Philips 5000-series smart deadbolt review: To open, just scan the hand

It’s official: By 2025, fingerprints will be obsolete and replaced by palm veins.

Philips joins the smart lock club with its Home Access Smart Deadbolt 5000 series, which lets you scan a vein pattern on your hand instead of a fingerprint to gain entry to your home. While I was initially skeptical that the technology was just a gimmick, palm vein reading has proven to be very effective, at least so far. with two TCL D1 Pro Compared to the Philips 5000 series reviewed here, I got much better results than typically finicky fingerprint scanners.

Technology aside, let’s take a look at what Philips has to offer in the latest addition to its venerable Home Access range of smart locks.

Philips hasn’t had the greatest success from a hardware perspective, and somehow it continues to make the same poor design decisions even though our company has been working in this area for years. There’s no getting around the size of the unit. with relatively dignified Philips 4000 seriesThe 5000 Series is quite large, with the outer escutcheon height being over 7.5 inches and the inner escutcheon height being nearly the same.

Setup and installation

Exterior trim includes the digital touch screen and doorbell buttons; otherwise, there’s a lot of unused space on the front panel. The doorbell button rotates to the side to reveal a physical keyhole, but it takes some effort to get it out of the way; don’t expect your kids to be able to do this successfully. Oddly, there’s no emergency power option in the event the battery dies, so make sure you have one of the physical keys with you just in case.

The lock is ANSI Level 2 Physical Security certified, and it does feel sturdy, being made primarily of aluminum alloy. I tested the device in matte black; a satin nickel version is also available (located on the edge of the lock). let’s explain ANSI and BHMA lock ratings In the article linked earlier.

This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth reporting The best smart lock.

The lock attaches as expected and the mounting plate attaches to the exterior escutcheon via two long bolts. A power cord runs through the board to the internal escutcheon; but oddly enough, the cable hole in the board is a little too narrow to pass through easily. I had to use pliers to compress the plastic around the connector to get it to squeeze out. The bigger issue, however, is securing the inner escutcheon to the mounting plate.

Philips has long relied on sliding clips on the side of the lock cover to connect the two parts together, and I think I complained about them every time I reviewed a Philips lock. I’m going to do it again here: This clamp concept is terrible because it’s nearly impossible to get the escutcheon to sit completely flat on the door unless the cord is positioned perfectly. If it doesn’t fit even slightly, the escutcheon will pop off, preventing the clip from locking. I spent at least 10 minutes trying to position the cable before I could get it close enough for the clamp to hold at last Able to be forced into place. Two extra screws – a newer and thankfully designed addition – help keep it there.

There are two extra pieces of hardware included in the box: an optional magnetic door sensor that tells the Philips app if the door is ajar, and a separate doorbell chime that plugs into an outlet in the house. I’ll talk more about ringtones later.

The 5000 Series is uniquely powered by four 3V batteries (included), but Philips does not specify an expected lifespan before the batteries must be replaced. Once the battery is in place, the electronic portion of the lock can be easily installed. When I logged into the Philips Home Access app, it automatically discovered the lock, but if that didn’t happen, there was a QR code on the back of the battery door. The lock connects directly to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network through a simple login process.

Use the Philips Home Access app

The Philips Home Access app is very mature after years of development, and while it lacks many tricks, it works well. The center button is used to lock and unlock the door, while the tabs below let you check the log (both locks and unlocks are tracked), add a new PIN, or add a palm scan. These two authentication methods are completely independent.

While some apps allow you to configure access on a per-user basis (assigning various PINs and scans to individuals), Home Access doesn’t: each PIN and scan must be managed individually. This can be confusing if you have a large number of users. Note that PINs can be configured to be permanent, recurring, or set to expire at a specific time, but Palm Scan always provides 24/7 access. This is different from how Philips handles fingerprint scanning on other locks, which are configured the same way as a PIN, which potential buyers may want to keep in mind. The lock can store up to 100 PINs and 50 palm scans, as well as an unlimited number of one-time PINs.

Additional features include automatic locking (run time from 10 seconds to 3 minutes), which can be configured to work with the door sensor to prevent the door from trying to lock when open. The coercion system allows you to prepend “911” to any PIN code to notify people of your choice (via email) that you are in trouble, even though you can’t actually call 911 for you. Finally, if you want to add voice control to your lock, both Alexa and Google Assistant support it.

Initially I thought the lock was malfunctioning during testing because it would randomly open at certain times when I was nearby. It turns out that this is a feature, not a bug, called “grab-and-go” mode, which instructs the lock to open when approached from inside the house. This wasn’t very reliable in my testing – hence my confusion about semi-random activations – but it’s at least an interesting concept, even if it doesn’t seem wise in the end. Personally, I like to lock my doors by default. Flip-thumb-turning when you exit isn’t all that cumbersome.

The chime (optional, but essential if you use the doorbell feature) is a small device that plugs into a wall outlet. Onboard controls on either side let you change the volume (ranging from 1 to 5) and select your specific favorite from 38 awesome tones. The chime must be paired with the lock separately by adding it as an accessory in the Home Access app, but it’s a quick process that only takes a minute or two to complete.

Daily use of Philips 5000 series smart lock

In day-to-day use, I found this all worked well, and other than my initial confusion with the “take away” mode, I didn’t have any issues with the lock. The palm reader is fast and accurate, and while it’s perfect when I hold my hand upright, since when I originally registered it, it was sometimes (but rarely) able to read my palm when it was held upside down or on its side.

The door lock detects you as you approach it and illuminates the ring around the doorbell button with blue light, while the number 0 on the trackpad flashes. The latter feature is a bit disturbing, as it makes the lock look like it’s stuck in an error mode. In my opinion, having the keyboard fully illuminated is a more intuitive design decision.

Should you buy the Philips 5000 Series Smart Lock?

The lock has a suggested retail price of $380; however, as of press time, it was on sale for just $250. That’s still expensive, but at least it’s about the same price as other high-end smart locks. On the other hand, the TCL D1 Pro is a further $100 off That Sales price – at least for now. That said, the appeal of palm vein scanning is appealing, and the lock has enough bells and whistles to warrant consideration.

My suggestion to Philips would be to offer a cheaper version without the doorbell, or to ditch the doorbell altogether. Any homeowner willing to invest in such a luxury lock will want a doorbell camera to monitor the house, and they probably already have one.