Safety 1st Magnetic Locking System (1 Key and 8 Locks)

GOOD LOCKS FOR A FEW YEARS BUT NOW MANUFACTURER DEFECT IN SOME LOCK SETS.Let me begin by saying that I have purchased from Amazon and installed hundreds of these locks over the past several years.I have a cabinet shop and use them on my products.For the most part I have been happy with the locks,occasionally I would have a lock that would stick or not work properly.I usually order and install at least 30 individual locks each week.About a month ago I had a set of locks that the magnet would not open the lock through a cabinet door. The latch on the lock usually presses in with little effort but on these locks the latch was stiffer than normal.I thought maybe it was just a bad set and returned them to Amazon . Since then I have purchase about another 25 sets of locks.Out of that 20 I had to return 11 of them with the same issue.The problem is with the whole lock set and not individual locks in the pack.On one of my orders for 6 packs only two packs works properly. To see what the problem is I took a good working lock and a defective lock apart.Inside the working lock there is a thin small spring that is wound 4 times.The defective lock the spring is a little thicker and it wound 5 times.With the thicker stronger spring the magnet is not strong enough to open the through cabinet door .Im not sure if the manufacturer has meant to install a stronger spring for some reason but if they did the key will not work through a 3/4 thick cabinet door like they have for years.The problem is not specific to Amazon purchases.I went to a local retailer to purchase two pack of 8 locks while waiting for my Amazon replacements.One of those packs work fine and the other one has the stiff spring and would not work As I am writing this review I just received my 6 replacement packs from Amazon,Four of the packs are good and two of them have the stiffer spring.Hopefully the manufacturer is not in the process of changing to the stiffer springs in all their locks.If so the key will not work through most cabinet doors

The locks seem to hold the doors to my kitchen cabinets securely closed. And the magnetic keys work to unlock the locks through the thickest part of the cabinet doors (probably about 1/2 inch of solid wood). However, even with the provided template, they were not particularly easy to install. Alignment was a little more difficult than I thought it needed to be, resulting in a few extra holes on the (not visible from the outside) inside of the cabinet. I should have measured 3 times, not just twice, before drilling.

I was very paranoid about my son getting into the cabinet below our kitchen sink where we keep our cleaning supplies. After doing a lot of research, I finally decided on the Safety 1st Magnetic locks and its one of the best purchases Ive ever made. My son is a very clever two-year-old and has figured out how to unlock or break most of our safety locks in the house. Weve had these magnetic locks for over a year now and he still hasnt been able to get into the cabinet. We keep the key on a top shelf where he cant reach it, but its still easy for us to access it when we need to so we havent experienced any inconvenience at all. Installing the locks was also easy. It didnt take my husband long at all. The key also always works like a charm. I recommend getting a second key though in case you lose one.

I have had these locks for a long time but only recently had them installed. My granddaughter didnt get into the cabinets so we never put them in, but then our grandson came along and wants to open them up and get into things. When I first got these and tried the magnet out it held the lock firmly to the door and you could clearly hear a click when it unlocked. In fact it would just stay there and not fall off. After sitting for a couple of years the magnet isnt as strong anymore and I have to listen very closely to hear if it unlocks. At first its not clear exactly where to place the magnet so its nice to be able to hear that click. Now Im getting more used to just where to put the magnet to open the cabinets, but at first it was hit or miss. Now I know better just the spot to put the magnet and know what to listen for, a much softer sound than when we first got the system. We do have very thick solid wood doors. I love that we can switch them off when the grandson is not here, and when he is here Im reminded to switch them back on when he starts opening cabinets. We dont keep anything toxic in the kitchen, but I still dont want him getting in the bread or sugar etc and decorating the kitchen with them. He has his own drawer I keep little toys in for him so he doesnt feel like hes completely locked out of everything. My son and husband put the locks in. They had a little drill and a screw driver. Seemed to go pretty well, I didnt hear any grumbling. My job was to keep the grandson from helping too much. I watch my granson while his parents work, so not having to worry about him getting into the cabinets is really huge for me. I like being able to switch them off when hes not here. I had the old hook you pushed down for my kids and they were great for their time, but they were always on. I have recommended these to my friends. Theyve made my life quite a bit easier. Next they go in the bathroom! I kinda hate to admit it, but I keep some jewelry in there and when people I dont know real well use the bathroom I dont like the idea of them being able to open the little cabinet I keep my earrings in. Plus of course I want it safe for the grandkids. I am ordering a couple extra magnets, so I can keep them at both ends of the kitchen and one on the frig.

