Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Ordered the lock and installed about a month ago, so I have had a few weeks to test it out. I had a simple $40 digital deadbolt before, bought from an auction website. Was a simple motorized rubber button keypad lock. It was cheap, functional and served its purpose for a couple of years. It started having clutch issues when locking and unlocking about the same time my front door started exhibiting some serious dry rot issues. The finish on both the lock and handle was worn and peeling so I figured I would give the new door all new hardware. So the quest began for a new lock. I figured there would be plenty of locks out there, but I found only a handful that came close to the design and features I wanted. I narrowed it down to the Sunnect AP501 which ended up being discontinued/unavailable, the Samsung SHS3420 and the Yale YRD220. The three had similar price points but different features. The Sunnect and Samsung rely on RFID cards and have no key access. While this could theoretically prevent bumping or picking of the locks, a premature battery or electrical failure could probably prove to be a difficult and expensive process, since I presume a locksmith would probably have to destroy them for you to get access. So for those reasons, the positive reviews, and the very classy design of the YRD220, I ended up selecting the Yale in the end. Ordering and arrival was uneventful. When you unpack it, you immediately notice how heavy and solid it feels. This thing is built like a tank, and appears to confirm its Class 2 security designation. Installation went without major issues, the instructions are not the best but I figured it out and got it installed relatively painlessly. After installing the batteries, I found out it talks to you during programming, which is a pretty neat feature. It has some cool sound effects when it opens and closes, kind of like a little Windows 98 TaDa and Goodbye sound effects. The sounds end on a high note when unlocked, and a low note when locked. The lock/unlock process with the audible confirmations take about 2 seconds each. If the lock has a problem extending the deadbolt, it tries 3 times and then makes an error sound. What is also neat is the surface is blank until you touch it, then it lights up and makes little sounds when you touch the numbers, and the numbers blink for half a second when pressed. The numbers then scroll up when unlocked, and down when locked. I chose a couple of 5 digit codes for entry along with a new 8 digit programming code, you can select 4 - 8 digits for each pin code you select. So, after a month, I must admit I really like it. So here are the Pros and Cons as far as I have noticed so far. I did not install the Z-Wave module. I may in the future, but since both myself and my wife work from home, the additional features it offers would be more of a cool factor than being useful at his point in time. Something like a Honeywell Tuxedo would be neat when they come down in price, hopefully in a couple of years. Interestingly, on the Honeywell website, a video demonstrating the Tuxedo features the YRD-220 being locked and unlocked with a Z-Wave setup. Pros: Very simple to program. Voice programming prompts (very neat) Nice little sound effects for the buttons, lock open, lock close, wrong pin etc. Classy design and very solid build quality. When the door is locked, it flashes a Red light strip above the lever every 5 seconds or so. You can see clearly across a dim room if your door is locked, I can see its locked by walking by. Auto locking feature (I don't find the door unlocked just before I go to sleep couple of times a week, or next morning when I wake up). The cylinder can be replaced if keys are lost, people move out or the place changes owners. The Blue backlit screen buttons are nice and bright, easy to see day and night. The keypad disappears when not in use, and only appears when you need it, so many people probably wouldn't even think this is a digital lock with a keypad. Plenty of access codes for most people (25) even without the Z-Wave module. Lifetime warranty for residential users on select components. The mechanism is pretty quiet when it operates and makes a soft high pitched motor noise when moving the deadbolt. My old lock was much noisier. The speaker is mounted on the outside, so one can not hear someone entering numbers or tones from the outside. Won't disturb people if you arrive late at night. Since I'm really impressed with the lock, I would say most of the cons are "Like to Have's" more than Cons, but some I would REALLY like to have. Cons: Temporary codes are missing. I would really like to have temporary or disposable pin codes available. What I mean is single use codes, where it would allow someone to enter your house only one time. This would be ideal for people who live in apartments for example and need maintenance, deliveries, etc. to get into your place one time. I know you can get around this with the Z-Wave setup and open it from your phone etc, but it would be nice to just have this feature built in. To get around this, I'll just program extra pin codes I can hand out when needed, and then have to delete them when I get home. Timed access. It would also be nice to be able to schedule time/date access for different pin codes. If you have a maid that comes every other Thursday, it would be nice to be able to have the lock activate her pin only on Thursdays. It would also be nice to have the access only between certain hours. Maintenance could have access from 8AM to 6PM, but not between 6PM and 8AM. This would give people peace of mind after they arrive home no one can enter, and weekdays or weekend only access etc. The auto locking timer is set to 30 seconds and cannot be changed without Z-Wave. It would be nice to be able to select 1 - 10 minutes on the auto lock if you are going in and out of the house with stuff. Auto lock door position. The auto lock doesn't know when your door is closed, so it can start locking itself when your door is open. A pretty good partial solution would have been for people to be able to select a longer auto lock time, like 5 minutes for example. 30 seconds is kind of short for this feature. The manual is rather scarce about the flashing Red locking light and the privacy mode, would be nice to get little more detail, and a more detailed manual in general. It probably comes down to price vs features on many of those, but I would like to see Yale offer a next model up which would offer many additional features without needing Z-Wave, since no major design changes would have to be made, mostly just additional software code and a built in clock/calendar. All things considered, I think its a pretty good value for the money and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. UPDATE: As of December 2012 this lock is working like a champ. It works exactly as designed. I did however by accident discover that there appear to be other companies selling this lock under different names, or more likely, it is sold under license under other brand names. The Arrow Revolution V2 or V2-51 appear to be identical to this lock in features, looks, function and specs except it does NOT appear to have the Z-Wave module installed, which is the same model as the Yale YR-220-NR-619. The Arrow Revolution appears to be about $175 + shipping for those who may be interested. UPDATE: As of March 1st 2014, the backlight on the screen on my lock died this weekend. You can still open and lock it but the numbers no longer light up when the screen is touched, it still makes the sounds and you can't see the numbers (I can still open it by guessing where the numbers appear). With the lock having a 1 year warranty on the electronics, I was concerned I would be out $240 for a new lock. Turns out there is a recall on a certain serial number range of the YRD-220 locks and my lock is one of the affected ones. I contacted Yale and they are shipping me a brand new lock and a return shipping label. I just have to ship the defective one back in the box the new one came in. Yale CS was friendly and helpful and the whole process took about 5 mins. So far, Yale continues to live up to its 5 star reputation and my rating remains unchanged.