Fierce Smart Lock Competition

Back in August, we profiled the August Smart Lock which is due to be available this spring. The August smart lock’s aim is to provide ease of access to whoever it is that you may need to let into your home. The August lock is installed on your existing deadbolt and uses built in Wi-fi to communicate with an app on your mobile device. However, there is a competitor offering an extremely similar product to that which is offered by August.

Lockitron works in just the same way that an August smart lock would work. The Lockitron fits to your existing deadbolt allowing you to control the lock on your deadbolt from a remote location. Since the smart lock fits over your existing deadbolt, adding smart functionality, you are still able to use your existing key to manually open the door at any time.

So which one of these lock products should you choose? We will take a side by side look at both the Lockitron and August Smart Lock to see which may be best for your home.

Pricing

This first comparison is very straight forward. The August Smart Lock is available at a pre-order price of $199 while the Lockitron is available for the price of $179. So there is an obvious savings of $20 between the factory prices of both smart locks making the Lockitron slightly cheaper. Both prices include the shipping of the lock.

Availability

Both of these locks are highly sought after and are still in the production and testing stage. Right now the Lockitron has begun to ship to some of those customers who have pre-ordered the lock, however due to mechanical bugs as well as back orders, a Lockitron ordered today may ship between February and March. The August Smart Lock’s current availability is not much better than the Lockitron. August has not yet begun to ship any pre-orders for the lock, with the first pre-orders scheduled to be shipped in the spring of 2014. At the moment, it seems that if you are in a hurry to get a smart lock, that you will have to wait, and that Lockitron would likely arrive before the August Smart Lock is available.

Functionality

Both locks have mobile apps available for iPhone and Android so that you can easily access your remote key at anytime. Lockitron also has a mobile website which you can also use to log-in and access your home remotely. August and Lockitron both can be opened using your physical key and both can be used even during a power outage. As far as functional capabilities August and Lockitron are just about neck and neck.

With both of these locks offering very similar features, it will be interesting to see how these locks will differentiate from each other. Once both locks are readily available in spring it will be easier to make a determination on which lock is the better value, since we will be able to see exactly what flaws and bugs each of the locks has.