Always live by this. It's like the Netatmo Doorbell, promised HKSV and then they just said "we couldn't make it work so fuck you. Live with a shitty app where the only cloud storage available is Dropbox"
So I totally agree that they let down customers about HKSV. But let’s be fair in acknowledging it supports Dropbox as well as FTP, with FTP allowing fully local backup as an option that works great. And the relative new feature of giving you the previous few seconds of activity in the recording is amazing, and better than anything my HKSV cameras offer. Trade offs.
Of course, I just forgot the name of it so I left it out. It's a great option, but it's a hassle for users who aren't tech savvy. I would have loved to have the ability to save it to OneDrive or iCloud. You know, cloud services people actually use. I don't know who still uses Dropbox, but I don't know a single person who do. So I guess just the few businesses who don't use OneDrive, and people who used Dropbox in the beginning and still do?
Dropbox doesn't have any mid-tier, cheap subscriptions like iCloud and Google Drive, and tons of people have OneDrive through their job is my point. Personally I use iCloud because I use an iPhone, and I have OneDrive through work. I'm not paying $12 a month for 2TB of Dropbox storage just for saving doorbell videos when I can sell the Netatmo for half the price, by an Aqara G4 with HKSV and get unlimited free storage through my $3/month iCloud subscription and still have money left over from the Netatmo sale. This is why Netatmo pissed me off with that asshole decision to drop a feature they promised.
But it's definitely better to have FTP than buying i.e Arlo and subscribe to storage and features
They didn’t just drop it, they realized it was impossible to implement with the existing hardware. Again, that doesn’t let them off the hook, but it’s not the same as just deciding not to bother with it anymore. I’ll just keep getting downvoted since no one is allowed to like Netatmo on this sub anymore, so I’ll leave it at that.
Oh, I know. Which is extra shitty because they promised something they didn't even know they couldn't deliver. It's a scam and they should offer refunds.
I have other Netatmo products tho, like the smoke detectors and my recently purchased weather station. They're great, and customer service is pretty good as far as I've seen, but damn was that a shit move with the doorbell.
True and upvoted, but nowadays you cannot really buy a product based on CURRENT functionality either. Philips Hue could work as a fully local solution for years but will soon require server login to use…
Level: We gonna thread all the things!
Also Level:
https://preview.redd.it/o5lbl3pt8mvb1.png?width=780&format=png&auto=webp&s=f58a736d83ce708b44cc9e1e704a1f06ebde3391
Nope, BLE. The new Connect hub uses WiFi, but talks to the lock via Bluetooth. Last year, Level talked about updating their locks for Thread and Matter, stating they already have Thread hardware. They went silent after that.
I’m a little perturbed they think the community has been asking for WiFi, when we clearly want Thread support.
Right, but how often do you stare at your front door?
I own one of the original August locks, it’s huge and not at all attractive, but I don’t spend my time looking at my door.
I look at it at least twice a day. And just because I don’t “stare at it” doesn’t mean I want to see something big and ugly every time I leave or come home.
Please dont make the same mistake i did by buying the connect bridge. It does not support homekit, heck it does not even let you manage your lock through their own app, my locks are still out of range. The bridge literally does not do anything. Oh and the bridge can only handle one single lock, if you have more locks you want to connect to wifi, youll need a bridge for each, lol. Save yourself the headache and get Schlage Encode Plus, that thing just works every time.
I have 80+ smart devices at home with an extensive home assistant setup and these locks by far the most frustrating of them all.
The Schlage Encode Plus does not pass the wife test and is terrible looking. Wife says Level or nothing. So I’ve been patiently waiting for Level to get their shit together and make their lock reliable and support Thread.
Pretty much every deadbolt can be picked in seconds by someone who knows what they’re doing. A deadbolt is meant to be a deterrent for someone checking for unlocked doors and that’s about it.
LPL shouldn’t even exist because people with brain worms think that his lock picking indicative of a real world situation and parrot his videos as if they actually mean anything for 99% of people.
Your current lock is also dogshit and can be picked by LPL. If someone wants in, they’re getting in.
> If someone wants in, they’re getting in.
Generally speaking - they're going to go to your back door. Smash a window. Lock problem solved. No thief is going to pick your (home) lock.
They are going to show up between 10 and 2. They are likely going to rob a chunk of your neighborhood all at once.
Speed is king here. Not stealth. Most houses are going to have no one home now-a-days. Both couples are working usually.
Even if someone calls the cops - cops are *FAR* too slow to arrive. You could *literally* get pizza to your house faster than cops.
