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Skylock Offers Keyless, Solar Powered, Smart Phone Connected U-Lock That Helps When you Crash

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Skylock

What’s better than a bike lock? How about a keyless, solar powered, smart phone connected super lock? That’s exactly what the team behind Skylock have set out to accomplish. Skylock isn’t the first lock to connect with your smart phone, but it takes the concept of the smart lock to the next level. We all know that even the best locks are no match for professional thieves with the right tools and know how. That’s why Skylock has a triaxial accelerometer that will notify you if the lock is being tampered with. The same technology allows the lock to notify your preferred contacts if you crash or are hit by a car.

Thanks to the built in solar charging panel, the Skylock will recharge itself while it’s sitting in the rack. No sun? The battery will last a month when fully charged, and can also be charged with a micro USB cable. Skylock connects to your phone using bluetooth or Wifi, which allows the bicycle equivalent of keyless entry when you get close to the bike. What if your phone dies? You can use the capacitive touch pad on the lock itself to unlock. That smart phone connectivity also opens up a new world of bike sharing based on the Skylock app.

Add in a proprietary dual locking mechanism, and you have an extremely smart lock that should also function quite well as a… well, lock. Key into more details next…

Skylock was launched in an Indiegogo campaign in early June which will run until August 9th. Already well over their goal, early bird lock specials are sold out leaving only 2, 4, or 10 packs of locks to purchase. However, with a suggested retail price of $249 per lock, buying two for $298 doesn’t seem like such a bad deal…

Expect locks to ship early 2015.

skylock.cc

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11 Comments
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Jack Luke
9 years ago

But why?

NASH
NASH
9 years ago

I would only buy this if it had a built in Taser. They could then call it Magnavolt.

i
i
9 years ago

I’d call this the one in a thousand indiegogo projects that has some potential. It’s kind of amazing to me that in this age of electronic everything we still use easily picked mechanical locks when it’s trivially easy to make an all but impossible to pick electronic lock.
I couldn’t care less about the crash-detection feature, and the touchscreen opening seems like a weak link, but a pick-proof lock with tamper detection is a fantastic idea.

Chris
Chris
9 years ago

Great, now the thieves will steal my lock, too.

dis
dis
9 years ago

It’s amazing to me that people think bike thieves are out there picking locks….

GROSS
GROSS
9 years ago

agree with dis: thieves don’t pick locks.

Menga
Menga
9 years ago

So, the same thing that BitLock but with solar panel. What i find useless is the bike sharing feature. I never let anyone use my bike.
In my country it’s more probable that someone steals your phone than your bike, most robberies are made with guns or violence, no body will pick your lock to steal your bike.

Rustydog
Rustydog
9 years ago

Oh great now the thief cuts my 250$ lock in less than 30 seconds with cordless angle grinder and then steals my bike. He may pause for about 5 seconds admiring the coolest lock he has ever seen and at the same time wondering how fast he can cut it.

bc
bc
9 years ago

i like this concept of a “keyless lock”, because it brings a convenience from the car world to bike commuters/utilitarians. I think the obsession with linking it to a computer-phone (used by smart or dumb people) is unnecessary. A fob button with a regular key, just like many cars, would be sufficient, and hopefully reduce the cost. do like the solar panel/usb charging, but probably wouldn’t be necessary without a need for wifi, bluetooth, capacitive touchpad, etc.

Loughlin MacLachlan
Loughlin MacLachlan
9 years ago

It’s a true pleasure reading the comments written by the idea-person behind Skylock. You really can’t have too much hard-sell on the internet. There’s never enough.

lockaction
6 years ago

FWIW – this company has either a) not shipped locks to buyers or b) shipped locks with defects/issues that there is now a website collecting victim information – lockaction.org

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