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It seems that igloohome gave me what I requested for. Even the product name is spot on.

Two years ago, when I reviewed the Igloohome Smart Lock, I mentioned the following:

And in the future, I hope they will come out with an Igloo Smart Padlock because I need one for the main gate.

igloohome Smart PadLock was born out of a Indiegogo project. The project was fully funded on 10th November 2018 where they raised a total of US$147,963 from 343 backers.

If you miss it on Indiegogo, you can get it for S$129 (limited to the first 100 units), or else the recommended retail price is S$149. It comes with a one-year local warranty.

Unboxing

Design
The body of the lock is made of Zinc Alloy, while the shackle is made of hardened steel.

The shackle is interchangeable, and you can purchase an additional long shackle for S$20. Weight wise, it weighs 450 g.

There will be a bundle price of S$139 (limited to the first 100 units) or S$159 for the igloohome Smart PadLock with the additional long shackle.

The lock is weather resistant, and it is rated IP66 against dust and water.

A torx head screwdriver (which is included in the packaging) is used to open the back of the lock. This is required if you need to replace the battery or the shackle.

Powering the lock is a single CR2 lithium battery that will give you up to one year of usage.

If you ignored all low battery warnings (from 20%), and your lock’s battery went completely flat, you still can use a 9V alkaline battery to emergency jump-start the lock.

The connector of the 9V alkaline battery is located at the bottom of the lock. You do not need any special tools to open the rubber cover.

Setup
Setup is straight forward and you have to do it via its iOS or Android app. I am using the iOS app.

Features
Similar to most igloohome smart locks, you can unlock the Smart PadLock using Bluetooth or PIN code.

Using the igloohome app, you can give any user a one-time PIN code, a PIN code that will last for a specified duration and of course, a permanent PIN code.

Likewise, you can also choose to generate a Bluetooth key and share it with any user who already has the igloohome app. I am not a fan of the Bluetooth key because getting any user to download an app to unlock a lock can be cumbersome.

Standard security features like masking of the PIN code and exceeded PIN code attempts are also present in the Smart PadLock.

You can enter any digits before your PIN code to mask your actual PIN code, as long as the whole sequence of numbers does not exceed 16 digits.

If anyone exceeds the number of incorrect attempts when trying to unlock the lock, the lock will be disabled for one minute (after the first try), five minutes (after the second try) and ten minutes (third tries onwards). Apart from that, an alarm will also be sounded. You can configure the number of incorrect attempts via the igloohome app.

Thoughts
igloohome Smart PadLock is designed for warehouse, workshop, gym locker, office cabinets, and delivery box.

I don’t have any use-case for the places mentioned above, and hence I am using it on my gate.

As a disclaimer, igloohome told me that the igloohome Smart PadLock is not designed to be used at gates like those HDB metal gates. This is because there are many design variations of HDB metal gates and it is unlikely it will fit all of them. So if you intend to get it for your HDB metal gate, you might need to measure it first.

If it helps, here are the measurements:

Also, the lock is designed to be used with the front facing you so that you can enter the PIN code. When you are using it for a gate, there is a chance that the back of the lock is facing you and you will not be able to key in the PIN code. If this situation arises, it is better to unlock it with Bluetooth.

My HDB gate comes default from my BTO. I have no issues using igloohome Smart PadLock with it. It works exceptionally well with it.

Moving the lock from rest position to key in the PIN code is easy and once the lock has been unlocked, removing it from the gate is easy as well.

You need to take note of what I mentioned earlier about which direction the lock faces. After entering your house, you usually will lock back the padlock. But for the case of igloohome Smart PadLock, it is better to lock it only when you are leaving the house rather than after you entered the house.

Again, the lock is not designed for metal gates, so this is just a trade-off. It is a good enough tradeoff for me to use the igloohome Smart PadLock on my gate.

Pros

• Reasonably priced
• Well built – solid and heavy
• Drop-in replacement for most padlocks

Cons

• igoloohome iOS app still feels clunky and a little slow
• The paint coating of the lock will come off after usage