By David Ramsey
Manufacturer: U-Tec Group, Inc.
Product Name: Ultraloq
Model Number: UL3
UPC: 855929003522
Price As Tested: $99.99 (Amazon) (Note: Limited time offer until 1/31/16; MSRP is $269.00)
Full Disclosure: U-Tec provided the product sample used in this article.
I have had poor results with early generation smart locks – the kind you control from a Bluetooth-enabled phone – so when U-Tec offered Benchmark Reviews the opportunity to review their new Ultraloq UL3 Smart Lock, I jumped at the chance. Rather than using your phone, the Ultraloq UL3 offers access through an electronic keypad and an integrated fingerprint reader. In this article, I test the features of this lock and put it to work on a real door.
- Advanced Fingerprint Identification stores and remembers up to 95 fingerprints
- Electronic Keypad with anti-peep technology
- Hidden backup key
- Up to 1 year battery life
- Sense On
- Intuitive LCD display
Let’s open the box in the next section.
If you’ve ever installed a door knob, door latch, or deadbolt, you’ll find installing the U-Tec Ultraloq UL3 lock to be pretty simple. In my case I used it to replace a simple knob lock on a utility room door.
The first thing I noticed what that the latch plate was slightly larger than the recess in my door, and had square, rather than rounded, corners. A few minutes’ work with a small wood chisel rectified this problem.
The latch mechanism has a standard slide adjustment to fit knob cutouts with 2 3/8″ or 2 3/4″ spacing from the door edge.
After installing the latch mechanism, I drilled the single extra hole required (using the included cardboard template) and placed the exterior lock mechanism. Remember: measure twice, drill once. Since the latch mechanism worked perfectly with my existing strike plate in the door jamb, I didn’t install the provided strike plate.
Next I mounted the interior plate, feeding the interface cable from the front portion of the lock through the provided slot. The plate mounts with three screws: two on either side of the knob hole, and one at the top through the hole I drilled earlier. These screws secure the exterior portion of the lock mechanism. Make sure they’re fairly snug since they’ll compress the rubber gaskets on the exterior of the lock and the interior mounting plate for water and dust resistance.
Next, connect the cable from the front of the lock to the connector on the back of the lock (it’s handy to have a helper hold the interior part of the lock for you at this stage).
The rear part of the lock fits over the mounting plate and secures with three screws. The solid metal handles snap onto the lock shafts and can be positioned for right- or left-opening doors.
Install the supplied “AA” batteries, screw on the battery cover plate, and you’re ready to go. Now let’s look into programming the lock in the next section.
The Ultraloq UL3 can be opened in one of three ways:
- Fingerprint recognition
- 4-8 digit numeric code
- Physical key
The latter is an important backup feature, although it can be a little clumsy to use since the keyhole is located on the bottom of the lock, under an attached rubber cover you must hold out of the way with one hand while trying to insert the key with the other.
U-Tec supplies three keys with the lock. Normally, of course, you’ll want to use either the keypad or the fingerprint recognizer. As delivered, any code and any fingerprint will open the lock, so the first thing to do is to create an admin account on the lock.
When the lock is in programming mode, you have four choices, which you indicate by typing a single digit and pressing the “return” button again:
- 1 to add a user
- 2 to delete a user
- 7 to add an admin
- 8 to delete an admin
The difference between admin and normal users is that admins can add or delete other users, including other admins. To program the lock, you press and hold the “return” key on the keypad for three seconds, after which you’ll see the small status display below the fingerprint reader prompt for an admin code:
After entering the admin code and pressing return, you then choose the digit appropriate to the operation you want: to add or delete admin users or regular users. The small status display below the fingerprint recognizer will prompt you, but since it’s limited to very short messages along the lines of “Enter code” and “Delete user”, you’re going to want to make sure that you keep the operations manual around for reference.
