Benjilock Sport Padlock – Protecting your locker with your fingerprint

Last year, we spent some time with the Tapplock and how biometric access can significantly change the user-friendliness of locks, as well as the security of them. There are no keys to get lost, forget at home, or get stolen by someone else. It was a great alternative to your typical Master Lock solution and the unique key is with you wherever you go.

However, the lock was kind of bulky and doesn’t work for every scenario, such as a locker. For that, we have been testing the Benjilock Sport Padlock. The same great features, in a smaller footprint that works in many other scenarios that a bulky lock just can’t cut it.

Benjilock (by Hampton) has been in the game for a couple of years now with a full-size padlock that has been doing pretty well (and it too is also smaller than the Tapplock). They also have a TSA version as well as a new bike lock as well. All of these locks supporting your fingerprint as the key.

One of the best places we could think of for a biometric solution was the gym. Let it be visiting your local gym for your routine workout or the gym at your school for your daily class. When you lock everything up into a locker, it’s nice to be able to walk away without having to find a way to carry your key (especially if you don’t have pockets). A bulky lock doesn’t work out since the space in which the lock needs to fit is limited.

Thankfully, a lock like this one fits nearly anywhere (and it does work for lockers quite well). On top of that, it is affordable. Making this model likely one of the most attractive solutions in the market right now.

The design of the lock is similar to just about every lock out there outside of the fact that it doesn’t have a keyhole. Nothing that can be picked or shimmed. Just a weighty body, a nice stainless steel shackle, and a fingerprint sensor on the front. \

Well, and a micro USB port on the bottom that you use for charging the lock with (which provides up to 6 months of use before having to recharge it).

As mentioned, the weight is about average. It’s a lock, so the weight comes from the heavy metals used so that it isn’t easy to simply break off of whatever they are locked to. Changing a key hold out with a fingerprint isn’t going to change that (unless the lock is cheap, and you don’t want cheap). It is also small and mobile like any locker lock should be.

We also like how it was shipped to us. I can’t say this is how it is normally shipped out to every buyer, but we got a kick out of opening this one. It was all about the presentation. A big box for a small product with a big purpose.

It was kind of like opening something from Intel that usually comes with something that is targeted to make an impression on the way everything is presented. Only not as dramatic this time around.

So, does it work? Why yes it does! A quick read of the instructions and you’re off. If that doesn’t help, there are videos to make the process seem easier (some like to see the process in action more so than the few words of the simple instructions that come with the lock).

It’s actually painless, as long as you fully read the instructions and don’t try to skim it. I’ll admit the first person who tried to program it to their finger, skimmed the instructions and couldn’t figure out why it would keep opening with any finger after that. I then took the lock and programmed it in a matter of seconds. Then we adding their finger and a few others to really test things out.

Each time we tried to open the lock, it only responded to the fingers we programmed. There were no false positives (thankfully). It was a very successful experience.

There is no app to go with the lock. Nothing to over-complicate the experience. Everything is managed directly from the lock using the sensor and following both the status LED and the audible beeps. Adding additional fingerprints is easy.

We did find that a few times we had to try twice to add a fingerprint. Sometimes when get it into the mode to add a new user and it would simply beep red no matter what they did with their finger. So we locked it and then tried again, and it would take. It only happened those few times but was still worth mentioning. Nothing is perfect. What’s important, is that it wasn’t something that happened continuously, so it was just a few blips in the Matrix.

We also couldn’t pop it using any powerful magnets. Given, we didn’t take it apart to see what it looks like on the inside to make sure we were striking it in the right direction/way. That’s something for a lock specialist to stress test that deeply. At least we couldn’t get it to pop using the normal methods we’ve seen work with some other locks.

Battery life will depend on time. We can’t base it on our testing of it since we have been playing with it far more than you would during normal use. So it will have to go home with someone here to be used in a normal situation. If we find anything worth mentioning, we’ll make sure to circle back with an update.

The only thing we could warn you against is using it in a situation where “you” might be exposed to a lot of water. For example, let’s say after your normal visit to the gym, you hit the showers and spend some time doing laps in the pool or relaxing in the spa. If your finger turns into a prune, you will likely have an issue unlocking the lock. This is the same for any biometric scanner. So that is something to keep in mind. Either skip using the lock on those days or plan to wait for the moisture in your finger to dry up each time.

You also want to add multiple (of your own) fingers to the lock. This is in case you damage your master finger. A cut, gash, burn, or heavily dried cracking of the skin due to labor, could make it hard or impossible for any biometric scanner to scan your fingerprint. So make sure you have other fingers you can go to for backup.

It comes with everything you need. Well, actually, it comes with a USB cable and some instructions. It’s a lock, so there isn’t anything you need beyond that. Again, no app or anything to complicate things with (or waste battery). Just “a lock and its cable” (sounds like a children’s book).

Our Conclusion

Do we like it? Yes. Can it be depended upon in many common situations (like a locker)? Yes. At least, from our experience with it so far. Everything has been great. From the quality of materials to the ease of use. Then, of course, there is the accuracy of the fingerprint scanner leading to no false positives or difficulties reading an assigned finger (as long as there is no damage to that finger or sogginess). Finally, the price tag of $29.99 seems fair. The same goes for a small biometric scanner for your computer. $29.99 feels like a magic number for something like this. Making it very competitive and worth giving a shot (if you weren’t already sold on the idea of having a biometric lock to being with).

They aren’t available everywhere just yet since they just launched this month. However, you should be able to find them soon via retailers that already carry Benjilocks products. We made sure to share a few via the following links. The same applies to the new bike lock as well.

*Average price is based on the time this article was published

Additional Images:

Videos

Adding the master user:

Adding additional users:

Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.

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