How to choose the best pad lock?

So you need a high security pad lock for your business or home but don’t know how to go about finding the best one for you. There are so many different makes and brands of pad locks available and this can make it very confusing to choose from.

The best is to start thinking like a thief who will apply force to break your pad lock. A thief will commonly try to cut, drill or break the pad lock from the door by force. We all know that pad locks can be picked by using a lock picking set.

However a thief wants to come into your home to steal your valuables in the shortest possible time. He is not going to be bothered to try and pick your locks. A thief will commonly resort to a variety of tools to get past your lock with brute force as quickly as possible. After all a thief come to steal your property and is not going to worry about damaging the lock.

Knowing this it  means that you should choose a good pad lock that should be resistant to cutting, twisting, drilling and also part of an overall security solution. It doesn’t help much to have the worlds strongest pad lock in combination with worlds weakest door.

Here are some tips that you should take into account when you are shopping for a good pad lock.

The Build Quality

Looks for locks that are properly engineered. A pad lock that has been engineered to accurate tolerances and is made from the best materials such as brass or steel are the best. A good pad lock should also have raised shoulders around the shackle to help conceal it.

The Shackle

The loop of a pad lock that fits around the fitting of a door or gate is prone to being attacked with a bolt cutter. It is best to choose a closed shackle pad lock with just a small amount of shackle available. This makes it impossible to be cut with a bolt cutter because their is no space for the bolt cutter to be applied.

Materials Being Used

Most pad locks are commonly made from brass and steel there are also pad locks available with weather proof coatings such as zink and chrome.

Hardened or Stainless?

The best pad locks have the words hardened and stainless on them. This refers to the type of steal that they are made with. Hardened means that the metal has undergone a carefully controlled heating and cooling process. This results in pad locks that are allot harder to cut or break. Stainless refers to what is in the steel, usually a precise mixture of boron, vanadium and and chrome. The biggest advantage of stainless steel pad locks is that they do not rust.

Third Party Approvals

Most of the time you wont be able to test the pad lock before buying it. Fortunately there are independent testing bodies such as the SABS who do all the testing for you and give their approvals.

So you have have bought a pad lock, now what?

Pad locks are not meant to be fitted once and forgotten. As a rule you should always replace them regularly. Although manufacturers can produce the best pad locks at the end of the day no pad lock last forever.