Real owners lean toward the Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt: 81% of 232 owners recommend it, vs 53% of 17 for the Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro.
Verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube owner comments — affiliate reviews excluded. Sample sizes differ; judge accordingly. How we score
Most owners who chime in say they like the U-Bolt Pro and lean on it daily without complaint, several specifically praising the fingerprint reader and the fact that it keeps working locally even without a WiFi bridge or during a network outage. The recurring frustration sits on the smart-home side: Z-Wave support gets called severely limited, promised SmartThings integration hasn't materialized, Keymaster entities are missing, and Alexa routines can't drive the unlock. A smaller group ran into flat-out reliability failures, batteries dying within hours of a fresh swap or the lock simply acting up from the start. Anyone shopping this for a serious home-automation setup should expect to work around the platform gaps rather than plug and play.
“I have the Schlage Encode Plus HomeKey lock. HomeKey fucking rocks. I love having my house key in wallet. It is so unbelievably slick.”— seaessbee on Reddit
“Smart door lock (Schlage Encode) for my mom's place. It sends notifications for each user's access codes when the door is locked or unlocked.”— LionSuneater on Reddit
“The Schlage encode is actually not designed to stand up to that level of humidity. I learned this after going through their customer support for each lock that stopped working.”— Captain_hindsight126 on Reddit
“one of the best fingerprints enabled options was the U-tec Ultraloq Pro smart deadbolt.”— TheJessicator on Reddit
“I opted for the Ubolt pro zwave and have been very happy with it. Love the lock's quality and fingerprint scanner. Downside, as already mentioned, is the limited integration but that's not an issue for me.”— synchronizedelusions on Reddit
“I'm still waiting for them to deliver the promised SmartThings integration. I would get something more established.”— moooootz on Reddit
Real owners lean toward the Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt: 81% of 232 owners recommend it, vs 53% of 17 for the Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro.
Owners point the Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt at airbnb and short-term rental hosts managing guest codes, and apple households wanting HomeKey tap-to-unlock.
Owners point the Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro at home Assistant users who want Z-Wave lock/unlock and status without a cloud bridge, and families wanting fingerprint and code access for kids, guests, or delivery drivers.
The most-cited downside of the Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt is battery drains fast on WiFi. For the Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro, it's smart-home integration is thin: Z-Wave support is described as severely limited, promised SmartThings integration hasn't shipped, Keymaster entities are missing, and Alexa routines can't trigger unlock.