This solar-powered smart lock is also a video doorbell

Smart door locks and video doorbells are useful for monitoring and controlling what's happening at your front door. But there are very few that actually work together, which means you see two separate apps or two different visitors tap into your smart home app and then unlock (or lock) your door. Huh. ) We do.

Smart door lock maker Lockley has a three-in-one solution to this problem: the $499 Lockley Vision Elite. The Lockley Vision Elite this week built a camera and doorbell into the door lock and is the successor to the company's Lockley Vision Video Smart Lock.

The Vision Elite has several improvements over its predecessor, including full 1080p HD video, a wider viewing angle, night vision, and a motion sensor. It also has a new integrated solar panel for charging the lithium battery (the first generation used eight AA batteries). It also costs $100 more.

As a smart lock, the Lockly Vision Elite is a complete deadbolt replacement that operates by a key, an app, a built-in keypad or a fingerprint sensor. The keypad has a rotating display to confuse anyone peeping over your shoulder trying to guess your code, and it works with offline access codes, so your visitor has to download the app to go in. does not need to be done.

With the Lockly app, you can remotely lock and unlock doors after connecting to Wi-Fi using the included plug-in hub. An integrated door sensor tells you whether your door is open or closed, and the lock can be programmed to auto-lock.

The video doorbell component contains a very small button on the keypad that triggers the doorbell. There's two-way audio for you to talk to your visitor, and any recordings are stored locally in the lock. This means there are no cloud storage charges. The door lock works with Google Home and Amazon Alexa.

I've tested the first-generation Lockley Vision and was largely underwhelmed, but the new model has some significant improvements — namely higher resolution video, night vision, and wider view. But most importantly, it now has a motion sensor. Previously, you had to rely on someone pressing a small button on the door lock to trigger the camera to record, something that, when I tried it, no one has ever done.

The Lockley Vision and Lockley Vision Elite are the only video smart locks currently available in the US. I'm still unsure whether it's because they've taken over the market or because this whole concept just doesn't work with two different dedicated products. After reviewing the original Lockley Vision, my recommendation was to get it only if there are a few limitations, meaning you can't install both a smart doorbell and a lock on your door.

However, Eufy recently announced the $399 Eufy Security Video Smart Lock, a model with similar capabilities to Lockley, and I'll be interested to see if any of these new models make the category more compelling. , One key difference that I can already see is that the Eufy's fingerprint sensor is on top of the lock; Lockley is still on the right. When I tested the original Lockley Vision, I couldn't reach the fingerprint reader because the lock was too close to my door jamb. I plan on testing both models and will report back with a full review.