I love our keyless entry. We have a Schlage.
My husband installed it, he said it was very easy. My nephew installed one at his parent’s house. Theirs was a nest and fancier than ours.
I think we’ve replaced the batteries once. It warned us and we had plenty of time to get that done.
That seems to be a popular reliable brand!
Those of you saying you put an extra key in your car should beware that if someone steals your car they’d have your key and your address (assuming you have things in your car with the address, like the registration, insurance card, repair slips). We’ve had so many car thefts in our areas that it is suggested people not leave their keys or garage door openers in their cars. Normally the thieves just want the car and to get away, but others have gone to the house to steal things from the garages like bikes, tools, camping equipment.
It is really out of control here. Our new mayor even had his car stolen.
Our s has the google nest/yale lock on his doors and it is networked with all his google/nest products
I think that would be a big plus for the nest. You can control your temperature and unlock your doors also.
My bil did that. It was nice when on a trip, turn up the heat or turn on the AC.
I have no idea if there are other things that can be controlled with the nest system.
Unfortunately our HVAC system isn’t compatible with the nest.
Exactly…they all are not compatible with Nest.
Not that it matters, but nest got folded into google a long time ago. So it’s all part of the google/nest product system ( cameras, speakers, doorbells, mesh wi-fi, hub video screen thing, etc) and they have an online compatibility checker to see if a thermostat is compatible with any system Nest thermostat compatibility - Google Nest Help Some systems that people think aren’t compatible can be rewired to be compatible.
That said, one does not have to have the google nest home devices to have the google nest yale locks. We like it b/c when we visit we can let ourselves in and out It also lets you know when the batteries need to be replaced.
Well in my case the key in the car (in case garage remote does not work) gives no added risk. But… if car stolen there is already plenty of risk from the garage remote - the door from garage to family room is not locked (except by me rarely from inside, when my husband is out of town).
That family room door is where I think we should start with the keyless entry. On the external doors, my main bloody concern is that shifting has made it very hard for me to lock and deadbolt front and back door. And if you don’t do it right, wind gusts blow open the back door. Before we go on vacations (leaving through the family room door to garage), my husband does last-pass locking. Next time I’ll suggest we use key to lock the family room door too.
Car thefts and break ins are a common problem here, too. For the same reason, we never programmed our garage opener into that visor thing that car makers started offering eons ago. And we take all registration papers out of the car when we park at the airport. Sigh. Hassle but better safe than sorry.
H once had to use a drill in another house garage to open the house door when I was traveling…so there’s that.
We now have a key pad on the garage door and the door to the house is then locked. If we forget our key, one is hidden in the garage.
Once a freak snow storm happened when we were walking in shorts and a tshirt- it went from like 55 to 15 with a snow squall in 10 minutes and the electricity went out, therefore the garage door would not open. Our neighbor had a key and happened to be home. We solved that dilemma with carrying a house key on walks and hiding a key outside.
I make copies of registration and insurance cards with the address removed to keep in the cars. When we’re home the cars are always parked in the garage. H’s car has “home” in his GPS (not mine) but we do have a keyless deadbolt between the garage and house. We don’t hide a key. I think he carries one, I don’t. We have seven doors to the outside (!) that we rekeyed to the same key when we moved in 25 years ago.* All are deadbolts, and the side garage door also has a lock on the doorknob.
*You’d think this would be a huge house. Really not, just a lot of french doors to the backyard and patios.
Hmmm, never knew it was ok to have reg & ins with address removed but if vehicle is stolen while at your home, they’d still know your address and think the key may work for your door.
I guess I should try that — making copies of reg & insurance with no address. People have broken into our cars in the past. I had a key that was stolen from my car but it wasn’t for our house (it was for my mom’s in a different neighborhood with no address).
I’ve always done it. D got a speeding ticket driving my car a while back 
and it wasn’t an issue. YMMV. Originals are at home.
Ok, because of this thread, have just made copies of our registration and insurance, covering up the address, for both my car and H’s. Have put originals in file cabinet. This makes me happy because I know H often doesn’t lock his car doors and has people searching them in several occasions. I prefer they get as little as possible. (His locks are temperamental, so he prefers leaving them unlocked and yes, we’ve had multiple discussions of the issue.)
We lock all of our cars even when they are in the garage. Period. We lock our house.
Frankly, the thieves would be very disappointed if they broke into our house.
Because thieves would be very disappointed if they broke into our house/cabin, we don’t worry about whether or not we’ve locked anything. We try to remember to lock the front door when we leave, but we often sleep with doors unlocked, usually because DH forgot to check before going to bed.
H’s car is 1998 volvo with pretty much nothing to steal in it.
I’m hoping not to get off topic too much. But since we’re talking locks – crime is on topic, right? We live in an area where sophisticated South American gangs hit high end neighborhoods. Happened two streets away recently. They case houses, can get around security systems and are in and out in under 10 minutes, usually when people are out to dinner. They are looking for safes, designer purses, jewelry, and cash. They would be very disappointed if they got in my house.
Yeah, that’s why I don’t pay much attention to locking doors and windows. If thieves want in, no lock is going to stop them. Locks are just a feel-good form of false security IMO. My former-cop brother says that motion-detection lights that sound an alarm are more effective than locks. Petty thieves, especially, will usually run from lights and noise. Nothing will stop a professional, though, who will know how to work around any security device.
Well, some of you are a lot braver than me. I may not have a lot of things, but I have “me” and H and I sure don’t want to awake to anyone who strolls through the door even if there is nothing great to take! Sometimes it’s not the things they take but the mess they leave looking.
I will get out of bed and check all locks if I have any ounce of wondering if we locked them.
I think next stop is to check out one of the big box stores and see what brands they care and styles. Watch a couple YouTube videos to see if we think we can do the change. Or reach out to a handyman or locksmith. All of which won’t happen before Christmas!