More and more people are discovering the possibility of getting rid of the key and moving to the world of smart locks. There are currently quite a few solutions on the market, some of which we have also reviewed here at TGspot. This time we present Kontrol Lux, a smart door lock that provides an all-inclusive solution, when no extras are needed.

The Kontrol smart lock is an elegant end unit that fits onto the front door cylinder. It is constructed as a long, narrow panel that covers the entire front of the door handle area, as well as the rear, and offers a premium-level design. It is available in several colors such as black, white or black-silver with a plastic alloy finish, but one that looks and feels more metallic.

What differentiates it and makes it a more natural product to use is the fact that it combines everything you need in a smart lock. Unlike many other products, the lock is an independent and complete unit with a built-in sensor, a sensor including fingerprints, a coder and also a proximity sensor to the key attached. You don’t need a bulky unit that sits on the cylinder and is coded on the side like Nuki.

The technological capability of the smart lock is in the outside part. On the upper side is the coder which, touching it, illuminates the digits. A little above there is a wide light that shows the current opening status and further down a large handle behind which a biometric fingerprint sensor is hidden, and also the hiding place for inserting a manual key if necessary.

On the side inside the house, you find the pull handle and a little below a manual rotary key, one that allows you to open the door manually in Shabbat mode. In the lower part there is another pair of buttons for locking and unlocking the door which are used when you want to leave the house or when you enter and want to lock the lock. Although the latter is less useful and you will soon understand why.

In normal mode, even when the door is not locked and only locked there is no possibility to open the door, and only after detection the cylinder will open the door and also pull the tab for a few seconds to keep it open. It is useful and convenient if your hands are busy so that you only have to push the door to open it wide.

Choose how to enter
The Kontrol Lux lock has a relatively large variety of control means. First of all is the fingerprint sensor hidden behind the handle. It is a capacitive sensor that reacts very quickly in about 0.3 seconds from the moment of detection to the opening – and this is also one of the more impressive things about this lock. The door opens with impressive agility. To be on the safe side, and for proper identification, identification must be created several times for each finger, so the chance of a miss is greatly reduced.

In addition, there is also a coder that allows you to set a 4- to 9-digit code, a chip card that needs to be brought closer to the 5th digit in the coder – you get two in the kit, a remote control – to be purchased separately, opening through the voice assistant Google Assistant or Alexa and finally also access to opening through a phone app – Android/ iOS. This is a TTlock application that is widely used in other smart locks and can even be accessed through the browser to create additional codes and settings.
Anyone who has experimented with a smart lock that fits over the existing key knows the problem: the direction of the lock goes back and forth, many rotation cycles, slowness and also noise – a lot of noise. One of the more correct things about Kontrol Lux is the use of a built-in and independent cylinder that replaces the existing cylinder. Very quickly you find out that it is a big advantage when the opening and closing is much smoother and faster.

The lock fits most common entrance doors in Israel, at home or in the office. The installation is carried out on the basis of the existing infrastructure and does not require special adjustments, and as mentioned, it covers both the cylinder area and the handle, so there is no fear that there will be holes left in the door on the front side and on the back side.

All the opening options can be fully scheduled – this means that you can define whether the opening method will be permanent, temporary, for certain hours or days, a changing code or one that will expire after a while, and more: you can also delete or add codes remotely and perform an opening if necessary. It is possible to give the user authorization in the application only for opening or full management, to track the various events and when they entered the house, and to check the current status, and also whether the door is closed or locked.

The lock also has several additional features such as an alarm notification when the door is open for a certain time. You can set the time in the range of 5 to 60 seconds. In repeated attempts to open the door without success, the lock will also activate an alarm but for a longer period of about ten seconds and will also send a notification in the application that someone has failed the identification attempt.

The company says that all communication with the app and the lock is encrypted using the strict AES 256bit security standard, while the app itself can be connected with two-step verification beyond the password itself. Unlike most locks on the market where the cylinder is easily accessible, in the recessed key lock it is very difficult to physically break in, and trying to disassemble the lock or hit it hard will also trigger an alarm. In fact, Control’s lock is the only one that offers such options.

Kontrol Lux has several other functions that are rare to find in the field today, and one of them is the voice instructions – and in Hebrew. The lock will inform in a clear voice that “the door is open” when you succeed in passing the identification or “the operation failed” when you fail to identify as well as “the door is locked”. Although the voice sounds metallic like that of a robot, it is definitely an important function for both adults and the hard of hearing. Those who are not interested in this can cancel the voice messages.

The lock has an internal battery which according to the manufacturer is sufficient for 8 months for up to a year of use based on 10 openings per day. The battery is hidden behind the inner cover that needs to be removed to charge it with a microUSB connection. In the event of an emergency, in which the battery was not charged despite the various notifications sent to the phone, there is an additional charging connection located on the outside of the lock and it is possible to do this with a portable battery that will provide electricity temporarily just to enter.

The lock also has a Shabbat mode that allows you to disable it completely and use a physical key. It is a long key that is inserted in a cylinder hidden behind a cover on the outside. On the inside, you can always turn the handle to open or lock. In the kit you get two keys that are also used in case of emergency, so it is better to have one of them outside the house with a nearby neighbor.

There is also automatic locking of the door when you can set a time range for locking. If the door sensor is also installed, the locking takes place within a few seconds after the slam and those who don’t want to wait can press and hold the asterisk button on the coder for immediate locking.

The bottom line

We have come across quite a few smart locks in recent years but few seem to be able to combine all the capabilities together as Kontrol Lux does. Whether it’s the fingerprint sensor and the code integrated in the handle, or whether it’s the voice instructions, the rich application and the ease of operation.

The opening speed surprised me the most. In light of the fact that the entire system and the cylinder are integrated into the lock, the delay time is extremely low, so that from the moment the fingerprint is recognized to the opening, 0.3 seconds pass – a record time in terms of smart locks.

Although the TTlock application, which also exists in the Hebrew language, is not polished enough or properly aligned, it has almost everything you need. It is very rich in options, it is easy to create a temporary code or remove old codes. It also provides immediate alerts on home entry or attempted unauthorized entry.

It would have been nice if the finish was a little more luxurious, as the silver color feels a little too plastic, even though the company emphasizes that the lock is also suitable for outdoor use and against corrosion, being waterproof and dustproof to the IP55 standard.

Beyond that, the installation is carried out by the company’s technician, who also takes care of setting up the bridge to the Internet and creating the account in the application. The kit comes with a pair of proximity cards and a pair of keys that can be duplicated by the company, and you can also purchase additional chip cards.

The price of the whole package is less accessible than the competitors, standing at NIS 2,900, but as mentioned the Lux combines all the products together, compared to the need to purchase each component separately in some of the other products.