Each user, admin or regular, can have either a numeric code or a fingerprint: if you want both, you’ll have to create two users. The lock can have up to 95 users so running out of space won’t be a problem. The back of the operations manual has a handy chart for writing down user IDs and codes, and you’ll probably want to use this, since the lock has no way to list any of that information, and if you forget it, the only fallback would be to perform a hard reset using a tiny button under the battery cover.
Fingerprint recognition in general works well and the recognizer takes well under a second to validate (or reject) a fingerprint. The only problem I had was the ultra-dry Nevada air: if your fingers are bone-dry, the recognizer won’t work. U-Tec suggests touching your forehead to get a little oil on your finger in this case, and that actually works, but the fingerprint recognition on my iPhone never seems to have this problem. Once the lock is unlocked, you have about 5 seconds to open the door before it automatically locks again.
In the next section I’ll present my final thoughts and conclusions about the Ultraloq UL3.
The U-Tec Ultraloq UL3 Smart Lock lives in the intersection between smartphone-enabled Bluetooth locks and simpler push-button electronic combination locks. It brings the ability to have multiple users with different privileges (although the difference is limited to being able to create and delete other users) and fingerprint recognition. It’s easy to install, requiring in most cases simply a single additional hole be drilled in the door,
The Ultraloq UL3 has some other nice features that show that the designers did put some thought into it: for example, you can enter as long a numeric code as you want to unlock the door, as long as the real code is imbedded within it. If the unlock code is “1234”, you can enter “973123459” and the lock will unlock when you press the “return” button. This feature prevents someone from guessing the combination by watching you or looking at fingerprints on the lock.
In you live in cold climes, the lock might not be the best choice for an outside door since the capacitive keypad and fingerprint reader cannot be operated with gloves on.
The lock’s ability to store up to 95 different users, each with different access codes or fingerprints, means that you can revoke privileges to one user without having to change codes for other users. It’s a nice feature but seems more suitable for a business or industrial installation rather than a home installation. Of course, you don’t have to actually create extra users; you could simply have one or two codes and give them to everyone in your family.
The U-Tec Ultraloq UL3 is an interesting alternative to simple keypad locks and more elaborate Bluetooth-enabled smart locks. Personally I’ve never gotten one of the latter to work well: what’s the point of having one if the auto-unlock doesn’t work reliably, forcing you to haul out your phone and run an app to unlock your door? The UL3 was easy to install, seems very well made, and offers a level of sophistication above simple keypad locks for about the same price.
Performance of the lock was excellent; the only niggle being spotty operation of the fingerprint recognizer if your fingers are very dry.
The appearance of the lock is sleek and modern. Like most smart locks, it’s rather large, and U-Tec apparently only offers the lock in a satin silver finish, so if you want to match existing hardware of another color, you’re probably out of luck.
The lock is heavy and feels well-made. The parts are beautifully finished and the substantial, solid metal handles give it a quality feel.
The functionality of the lock is probably more than most people will need, what with the ability to have up to 95 users.
Available online for the promotional price of $99.99 (Amazon) through January 31, 2016, the U-Tec Ultraloq UL3 is priced far below other fingerprint locks, and is one of the best deals you’ll see on a lock of this type. However, it’s less compelling at the MSRP of $269.00, where it’s priced in the mid-to-high range of other fingerprint locks, and more expensive than most Bluetooth-enabled smart locks. Since we cannot rate products based on temporary sales prices, our “Value” score is based on the MSRP.
My advice: grab one while you can at the sale price.
+ Excellent value
+ Heavy-duty construction and all-weather rating
+ Is 95 users too many? Still, nice to have.
+ Clever “anti-peeking” feature allows any code to work as long as a real code is imbedded within
– Fingerprint recognition can be spotty in dry climates
– Really need to keep the manual around to add or delete users
– Won’t work if you have gloves on
– No way to list users or check access codes. Keep notes!
– Emergency key use rather clumsy
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Performance: 8.50
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Appearance: 9.25
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Construction: 9.50
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Functionality: 8.75
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Value: 8.00
