Daggers wrote:I was wondering how often a company comes out with a new lock. Because, i was looking at the the Medeco Biaxial Mortise and saw stuff online and the date was from several years back. Is this lock still used and considered one of the top high security locks?
They come out with a new lock or improved lock about every 20 years or so, or just about when the patent is about to run out. This helps with key control because the blanks have some new feature added to them and are patented. This way only that company can make blanks available to their dealers or to the public. Medeco Original came out in ~1968, Medeco Biaxial in 1986, and Medeco 3 (M3) in the 2000's. Nothing wrong with a Medeco lock made in 1968 or 1986 or whenever, still very well made and hard to drill and pick. Nothing wrong with a Schlage on your 40 year old house either, other than perhaps your key or the pins needing to be replaced from wear.
Sometimes lock companies come out with something new to satisfy a need in the market, and sometimes, like Kwikset's Smartkey, they come out because of things like bumping in the public eye or a million people easily picking their locks on Youtube which drives companies to innovate and make better products.
Locks are meant to last. It's not like the laptop or car industry where people run out and get a new computer or car every 2 years because they've actually improved the product so much that it makes sense to get a new one.
To specifically answer your original question, yes to most people the Medeco Biaxial is still considered one of the top high security locks. Maybe these days more people know how to pick them or know some other dirty tricks on how to get past them, but then again, there's a bypass or destructive tool or method for most locks out there, Medeco just got a ton of attention in the last 5 years. That attention made it so they had to step up to the plate and fix a couple problems people discovered, documented, and exploited, and I haven't confirmed it first hand yet, but I've been told they're back up to snuff with their internal components and some design tweaks that make it harder to just beat the hell out of the lock in order to get it to open.
The more you read about locks, expect to start traveling back in time.. you'll eventually find yourself looking at patent drawings from the 1930's and even earlier.. many of the lock designs we have today are improvements and add ons to locks that were invented many years ago. and if it works, why change it?
I recommend greyman's book about high security locks, it's a great resources to anyone who likes locks. There's a thread about it here, take a look for it.
Squelchtone
