Upgrading UPVC door locks - advice please..?

[richtung]

Evening folks,

After the reading about a recent spate of break ins, ive decided its time to upgrade the locks in my house. The front door is a composite door with a Yale Euro profile lock and the 2 French UPVC door are unbranded Euro profile locks.

Im leaning towards the Avocet ABS Mk3 Lock http://www.avocet-hardware.co.uk/product.asp?id=48 as there seems to be quite good reviews. Anybody have any experience/thoughts on the ABS locks?
Anybody recommend any decent alternatives?

The lock on my front door protrudes from the handle plate by 5-6mm, i take it this isnt good? The french door locks protrude 4mm or so.

While im upgrading the locks, is there any point in upgrading the handles as well? if so, what type / brand?

Any advice would be most appreciated!

Thanks

Rich

[monte]

The Garrison door barrels are really good.
I can't believe I gave my brother 6paired-up pairs of these barrels about 6mths ago.
I had em for so long, I just gave them to him.

I'll see if he still has them and I'll let you know. 
We can then talk about the specs of your existing barrels!
You can have em for peanuts mate!

There is a link here to them...

http://www.ciaalarms.co.uk/online-store/lock-cylinders/mul-t-lock-break-secure/double

[TANNER]

Aside from decent locks if you have a door sensor with a chime function it will give you better peace of mind. We have a loud chime that goes off whenever the front door is opened and always alarm downstairs at night.
Pretty basic stuff but all helps you sleep at night. Car keys come to bed with me so any opportunists that did have the bottle to walk in for a snatch and grab only get away with a kitchen utensil!

[monte]

  good stuff Tanner 

Also a couple of "sash jammers" are great deterrent and very cheap too 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110751121889?redirect=mobile

[182_blue]

I have just put 'keyed alike' Cisa Astral S door locks and Hoppe Pas24 security handles all over my new house, nice and secure and all 5 doors share the same key  , not cheap by any standard but worth it IMO, the ABS are good but they did go into administration recently and i think they have just managed to survive so that put me off trying them, that and the fact the locks are nearly twice the cost of the Cisa.

[andrewparker]

^^ Snap

Really solid kit. Even had it inspected by the local constabulary who gave it the thumbs up.

[182_blue]

And some in the door (not the revolving lock protector on the Hoppe to prevent drilling etc), please note the key has been photoshopped to prevent copying.

[rich83]

Ive just looked and those Cisa Astral S can be bumped.

[182_blue]

Ive just looked and those Cisa Astral S can be bumped.

If its the ones on the youtube video then they arent Astral S though, just the plain Astral.

[rich83]

Ive just looked and those Cisa Astral S can be bumped.

If its the ones on the youtube video then they arent Astral S though, just the plain Astral.

ahh ok. so how much are those Cisa Astral S? Are they one size fits all?

[182_blue]

Ive just looked and those Cisa Astral S can be bumped.

If its the ones on the youtube video then they arent Astral S though, just the plain Astral.

ahh ok. so how much are those Cisa Astral S? Are they one size fits all?

I have seen the video of the normal Astral ones and you can see that they are brass and dont have the anti snap bar though the middle, the S version has anti bump built in, as for one size fits all then no they dont fit all but they do have many variations in size, what you need to do is measure your current lock and then buy the one that suits, if ones to lon then just deduct the unnecessary bit from the measurements, i will find you a guide to measuring your current lock, ps the locks are about £30 each.

[182_blue]

You basically measure the screw hole in the middle to the outer face , you do this on both sides as some locks are equal and some are ofset, the good thing about the astral is you dont need an internal and external side and the key can be turned whilst a key is already in the lock, i ordered mine from here and got keyed alike for free too http://www.barnsleylockandsafe.co.uk/ , i have also used http://www.saundersonsecurity.co.uk/ but Barnsley do the Hoppe handles to so saves on shipping etc.

[andrewparker]

I bought my Cisa Astral S barrels from here - http://www.upvc-hardware.co.uk/

This is how to measure - http://doortique.absolutewebhosting5.co.uk/graphics/Measuring%20A%20Door%20Cylinder.pdf

[rich83]

Cool. thanks!

[Beddie]

I've had 2 ABS avocet locks on order for the last week and still no sign due to the backlog  

Picked up some Astral S ones instead yesterday so will see how i get on with those  

Measuring is relatively simple, remove the cylinder and measure the total length then the length from each end of the cylinder to the centre fixing hole, the internal measurement (portion of the lock inside the house) is always quoted first, then the external one,
This is usually only applicable to the higher end locks such as the ABS/MTL as its important the external side is correctly positioned to provide full protection  

e.g my locks are 80mm total length made up of 45mm internal and 35mm external, so if looking at an advert when purchasing they would be known as 45/35