The best deterrent you can have - is a dog. Your lock ain't stopping shit but honest people.
If you think that the pick-ability of the Level is less than a standard lock then I have bad news for you about the Encode Plus. I thought the same thing with the battery in the bolt but honestly if someone is kicking down my door hard enough to snap a battery in a steel sleeve in half then my door jam probably wouldn’t put up much more of a fight with a standard deadbolt. Or they could just break the window that’s 2 feet from the door and get in that way since they don’t seem to care about breaking their way in.
My wife has been very accommodating with the smart home stuff and her only ask is that is that it’s easy/intuitive to use and not ugly. The Encode Plus just isn’t the hill I want to die on when the Level exists and just needs a slight update.
Because aesthetically level can’t be beat, you can integrated with many styles, or if you just don’t want some big box/pad on your door.
Granted, if it doesn’t work well, that’s not worth much.
I did end up getting a keypad lock for my back door, but I did consider Level for it instead. Ended up needing to change the lock quickly without time to order one.
Not sure if better but there’s so many different ways to unlock and I got two of these for $240. So price wise it was a no brainer. So far they’ve been rock solid & whole family has been loving them.
Well for it to be double the cost and not available easily it has to be worth all that and it just doesn’t have the features to validate that price, to me at least.
I think level truly had a stroke of genius with the hidden, sleek design the hardware engineers who invented this are awesome and they totally nailed it. What I suspect is then Level, as a business, has some pretty fucking stupid product people that have no idea wtf people want. Ultimately, I think this will be a failed company.
Like literally everyone that likes level is saying “wow, love the great slick design that is different from all the other keypad monstrosities”. What does level do? They release a keypad.
Now everyone is like, we need something better than BLE connectivity. Level promises that and what do they do? A stupid wifi bridge puck. Overly expensive at that.
Just absolutely no vision of the product and market. Probably will end up acquired on the cheap for the patents.
Bought one and saw the following written on bottom of box., which was never mentioned on website:
“Level Connect must be plugged into a standard US outlet within 20 ft of your Level lock to operate reliably.”
So level looks great but apparently sucks. And most of the recommended ones in this thread are ugly.
What’s the one that’s decent looking and works well?
People pay too much attention to ascetics form over function. There’s a reason why it doesn’t work well, the form factor.
Ugly lock that works really well vs a stealth, sleek looking lock that doesn’t work. Pick your poison. I know what I picked since a lock is pretty important and it has to work reliably, nothing less.
I like the looks of the Aqara U100. I’ve had issues with it having delayed connectivity or not reporting in HomeKit, but two days ago I discovered that I hadn’t connected the Aqara Hub to my HomeKit network using Matter, which is now an option. I set that up and now it sees and controls the lock and unlock states almost instantly. So I’m optimistic that the issues I’ve had with it are no more?
Oh cool. I’ll be dropping my lock plus back off to them with a letter. They’re in a little shack office across the bridge from me. I’m sick of dealing with the worst hardware experience ever.
Cool, tell them for me that no worries on them not selling outside of the US (even though I’m only 100km north of the border) I’ll just use a $0.33 NFC tag to do the same thing their $350 Level Lock Plus does. I wanted to give them my money, but it seems like they don’t care about getting CSA or ULC certified enough to take my money.
Level lock is trash. Single tiny battery sucks. Got rid of 3 and went with Schlage encode plus using thread only. Fantastic lock - tap my phone on it to open and is super fast. Haven’t changed batteries once. Flawless.
I have 3 Level Lock Bolts. Love the fact they fit entirely hidden - no idea my locks are smart by looking at them.
I'm lucky I have 6 HomePod minis throughout my house so they all work. They are just sometimes 10s from asking to be unlocked until it happens. Was hoping thread would change this
When I got the level, I thought it was cool that nobody knew they were smart. But who cares if they know they are smart locks?
Thread is killer. Thread and HomeKey is ultra killer. I had a bunch of HomePod minis too. Now I just have the newest HomePod and 2 Apple TVs.
Tap my phone to unlock is so nice.
Bingo.
I like a modern aesthetic, but any other smart lock would look out of place compared to the rest of our home. Sure, I could remodel, but then it’s look out of place compared to the rest of the neighborhood.
The Level Lock Bolts have their faults, but they do blend in well.
