New house - Abloy or Medeco ?

[pierre2]

I would like to have your opinions on what I should do. Bought a new 2-storey house, many, many windows. Front entrance and rear entrance of house has double doors w/large glass. Also have two patio doors, one at back and the other on second floor master bedroom.

I have contacts on all doors/windows and three motion detectors (one per floor - including basement). I know alarm can be killed by cutting phone line.

I've been thinking to get either an Abloy or a Medeco. I have a preference for Abloy as they are a pain to pick. What do you suggest? Is it worth it? Open to all ideas, even outside Abloy/Medeco.

Thanks.

[jimmysmith]

I dont think its your locks you have to worry to much about. burglars will most likely break something to get in...ie window...door frame..

But if you are willing to put the money on the table... etherof those locks would make a picking burglar keep on walking...

all you really need is something a little better then your neighbor..

some home alarms run on a cellular line.. therefore even if the phone line was cut the alarm would still contact the police... at least thats how my buddy has his pizza shop set up..

-jimmy smith

[TOWCH]

Well, to the question: Abloy is cooler. Abloy is a better lock. Abloy is lower maintenence. Abloy is expensive. Abloy keys are harder to get copyied. Abloy is more resistant to destructive attack. Medeco has it's own benifits but I like abloy better.

Alarm improvements you could do if you wanted: Put an alarm plunger sensor on your exterior phone box and hook up a siren and floodlight focussed on the spot.

[Deathadder]

Primus, easy to get, as close to impossible to pick as you can get. Also, they're not relatively expensive compared to the others from what I've heard.

'nuff said

[raimundo]

Abloy, its your house, your gonna be there a long time, and right now your interested in a good lock, how many keys will you need, the most likely malfunction that will happen with the lock is a lost key. will you then rekey it, or the more likely make that member of your family a new copy of the old key, For some of these high security locks, getting duplicates is easiest at the beginning, 6 years down the line, another lockshop may have taken that franchize and make it too bureaucratic to get the keys copied, but at point of lock sale, they will make you copies. Then you have to really secure those copies, safe deposit box, or some kind of home strongbox, you don't want to lose them all at once.

[pierre2]

I was looking in other threads and was wondering, would I be better off with a Best lock? They seem almost impossible to bump, very, very hard to pick.

Or is Abloy superior? I assume Abloy cannot be bump and is an ultimate pain to pick, but like Medeco, if you drill through the door on both sides... the lock is "gone". Am I right? Is there something I should get?

Thanks.

[Jaakko]

My recommendation is Abloy. Why? 'cause here in Finland about 99% of all the locks are Abloy and all the B&E is mainly through the windows. They are "unpickable" (there has been a ting called Vempele (Thingie? ), but only rumors about like ten people in the history who know how to operate it) and last for decades, at least the Classic series found on most padlocks.

Abloys are expensive (Classic series padlocks from 25 Euros up) but they offer good protection as a lock.

...this raises a questionable matter on the table: If you buy Abloy as a lock, does it mean that you should get insurance for your windows?

[JackNco]

go for which ever has the closest dealer that can cut keys. neither are goign to be picked by a thief.

[Spike666]

I have bi-axle medeco $ but for me wowrth it . a safe properly secured. a celular alarm or a pulse monitored alarm . motion detection floodlights on the drive and rear.

a dog who barks alot...

Smith & Wesson many Mywife will shoot you just as fast as me... just do your best and dont be paranoid. if you can afford alot do alot if you cant do your best

Reinforce your jambs most def...

[n2oah]

I have bi-axle medeco $ but for me wowrth it.

Just for future reference, Medeco's are "Biaxial" (meaning they operate on two different axes", not "Bi-axle"(meaning they have two axles).

[2octops]

A conservative estimate of 95% of B&E will have absolutely nothing to do with picking the lock.

Much easier to bypass or force something open.

Insurance, monitored alarm and a safe securely bolted down (not a Sentry or Brinks) is all you need.

Dog's are nice pets but wont stop a theif.

[lunchb0x]

I have contacts on all doors/windows and three motion detectors (one per floor - including basement). I know alarm can be killed by cutting phone line.

with good alarms this wouldent work, as long as you get a good alarm system with a back up battery, you can also have it so if something is tampered with it can send your mobile a message so you know someone is in your house, also if you want to spend the extra money you can have it monitered.
As already said, the majority of B&E arnt from picking so i wouldent be spending all my money on this, also invest in a good alarm system if you think you need the extra security because whats the point of abloy entrance sets and dead bolts if there going to smash a window or cut the door down

[pierre2]

Thanks for all the replies.

I will definitely get a monitored alarm w/backup to cellular. I wasn't aware they are now making backup to cellular (I'm taking possesion of the house in 10 days).

I realized that Abloy is kind of overkilled since there are 12 windows on the ground floor/basement they can enter from. And not having a steel frame for the doors plus double doors at front and back, means that it is "easy" to break into the house.

Then what brand of lock would you recommend? It must definitely be lock bumping proof and must allow to have three locks on the same key. Something difficult to pick is desirable.

In another thread, people were commenting how much difficult the Best locks were to break. Would that be a reasonable alternative. Btw, the three Abloy will set me back $900 Canadian + tax and installation.

[raimundo]

Don't listen to Jack nco or all those others with their practical advise, its yer new house, get the abloy because you will like the feel of the key in your pocket. Security chic

[zeke79]

I just went abloy protec and should have it next week sometime. Basic reasons for me doing it were key control (more so than the primus I had previously) and the fact it is nearly zero maintenance. The maintenance issue was the reason I went with it over the medeco M3. I know my primus really needed to be cleaned and relubricated about once per year as it gets a bit sticky to turn. I attribute this to pocket lint and what not being introduced to the lock from the key. Abloy should not pose near the maintenance.

Not that the maintenance was an inconvinience to me as I like messing around with this stuff, I just felt I would try abloy and form my own opinion of the product.