Wyze Lock Bolt v2 review: Now with Wi-Fi

Price When Reviewed

$79.98

Best Prices Today: 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 may very well be had for a tune ($70 at launch). Now, Wyze is again with an replace to its authentic Lock Bolt, redesigning and upgrading the system to maintain up with the various advances which have hit the good lock area since 2022.

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

Specifications

Christopher Null/Foundry

To begin, the Wyze Bolt Lock v2 is totally redesigned, now that includes an illuminating glass touchscreen as an alternative 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 pressure, angle, and even tiny skin shifts” each time it’s operated with a view to refine its mannequin.)

The greatest change nevertheless is beneath the hood: While 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 trade right now. The unit is powered by eight AA batteries (included, as an alternative of 4 on the mannequin v1), which Wyze says ought to final about eight months. An emergency USB-C port can also be out there on the underside of the outside escutcheon for emergency use.

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

The system can retailer a most of 50 PINs and 50 fingerprints, which is helpful as a result of the Wyze app contains assist for a most of 50 customers. One-time passcodes that expire on a schedule you resolve—as much as every week away—are additionally included. Auto-locking is configurable from instantaneously to 15 minutes, although there isn’t a open/shut detection system out there, so the auto-lock will interact whether or not you’ve shut the door or not. The lock may also be set to have interaction at a specific 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 Home ecosystems is included.

Installation 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. Unfortunately, the holes into which these three bolts are set have been too slender for my commonplace 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 needed as a result of the screwdriver head was undersized in comparison with the bolts.

One merchandise of notice ought to be thought of when putting in the batteries, as a warning label notes that you should use 1.5-volt batteries (commonplace alkalines, eight of that are included as famous above) as an alternative of 1.2-volt batteries, specifically NiMH rechargeables. While NiMH batteries aren’t terribly widespread anymore, it’s nonetheless value 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 out the product you’re including from an inventory (or seek for it by identify), which is changing into an unwieldy solution to discover your system. As I’ve famous with TP-Link, it’s excessive time for Wyze to embrace auto-discovery throughout its product line. Fortunately, 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 rationalization, as did my first try to calibrate the lock. Persistence paid off on each fronts, nevertheless, and after attempting once more the lock made it via the method. After a number of fast parameter settings and a quick firmware replace, I used to be capable of get began utilizing it.

Using the Wyze Lock Bolt v2

Christopher Null/Foundry

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

Functionally, the lock works nice, which is in line 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 through the app whether or not I used to be close by or 200 miles away. User administration is intuitive and quick, and Wyze makes it simple to decide on amongst everlasting, recurring, or short-term customers when organising new guests. Fingerprints enroll rapidly and the scanner was very correct (although not excellent) 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 “status and operation” quantity off altogether. That’s a private choice greater than something.

Should you purchase the Wyze Lock Bolt v2?

The Wyze Lock Bolt v2 is barely $10 greater than the v1 was at launch, which says rather a lot about how far this trade has are available simply three years. Better trying and much more highly effective due to built-in Wi-Fi, it’s arguably now the most effective worth out there on the good lock market, not less than for the second. (Numerous 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 overview is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the best smart locks.