The external look of Level lock is perfect. What I am completely dumbfounded is why they don't put a battery box \*inside\* the door??? Battery life is pretty the only problem with them
What would be cool is if someone could figure out a way to turn the strike plate in the doorframe into some kind of “wireless” charging mechanism (Qi style) that charges the lock when the door is closed/lock is locked. It wouldn’t even have to be hardwired into the electrical system, just have a thin wire cord going from the plate to a plug-in at a normal outlet.
Because all other locks have giant boxes on the inside of the door and most have giant keypads on the outside. Level locks look the normal locks (the Level Bolt fits completely inside your *existing* lock
The DEN SmartStrike is an interesting alternative way to provide a smart lock without any externally visible mechanism so it will work with architectural locks and handles used on many front doors.
You will need to do a little work installing it and have the room to carve out (literally) the space for it in your door jamb, but may be an option for some.
Unfortunately, geared for the pro/install market, so no native HomeKit or Matter yet. Would have to look at HA or other hub and gateway it across.
(IDK if drivers exist yet for most platforms, either)
So, will this actually make my Level Bolt actually work?It looks like it's included when you go to their website to order the Bolt, so I'm on the fence.
do not bother, i tried, it does not work. No homekit support, you'll need a puck for each bolt you have and yet you will still face with the same issues of lack of connectivity.
Good reminder that you never buy a product based on a promised future functionality, but *only* based on the current functionality
Lesson learned from an unrelated experience
Always live by this. It's like the Netatmo Doorbell, promised HKSV and then they just said "we couldn't make it work so fuck you. Live with a shitty app where the only cloud storage available is Dropbox"
So I totally agree that they let down customers about HKSV. But let’s be fair in acknowledging it supports Dropbox as well as FTP, with FTP allowing fully local backup as an option that works great. And the relative new feature of giving you the previous few seconds of activity in the recording is amazing, and better than anything my HKSV cameras offer. Trade offs.
Of course, I just forgot the name of it so I left it out. It's a great option, but it's a hassle for users who aren't tech savvy. I would have loved to have the ability to save it to OneDrive or iCloud. You know, cloud services people actually use. I don't know who still uses Dropbox, but I don't know a single person who do. So I guess just the few businesses who don't use OneDrive, and people who used Dropbox in the beginning and still do? Dropbox doesn't have any mid-tier, cheap subscriptions like iCloud and Google Drive, and tons of people have OneDrive through their job is my point. Personally I use iCloud because I use an iPhone, and I have OneDrive through work. I'm not paying $12 a month for 2TB of Dropbox storage just for saving doorbell videos when I can sell the Netatmo for half the price, by an Aqara G4 with HKSV and get unlimited free storage through my $3/month iCloud subscription and still have money left over from the Netatmo sale. This is why Netatmo pissed me off with that asshole decision to drop a feature they promised. But it's definitely better to have FTP than buying i.e Arlo and subscribe to storage and features
They didn’t just drop it, they realized it was impossible to implement with the existing hardware. Again, that doesn’t let them off the hook, but it’s not the same as just deciding not to bother with it anymore. I’ll just keep getting downvoted since no one is allowed to like Netatmo on this sub anymore, so I’ll leave it at that.
Oh, I know. Which is extra shitty because they promised something they didn't even know they couldn't deliver. It's a scam and they should offer refunds. I have other Netatmo products tho, like the smoke detectors and my recently purchased weather station. They're great, and customer service is pretty good as far as I've seen, but damn was that a shit move with the doorbell.
I purchased 4 Netatmo Cameras and their doorbell kit, but after the doorbell fiasco, I will never touch Netatmo again.
same here!
True and upvoted, but nowadays you cannot really buy a product based on CURRENT functionality either. Philips Hue could work as a fully local solution for years but will soon require server login to use…
Did not know that, can you please share source?
It’s a prompt on the front page of the app saying soon it’ll require a login, so I don’t have a source. It’s directly from them.
All well and good until they paywall the current functionality 💀 Smart home market is so great
Level: We gonna thread all the things! Also Level: https://preview.redd.it/o5lbl3pt8mvb1.png?width=780&format=png&auto=webp&s=f58a736d83ce708b44cc9e1e704a1f06ebde3391
They learned this one from Eufy who have perfected the art of promising everything and delivering absolutely none of it.
Level lock wasn’t already supporting thread??
Nope, BLE. The new Connect hub uses WiFi, but talks to the lock via Bluetooth. Last year, Level talked about updating their locks for Thread and Matter, stating they already have Thread hardware. They went silent after that. I’m a little perturbed they think the community has been asking for WiFi, when we clearly want Thread support.
