be able to open the door because they cannot guess the password, which further improves security.

The smart lock will automatically record and remind you to unlock. In addition to prompts in the APP, users can also bind WeChat to remind through WeChat. Then there is the coercion password mentioned earlier. If your family members are threatened, you can use the preset coercion password to unlock the door. When unlocking, the APP will remind your family members, and your mobile phone will also receive a text message reminder; in case the door locks If it is damaged, the lock body will sound an alarm, and the APP and registered mobile phone number will also receive a reminder push.

The Spotted Cat APP can actually manage all its smart devices, such as fingerprint locks, cameras, cat eyes, gateways, door and window sensors, human body sensors, curtains, sockets, switches, etc., and the connections between these devices Linkage settings can also be made. After linkage, a relatively complete smart home system can be built.

To give a simple example, I set up the linkage so that when my wife and I unlock the door, the cat's eye will take a photo. At the same time, the camera in the living room will turn off the video mode. If the lock is unlocked at night, the smart switch will also link to open the living room and books. Bathroom light. This is just a very simple example. You can also customize the scene according to your actual needs.

By the way, currently, Spotcat’s smart devices also support voice control through Tmall Genie and Baidu speakers. If you happen to have a smart speaker at home, it will be more convenient to use.

Okay, let’s finally summarize the Spotcat W500 IoT fingerprint lock from three aspects. The first priority is definitely safety. This lock of Spotted Cat has many safety designs, such as the lock body is made of thick material, C-level lock cylinder, anti-pry alarm, coercion alarm, reverse lock, anti-cathole unlocking, and two-way combination unlocking etc.;

The second aspect is convenience. The door handle is combined with fingerprints to make unlocking more convenient. The 6 unlocking methods meet the needs of multiple family members in different scenarios, especially the addition of the magnetic card unlocking method, which facilitates the use of special user groups such as those with shallow fingerprints and the elderly;

The last point is the icing on the cake design. The appearance of the Spotcat W500 IoT fingerprint lock is indeed very classy. I can honestly say that the design of the male model used by some brands of fingerprint locks looks low, and there are a lot of reaction lock handle coating processes in the Tieba forum. As for the post about the defect, the paint on the inside and outside handles has peeled off after a period of use. Who knows?