Overall Im pretty satisfied with these locks. Once you get them installed correctly, they work very well. The biggest advantage is that theyre invisible and do not allow the drawer/door to open enough to get a finger smashed. As others have noted, installation can be a bit bothersome. The first lock was the most difficult, naturally. The more I did, the easier it became to install. A couple of times, after screwing everything into place, the lock would stay down, even though the magnet was nowhere near it. I had to rotate it ever so slightly to get the lock to pop open and then screw it back secure. Im wondering if maybe it was sitting too close to the metal pull of the drawer, but cannot confirm. But now that everything is installed and working properly, the wife and I are satisfied. Its a shame that the replacement keys are so expensive. We could definitely use a couple of extra ones to place around the kitchen since were always searching for the one that came with the kit.

After much research, I decided on these since for my drawers they can be turned on/off. After installing, I ran into a few problems that I had to troubleshoot, and I hope this helps others. First, after installing these according to the directions, my son was able to still open the drawers. It seems that when he pulled on the drawer, he pulled up a little which pushed the part that sticks up on the lock down, allowing it to slide open. I decided to turn the catch around so the flat side was facing the lock (photo attached). This solved the problem and he cant open the drawer, much to his dismay! Second, my drawers are the type that have the drawer face attached to a thick sided drawer. The catch part of the lock that attaches to the cabinet would bump into the inside of the drawer, not allowing it to close all the way. By turning the catch around (as I had to do for the problem above), this allowed approx. another 1/2 inch for the drawer to slide in. On another note - I have the KidCo Swivel Cabinet & Drawer Lock installed on my cabinet doors and highly recommend for the same reason (able to turn on/off) and you dont have to have a magnet. My son hasnt figured out how to open these yet and doesnt seem to be too interested, so heres hoping that lasts.

Finally my cabinets are truly baby proof! My son eats everything and gets into everything. Nothing in my cabinets was safe! I was finally able to move my food and bake ware off of my kitchen table and back into my cabinets because of these. We had previously tried the latches you push down to open. They took FOREVER to install just a couple and he had the cabinets open in seconds. We installed these locks on all of the cabinets in the same amount of time it took to install just two of the push down latches. The instructions are very detailed and helpful. The kit comes with guides you can stick on your cabinet frame to mark your holes. You can then transfer it to the door which makes matching up the latch and lock super easy. The latches and locks also allow for a little adjustment once you have them installed. The placement was perfect in our cabinets but we had to loosen the screws and slide the lock and latch forward or backward accordingly. We also had to do a little adjusting because some of the cabinets locked too tight and wouldnt allow the lock to release so be prepared to possibly remove a drawer to manually unlock or reach through another cabinet so you can make adjustments. I will say, keep the key out of the reach of the child youre trying to keep out of cabinets/drawers. After using these locks for about a week, my daughter left the key stuck to one of the cabinet doors. I found my son sliding the key around the cabinet trying to get it open so it doesnt take them long to pick up on what youre doing! I also recommend purchasing another key separately. I keep my key stuck to the side of the fridge to keep it from getting lost but my daughter misplaced it the other day (it ended up in the sink with the dirty dishes somehow) and having an extra one was a life saver!

Wow, how nice to have the cabinets locked now! These magnetic locks are nice and strong...my little one cannot get into the cabinets when these locks are engaged. They dont budge at all! Its a little annoying to have to grab the magnet off the fridge to get a door open, but much less so than constantly worrying about what shes grabbing out of them. I would recommend buying an extra magnetic key, although we havent yet. My older daughter accidentally locked the key in their bathroom cabinet, but a magnetic clip we had on the fridge was strong enough to open the lock. Installation wasnt too bad. When one is finished the rest go quickly, especially if you have someone working with you. We only used a couple of the templates. Its easy to reuse them and we wanted to save a couple in case we needed them later. The only cabinet that was troublesome was the narrow one that stores baking sheets. Youll want to consider the width of the opening when planning use of the tools (finding a smaller drill for example...we had to borrow a neighbors for the one cabinet door). I love that they can be engaged or disengaged easily...just push the red/green button. When baby is napping and Im cleaning I dont have to keep reaching for the key. We havent placed these locks in the drawers yet, but Im sure that will soon be necessary as she is growing so fast! Overall these are great little locks and way more effective that those that allow the doors to open a bit (you know the ones...where you push down the plastic tab to open the door the rest of the way). No chance for pinched baby fingers with these :)