I’ve got to hand it to the SwitchBot Lock Vision Pro and its palm-vein authentication

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Getting locked out sucks. Besides just being incredibly inconvenient, it can also prove dangerous and expensive. But luckily for all of us, we’re basically living in the future, and locks have gotten so robust with their feature sets that there are fewer and fewer excuses for getting locked out in the first place all the time. With its new Lock Vision Pro, SwitchBot takes that kind of forward thinking to the extreme, offering a smart lock with its own redundant power supply and over half a dozen different ways to authenticate your access.

Is this the end-all, be-all of smart locks, or has SwitchBot bitten off more than it can chew? Let’s take a look at exactly what the Lock Vision Pro offers, and how well it performs in day-to-day usage.

The SwitchBot Lock Vision Pro’s big claim to fame is its 3-way biometric unlocking. In addition to standard fingerprint support, that adds facial unlock (which is also available on the non-Pro Lock Vision) as well as palm vein recognition — you just hold you hand out in front of the lock to open. Beyond the biometrics, we’ve also got regular PIN entry, NFC card support, app-based unlocking, auto proximity unlocking, and even a physical key for backup.

I won’t bore you too much with setup, because honestly, there’s not much to know. If you’ve installed one smart lock, you’ve installed them all, and I didn’t even need to glance at the manual to get the lock physically installed. You just remove your old deadbolt, screw in the new parts, and thread the cable through the door between lock front and lock back. Even if you’ve never thought twice about installing a lock before, the step-by-step instructions are actually printed on nice, big paper (no constantly peeking at your phone needed) with useful templates to guide you along the way.

On the front you’ve got all your keypad, the hidden keyway, and all the lock’s sensors. The inside back half houses the thumbturn, battery pack, and backup battery. This power system is one of my favorite parts of the Lock Vision Pro. The main rechargeable battery pack comes out and has its own USB-C port, so you can just charge it wherever it’s convenient. And when you’re charging the battery, or accidentally let it run out of power, there’s a backup lithium cell that’s rated for 500 emergency unlocks. If you let even that one run down, there’s also a hidden USB-C port on the lock’s bottom edge where you can plug in a power bank for emergency opening power. I defy you to actually get locked out due to a lack of power with the Lock Vision Pro.

Aside from screwing the lock in place and charging up its battery, there’s only one more piece of hardware setup: Mounting a magnet to assist with the lock’s closure detection and empower some of its auto-lock features. I appreciate the utility here, but I hate the way this looks, especially with the magnet standing out so plainly from your door’s trim.

If there’s one other thing I really dislike about the Lock Vision Pro hardware, it’s SwitchBot’s choice of materials. According to the company, the lock is made from a combination of zinc alloy, polycarbonate, and ABS. While it may be metal within, all those external surfaces are made out of plastic — and it doesn’t feel particularly robust. I suspect it’s just going to take one clumsy bump when the backup key door is open to snap that piece right off. At the least, plastic is easy to waterproof, and this unit boasts an IP65 ingress rating.