Les Jones

Guns > SmartLock Triggerlock Review by Mike

A few weeks ago I asked about the SmartLock triggerlock as a possible solution for secure car storage when used with the optional cable. Mike of FecesFlingingMonkey was nice enough to buy and review it.

As promised, I picked up one of those Maglocs and had a good look at it. My impressions:

1) Overall, it is fairly well made, and should hold up well so long as it is not abused. It seems to be about as strong as any comparable lock, maybe a bit better than some.

2) There is a cryptographic weakness in the design that makes it much easier to brute-force the combination than you might expect. This may or may not be an issue for you, depending on your circumstances. I'd expect that I could open one of these in maybe two hours, on average.

3) The biggest drawback is that the operating sequence is more complex than I'd like. In addition to the numbers, it has a button on the left side, a button on the bottom, and something that looks like a button on the front. After you press in the combination, the button on the side will open the lock, the button on the bottom will reset all the buttons,
and the thing that looks like a button will, of course, do nothing.

The problem? When they occasional user of this product is scared, they will first push in the combination, and then there is a very good chance that they will press the wrong button afterwards. Either they will wonder why the fake button on the front doesn't work, or perhaps they will press the bottom button and reset all the pins. My rule of thumb for functioning under pressure is to assume that you are wearing gloves and your IQ dropped forty points. I would not want to try to open this lock under pressure.

It'd be fine for child-level security for an unloaded firearm, which is what the instructions say it is rated for. I'd go with a top-quality lockbox for a defensive arm.

(On a related note... some of the lockboxes I've seen use closed-cell foam to hold the gun. For some reason, this stuff has an incredible ability to cause rust. Always replace it with something else, like oiled fleece or cloth).
 -- Mike