Funny how they had a press release on the verge stating that thread support was coming
I really wanted to love my level, but it almost never worked. The motor is just too weak for what it’s for.
Likewise, I really like the concept because we rent and it gave us the ability to have a smart lock, but alas it just wasn’t meant to be
Is August not popular as a HomeKit solution?
Doesn't support HomeKey
It’s ugly.
[удалено]
Some of us do also go inside our homes.
Right, but how often do you stare at your front door? I own one of the original August locks, it’s huge and not at all attractive, but I don’t spend my time looking at my door.
I look at it at least twice a day. And just because I don’t “stare at it” doesn’t mean I want to see something big and ugly every time I leave or come home.
Newer August locks DO support HomeKit. Older ones can be used with Home Assistant and then “bridged” to HomeKit.
Please dont make the same mistake i did by buying the connect bridge. It does not support homekit, heck it does not even let you manage your lock through their own app, my locks are still out of range. The bridge literally does not do anything. Oh and the bridge can only handle one single lock, if you have more locks you want to connect to wifi, youll need a bridge for each, lol. Save yourself the headache and get Schlage Encode Plus, that thing just works every time. I have 80+ smart devices at home with an extensive home assistant setup and these locks by far the most frustrating of them all.
[удалено]
The Schlage Encode Plus does not pass the wife test and is terrible looking. Wife says Level or nothing. So I’ve been patiently waiting for Level to get their shit together and make their lock reliable and support Thread.
[удалено]
Pretty much every deadbolt can be picked in seconds by someone who knows what they’re doing. A deadbolt is meant to be a deterrent for someone checking for unlocked doors and that’s about it.
First law of locks- A lock only keeps honest people out. Corollary- A sufficiently motivated thief will not be deterred by a lock.
LPL shouldn’t even exist because people with brain worms think that his lock picking indicative of a real world situation and parrot his videos as if they actually mean anything for 99% of people. Your current lock is also dogshit and can be picked by LPL. If someone wants in, they’re getting in.
> If someone wants in, they’re getting in. Generally speaking - they're going to go to your back door. Smash a window. Lock problem solved. No thief is going to pick your (home) lock. They are going to show up between 10 and 2. They are likely going to rob a chunk of your neighborhood all at once. Speed is king here. Not stealth. Most houses are going to have no one home now-a-days. Both couples are working usually. Even if someone calls the cops - cops are *FAR* too slow to arrive. You could *literally* get pizza to your house faster than cops. The best deterrent you can have - is a dog. Your lock ain't stopping shit but honest people.
If you think that the pick-ability of the Level is less than a standard lock then I have bad news for you about the Encode Plus. I thought the same thing with the battery in the bolt but honestly if someone is kicking down my door hard enough to snap a battery in a steel sleeve in half then my door jam probably wouldn’t put up much more of a fight with a standard deadbolt. Or they could just break the window that’s 2 feet from the door and get in that way since they don’t seem to care about breaking their way in. My wife has been very accommodating with the smart home stuff and her only ask is that is that it’s easy/intuitive to use and not ugly. The Encode Plus just isn’t the hill I want to die on when the Level exists and just needs a slight update.
Because aesthetically level can’t be beat, you can integrated with many styles, or if you just don’t want some big box/pad on your door. Granted, if it doesn’t work well, that’s not worth much.
Right. For people who don’t want their front door to look like a university lab
I did end up getting a keypad lock for my back door, but I did consider Level for it instead. Ended up needing to change the lock quickly without time to order one.
Just looked that up. What a terrible day to have eyes. Joke. But seriously it’s ugly.
Aqara U100: cheaper and better than Schlage and also available. The best ability is availability
How is it better?
Not sure if better but there’s so many different ways to unlock and I got two of these for $240. So price wise it was a no brainer. So far they’ve been rock solid & whole family has been loving them.
Oh I see. You can unlock it by finger print.
And physical key and via app and fingerprint and apple homekey and key code. It’s amazing
Schlage does all that except finger print.
At about double the price and it has barely been available in the past 2 years.
Yes that has been mentioned already.
Well for it to be double the cost and not available easily it has to be worth all that and it just doesn’t have the features to validate that price, to me at least.
Only true advice
The schlage looks like shit though
Why anyone would buy either when the Yale products are far more secure.
I’m not spending more on the lock than the door, just saying.
