Rather than spinning a dial with numbers, Master Lock’s Speed Dial combination lock uses up/down/left/right movements. In addition to the new code entry system they use an anti-shim technology and a hardened steel shackle to prevent circumventing the combination. The result is a lock that they claim is faster to open, easier to use, and more secure then a standard combination lock.
Is only having four possible choices instead of 40 for each move in the combination possibly be enough? In reality, on many dial combination locks you can be off by a number to the left or right, so instead of 40 possible choices you’re reduced to maybe 15. With three numbers in the combination that gives you 3,375 (15*15*15) possible combinations. To get the same level of security with this new Speed Dial Lock you’ll need at least six moves (4*4*4*4*4*4= 4,096).
With the new movement, they claim the lock can be opened one-handed and without looking at the lock. You can reset the combination to any number of movements and if you don’t like up/down/left/right you can optionally place other combination indicators over the arrows like number, letter, shapes, colors, or symbols.
Pricing for the Speed Dial combination lock starts at $10.
Speed Dial [Master Lock]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
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25 Responses to Speed Dial Combination Lock
Leave a Reply to Choscura Cancel reply
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80% of combinations will be: up up down down left right left right (b a select start).
This is quite an interesting design for a combination lock. It also seems that the lock’s four movements can be translated into letters or numbers for easier memorization as well.
On the other hand, numbers may be easier to remember than directions. As a kid, the only Mortal Kombat finishing moves that I could remember were Sub Zero’s. Many years later, I have now long since forgotten the game sequence, but I still remember the combination from a lock I used on my high school locker.
paanta must have had a sibling or friend when he played Kontra (or the other Konami games)
Bet I can open it even faster with a coke can aluminum shim.
http://lifehacker.com/5376442/crack-a-master-combination-padlock-redux
RUH ROH!
Who cares how easy the combination is, it someone wants whats behind it they’re just going to break it.
Looks like an iPod. Does it play music?
just use a nut and bolt. Torque it to 150 lbs and don’t worry about it. Cheap too.
Looks like a combination lock for a retard. Do they still teach basic math in schools?
Someone had to say it.
F.
Why did someone have to say it?
Why this? Why not go whole-hog and just make a playstation controller with a lock ring on it, so that all the idiots can do stupid things that only they find amusing, like setting their locker combination to fight-game combo moves?
It’s a good idea, but it’s for idiots, and above and beyond this, unless they have some kind of shielding, I’d bet that you could completely fry this with a capacitor discharge- maybe a taser or something like that, or a couple of flash units- and then the thing would possibly be fried open, or at the very least, whoever’s lock it was wouldn’t be able to open it anymore.
and tell me what happens when the batteries die on this?
there is no battery-
lock opening methods
BFH
12 gauge slug
bolt cutters
30-06
angle grinder
If you want in you can get in.
So do some of you not bother using locks at all?
Locks only keep honest people honest. It makes sense to use them if only to prevent crimes of opportunity. As others have said above, if someone wants what’s behind the lock, they will brute-force their way past the lock. Locks keep otherwise honest folks from straying into areas they probably shouldn’t be in anyways.
Fabian, schools don’t teach students how to memorize random number sequences. They do teach students to respect others.
No, Geoff, locks also keep lazy people honest.
I was intrigued by the fact that it can have an unlimited number of movements. After a little research I found this comprehensive teardown and analysis.
http://toool.nl/Image:The_New_Master_Lock_Combination_Padlock_V2.0.pdf
There are 7501 possible combinations which can all be reached by eleven or fewer movements. So when you change the combination you can make it either easier or harder to remember than a standard three number dial padlock.
@Chris W:
Good find on the tear-down analysis. Not knowing the internal mechanism, I was a bit off with my guesstimate of the relative number of combinations. From the analysis in the PDF it looks like you’d need at least 8 moves to be as secure a combo lock.
————
As to everybody saying that locks only keep honest people honest. I think that’s an oversimplification. It really depends on how much time a dishonest person has and how public/observed the lock is. You’re not going to carry a bolt cutters into a crowded area and you’re also not going to use a combination lock to keep somebody out of something in a dark alley either.
Choscura: I saw nothing here about the lock being battery-powered. Assumption?
Taffer: Specified in the text was the addition of some “anti-shim” feature. If I were you, I wouldn’t volunteer to be locked to a ticking bomb with just a coke can and a pair of nail scissors to free myself.
Kyle: I love to watch people with a cheap import bolt-cutter trying to take out a hardened steel shackle on a $5.00 Master Lock. It’s so amusing that I would buy the lock just for the entertainment value.
I live in an area that is proclaimed safe, but I still lock stuff. Could someone still get in? I dunno, but if I had 30 seconds to grab some items, I know I could, so I assume that with enough time, a crook could too. However, my neighbors all know me and have no hesitation in calling the police (a mile away and a-looking for something to do) to report anything hinkey. Between that and my 80 lb dog with I-can-hear-the-mailman-6-houses-away ears, I feel pretty covered.
The 3 number locks, let’s face it, sucked. I had and have some, but they suck. Suckity-suck. Suckily sucking the suck out of the suckerhood.
The big advantage with this is you can open it in low/no light situations. Try that with a standard combo lock.
Portable lock opener…….
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=dewalt+18+grinder&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=7660448243079307696&ei=LyE3S-CMD4LANs73vf8I&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CB0Q8wIwAw#ps-sellers
Re: possible combinations
On the combo locks I recall (0-60), the numbers on the face were only vague indications of where to turn the wheel and often the numbers could be missed by up to + or – 2 digits, which reduces the amount of possible combinations (down to about 15 true positions within each rotation). I was able to break into many of them simply by feel.
As to the safety of the lock: It depends not only on the number of different combinations, but also on how much time it taked to enter each. in a standard lock you can “scan” about 10 combinations in one second by rotating a disc. In this lock you need to reset it first, then enter the next code – about 1 second per code. If you don’t reset it, you are effectively doing a randon walk over the 7500 states, which is more than in a standard Master lock (1500 combos)
this is the worst product ever it will not open 4 me and i got it 4 high school (i have the right code) my mother is the only one in the house 2 get it open do not buy!