Evening all,

I’m upgrading my locks. One door has an older early-gen anti-snap euro cylinder under a Hoppe PAS24 armoured door handle so plenty of external protection, however the lock itself whilst being snap-safe is over 10 years old and therefore probably not current/state-of-art in terms of general protection to a broad range of attacks, nor has it been tested / marked against any current standards. I’d replace it in a jot but I will need a fair few extra keys making which puts the price up. The PAS24 handle will stay and I plan to put a fully certified SS312 Diamond / TS007 3 Star lock in but not sure it needs such a specification.

Question is, given the handle, is this a false economy bearing in mind I’m looking to protect against common attacks used by opportunist burglars (no Monets here).

If you have a tough handle they can’t get to the barrel to snap the lock, so I wouldn’t bother personally…

My standard answer is Avocet ABS cylinders. Fitted them to the house as we had 5 doors all with different keys.

Then fitted one to the office as the previous boss had been systematically swapping all the locks from the other rooms whilst staff were constantly ‘swiping’ a mislaid key and getting copies made as quick as the locksmith could accept the money!

Pricey to start with but cheap in the long run 🙂

By “false economy” do you mean the opposite, that it’s overkill?

Dunno anything about the lock you currently have, but based on fairly extensive research a couple of years ago I’d go with ABS / Avocet (and indeed, did). This was the cheapest place I found: https://www.barnsleylockandsafe.co.uk/

PAS24 is very good but the standard is for the whole door not just the handle. Security is only as good as the weakest link, no use having the best locks in the world if I can boot one of the uPVC panels out.

Caveat: I’m “locksport” rather than “locksmith.”

Thanks so far. Got ABS Avocet ordered for the other doors no questions but when I started adding a load of extra keys for the door I describe (with PAS24 handle that turns out has the TS007 2 star rating) then I started to question whether I needed ABS Avocet levels of protection.

I’ll cost up putting a TS007 1 star lock in (Yale do one and replacement keys are easy to get with the codes).

I think this answers your question (source = Google rather than personal knowledge):

https://www.safe.co.uk/buying-guide/lock-cylinders/ts007-kitemark

There are two ways to attain the TS007 3 Star standard:

(1) Replace your existing cylinder with a TS007 3 Star Kitemarked cylinder

The cylinder will clearly show the 3 Star Kitemark logo. It gives the highest level of security available with several layers of protection built in. You don’t need any additional door furniture either. Watch our video on how to replace your cylinder.

(2) Replace your existing cylinder with a TS007 1 Star Kitemarked cylinder, and your door handles with TS007 2 Star Kitemarked handles.

By combining a 1 Star Cylinder with 2 Star handles, you get the same 3 star rating. It will cost a little more and take more time than simply changing the cylinder, but the end result is the same from a security perspective.

Got ABS Avocet ordered for the other doors no questions but when I started adding a load of extra keys for the door I describe

Any merit to having “keyed alike” doors here? I’ve been down this road fitting a new lock just this week oddly enough, wish I’d done it from the start. If you need lots of keys it may be more cost-effective to reuse keys you already have? The Barnsley site I linked to above can do this retroactively for new lock purchases so long as you have the code card.

Thanks Cougar. That was starting to be my conclusion. I guess it boils down to ‘is my 10+ yr old cylinder as secure as a current TS007 1 star cylinder‘ to which the answer will more than likely be ‘Unlikely’.

Then it’s just a question of whether the cost differential for a 1 star is significant enough vs just going with the ABS Avocet and being satisfied I’m getting best in class. Belt+braces.

EDIT – the other two will be keyed alike as they’re being bought as a pair (same dimensions). This one could be keyed alike too but as a family (and relatives/neighbours) we all use this one door with the other (matching lock) doors being for casual use. Hence the need for a boat load of keys.

I think I’m in agreement with you, aye.

Belt+braces.

Local scally: “hmm, what have they got in there that needs so much security? Must be worth breaking into…” (-:

we all use this one door with the other (matching lock) doors being for casual use.

I don’t really follow what you mean here TBH, but if you’re saying that the access requirements are different for different doors then yes, obviously keyed-alike won’t work.