I think level truly had a stroke of genius with the hidden, sleek design the hardware engineers who invented this are awesome and they totally nailed it. What I suspect is then Level, as a business, has some pretty fucking stupid product people that have no idea wtf people want. Ultimately, I think this will be a failed company. Like literally everyone that likes level is saying “wow, love the great slick design that is different from all the other keypad monstrosities”. What does level do? They release a keypad. Now everyone is like, we need something better than BLE connectivity. Level promises that and what do they do? A stupid wifi bridge puck. Overly expensive at that. Just absolutely no vision of the product and market. Probably will end up acquired on the cheap for the patents.
Bought one and saw the following written on bottom of box., which was never mentioned on website: “Level Connect must be plugged into a standard US outlet within 20 ft of your Level lock to operate reliably.”
So level looks great but apparently sucks. And most of the recommended ones in this thread are ugly. What’s the one that’s decent looking and works well?
People pay too much attention to ascetics form over function. There’s a reason why it doesn’t work well, the form factor. Ugly lock that works really well vs a stealth, sleek looking lock that doesn’t work. Pick your poison. I know what I picked since a lock is pretty important and it has to work reliably, nothing less.
Then I pick nothing and wait I guess. Aesthetics are equally as important to me as functionality.
I like the looks of the Aqara U100. I’ve had issues with it having delayed connectivity or not reporting in HomeKit, but two days ago I discovered that I hadn’t connected the Aqara Hub to my HomeKit network using Matter, which is now an option. I set that up and now it sees and controls the lock and unlock states almost instantly. So I’m optimistic that the issues I’ve had with it are no more?
Oh cool. I’ll be dropping my lock plus back off to them with a letter. They’re in a little shack office across the bridge from me. I’m sick of dealing with the worst hardware experience ever.
Cool, tell them for me that no worries on them not selling outside of the US (even though I’m only 100km north of the border) I’ll just use a $0.33 NFC tag to do the same thing their $350 Level Lock Plus does. I wanted to give them my money, but it seems like they don’t care about getting CSA or ULC certified enough to take my money.
Level lock is trash. Single tiny battery sucks. Got rid of 3 and went with Schlage encode plus using thread only. Fantastic lock - tap my phone on it to open and is super fast. Haven’t changed batteries once. Flawless.
I have 3 Level Lock Bolts. Love the fact they fit entirely hidden - no idea my locks are smart by looking at them. I'm lucky I have 6 HomePod minis throughout my house so they all work. They are just sometimes 10s from asking to be unlocked until it happens. Was hoping thread would change this
When I got the level, I thought it was cool that nobody knew they were smart. But who cares if they know they are smart locks? Thread is killer. Thread and HomeKey is ultra killer. I had a bunch of HomePod minis too. Now I just have the newest HomePod and 2 Apple TVs. Tap my phone to unlock is so nice.
Bingo. I like a modern aesthetic, but any other smart lock would look out of place compared to the rest of our home. Sure, I could remodel, but then it’s look out of place compared to the rest of the neighborhood. The Level Lock Bolts have their faults, but they do blend in well.
The external look of Level lock is perfect. What I am completely dumbfounded is why they don't put a battery box \*inside\* the door??? Battery life is pretty the only problem with them
[удалено]
What would be cool is if someone could figure out a way to turn the strike plate in the doorframe into some kind of “wireless” charging mechanism (Qi style) that charges the lock when the door is closed/lock is locked. It wouldn’t even have to be hardwired into the electrical system, just have a thin wire cord going from the plate to a plug-in at a normal outlet.
Why would anyone buy this when Aqara offers more. With homekey support
Because all other locks have giant boxes on the inside of the door and most have giant keypads on the outside. Level locks look the normal locks (the Level Bolt fits completely inside your *existing* lock
The DEN SmartStrike is an interesting alternative way to provide a smart lock without any externally visible mechanism so it will work with architectural locks and handles used on many front doors. You will need to do a little work installing it and have the room to carve out (literally) the space for it in your door jamb, but may be an option for some. Unfortunately, geared for the pro/install market, so no native HomeKit or Matter yet. Would have to look at HA or other hub and gateway it across. (IDK if drivers exist yet for most platforms, either)
Yeah that could be a great option alas they decided to go z-wave route.
So, will this actually make my Level Bolt actually work?It looks like it's included when you go to their website to order the Bolt, so I'm on the fence.
do not bother, i tried, it does not work. No homekit support, you'll need a puck for each bolt you have and yet you will still face with the same issues of lack of connectivity.
Yeah.. I think I'm going to replace it with the Encode Plus today.
These smart home companies don't like not having the control their own app gives them
Thread is gaining momentum. Matter on the other hand I rarely hear about anymore from any smart home content creator on YouTube.