Addalock Review - Portable Door Security

This is the perfect extra layer of door security you need when travelling. It's such a small piece of equipment, you can even store it in your back pocket.

Our Rating: 4.4/5

Security Score
74%
Price-Quality Ratio
90%
Ease of Use
95%

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Privacy is an important issue, we want to do our best to protect ourselves from people entering our rooms. Of course, this is also for reasons of security, too.

We could be talking about those that would enter an unlocked door without a second thought of knocking first. Or, someone who is falsing a door down to cause distress to whoever is on the other side.

Sure, we have a typical door lock that's supposed to help prevent the above from taking place. And in some instances, it will. But not always.

There will be some situations where a standard door lock is not enough. There are certain travel locks that in accommodation, such as a hotel, that carry their own risks.

The typical door card lock and one of its most glaring issues with these kinds of locks are that they have been picked by many people. They have before and will be again. When you understand the mechanism of these locks, you can begin to see how they operate could derail that security system.

So, let’s be honest and say, although not completely without merit, hotel doors are not the most secure type. You should also factor in that staff working at the hotel will have access to your room whenever they want. The average member of staff will only use this in instances where it is right to and would otherwise be respectful of your privacy.

There are steps to take to help combat these issues. You could put a doorstop in. If someone were to try and force their way in, it is possible for the top to bend in for the intruder to get in. So not a ‘fix all’ solution, then. One solution you could consider is portable door lock.

What does it do?

It's not a million miles away from the doorstop idea, it is like evolution on that basic premise. But instead of relying on the friction of the carpet, it's placed on it locks into the strike plate for the door latch.

What this means is that the strength of this latch will be on the strength of the strike plate itself. This will vary from building to building. But in the context of a hotel, the door will usually be surrounded by a metal frame.

But do note that this device has a tab of a certain shape that will need to insert into a strike plate for its job to work. Not all doors will have the required fitting. It should be of support by a large majority of doors, but watch out for mortise locks which will be a problem.

The cylindrical lock is where you would know you have the perfect opportunity to use this. If in doubt, you may have success with it paired with the use of some deadbolts. But the size of the bolt and the strike plate could cause issues.

Installation

The installation is quite straight forward.

You need to grab the metal plate, close the door whilst having the metal plate in place. Then insert the plastic wedge’s metal pin into the plate while the handle is up and push the wedge into place. Once the wedge is down all the way the pin will lock into place.

You may have a doorknob that uses a deadlatch and in this instance, you would want to wiggle the plate around a bit to help ensure the half-tube goes home.

I bought this almost a year ago and have been able to use it every time, except one. I always carry this and a wedge it for hotel door security

How strong is it?

The construction of the is solid. There are no sharp edges and the plastic part has no flashing so the pebbled finish will wear well over long times. The plastic appears to be well moulded around the metal track for the pin and no damage should result.

The two pieces of this item are held together by quite a decent chain. Weight-wise, the carry pouch and the device itself total over 4 ounces.

A weight that will pass the checked bag weight allowance and the whole thing is less than half an inch thick. You should have no issue finding room for this object in an average-sized backpack.

It is likely that it would prevent the average attempted break-in into a hotel room. But for context, this is not strong enough to stop an attack to the entrance with a battering ram or something similar. It does have limits.

Shortcomings

If you have a door where the frame is very tight, there will not be enough space for the metal plate to slide into.

It should that the instructions provided make clear that they do not recommend forcing the door closed on the plate. Because in doing so you would stand a high chance of jamming.

But then, say if a frame is loose, the wedge will then not be able to grab the door so the device will also fail in its task. Some users have cast doubt how well the latch works and this is worth taking into account.

This is something that will only work on an inward-swinging door and that you can only use it if you are in the room yourself. So if you are looking for a security solution to help protect when you are away from your room, look elsewhere!

Pricing

It can be purchased for around £20 ($30) to £25 ($35). Some retailers were offering 2 devices for around £40 ($50) to £45 ($60).

Final thoughts

The cost is not bad for a device that's helpful to the average hotel user who wants to give themselves privacy. The Addalock would not save a door from a more aggressive break-in but should be able to fight off anything below that level.