The Really Well-Designed Combination Lock
Using the Masterlock Speed-Dial 1500 reminds me of how I felt when I first used an iPod. Of course this is how a combination lock should work. I bought this little beauty today and was really impressed with the obvious attention to detail and great design, not to mention how easy it was to use.
The most obvious missing component of this lock is the (now heinously ugly) combination dial with the numbers and ticks. How much more 20th century can you get? Instead of turning a wheel right then left then right again, the lock is opened by moving the button on inner part of the lock. There are several advantages to this approach:
- You can set your own combination instead of having to remember some random set of numbers
- You control the length of the combination
How Does It Work?
When you unbox the lock, it has a pre-set combination as expected. Once the lock is unlocked, any new combination can be set. You set the combination by moving a switch on the back of the lock to the Reset position (see below).
Once you move the switch, you can move the button on the front of the lock to set the combination. Masterlock provides you with some stickers that you can affix to the surface of the lock to help you remember what combination you set. In my case, I used letters and created a password. They have stickers for numbers, card suits, and various other patterns you might use.
For example, if my password were ‘bathtub’, I would move the lock button in the following sequence: up up right left right right up (b a t h t u b). Pretty neat, eh?
Once you have your combination set, you slide the reset switch back down and shut the lock. Voila! You have a password-protected lock.
Oh, and it comes in four colors.
Why does all of this matter?
I love it when a company takes an idea that is so entrenched and does something new with it. As NEST has shown us with their brilliant thermostat, it’s worth looking around at the things we think are just “here to stay” and wondering how they might be done differently. Yes, this lock does the same thing that the old, ugly combination locks do.
I bet, however, that if I had this hanging on my locker and you had the stale, old one on yours, you would want mine.