Deadbolt ID & replacement

Good morning all, Long time lurker, first time poster with a question about a deadbolt. I'm closing on a house the end of next week and I'm trying to figure out what to do with the locks. Three exterior doors, one Schlage, one Defiant (home depot brand, apparently), and one with only a symbol that is an N with only the vertical strokes touching the box it was in at the bottom left and top right (sketch below). It is mounted on a mostly glass patio door with a kwikset knob. What brand is it? Quality?

As an additional question, I'd like to know your opinions on what would be a good lock set to replace them with? I've been here long enough to know to stay the heck away from kwikset, and Schlage is good. How about the defiant? The house is in a low-crime area, and I'm looking more for a value lock: not a very-high security polished brass lock, but also not a cheap piece of crap that will wear out in a relatively short time. This will also probably be a DIY replacement, tho I'd have them keyed the same, which I can't do.

Thanks for your help and expertise

-Mr_thing

Representation of the deadbolt's symbol, just above the keyhole (view in fixed width font): ________ | | | | |\ | | | | \| | |_|____|

Reply to
Mr_Thing
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Probably you'd get more info if you had a picture of it.

Reply to
Thomas

National Lock Co.

Low end junk.

If you are going to be living in the house and want a long tern good functioning lock then Schlage is your best bet.

If you want a bang for the buck, go with the Titan. It is made by Kwikset, but all of the places that Kwikset is week in have been strenghtened in the Titan.

I've been here long

Defiant is cheap Chineese junk.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

National

As bad as Kwikset, maybe a tad worse.

Worst of them all.

There use to be a commercial on TV about a wrecking ball demolishing an old, turn-of-the-century, dilapidated home. The caption read. "But the Schlage locks still work"

Moral: There's no substiture for quality.

Cheap has to be replaced so many times, quality is the better value choice. Cheap keeps the wind out, quality keeps the 2 legged roaches out. Most quality locks now have a forever finish that never tarnishes.

Put your money in quality deadlocks with reinforced strikes. Knoblocks are false security unless you pay a small fortune for the h/d commercial/instutitional grade.

Reply to
Unk

I have to disagree with some posters here.

I will put Titan and Schlage on the same level. (Though Kwikset is definitely low grade crap.)

The quality of Schlage has slowly slipped over the years and I really can't see it being a better lock than Titan now.

The plus side of the Titan is that it has 6 pins. And the screws fastening the lock are decent.

The con side is that the pins are tapered and the tolerances are sloppy, making it easy to pick.

Now, if you can change the pins inside the locks to a regular LAB pin without the taper, the pick resistance would increase. I'd also add spool pins to the lock.

But, doing that still leaves it a low-grade lock, just as much as a Schlage.

If I were to make a choice, I'd either get the Titan and have a locksmith change the top pins to spool pins and replace the bottom pins with regular .005 / .003 pins.

Or, I'd go get one of those new electronic push-button Schlage locks they sell. Those would be nice to have.

If you can find a Schlage that can be pinned up to a 6 pin key (the F- Series knobs are then out of the question) then that would top the Titan instantly. Have a locksmith change the top pins to spool pins if they aren't already.

Locksmith Wiki Knowledge Base

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Reply to
LocksmithWiki.com

Schlage F is still a grade 2 lock. Is Titan?

Again even Schlage F new design is a grade 2 lock.

Why? You claimed before that the Titan and Schlage were essentially equal now you claim a 6 pin Schlage is superior. One extra pin chamber makes that much difference??? Unless you need the extra combos for a large installation I think not.

Reply to
DB

grade 3 --Shiva--

Reply to
me

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