Keyport review

It’s hardly ever that we’ve got a possibility to study a captivating new technique to store and use keys — plain old keys, it’s, not encryption keys, electronic keys, CD keys, or Florida Keys — so after we heard that the sanely-priced version of the Keyport was finally shipping after a three-year wait, we knew that we had to have a look. It’s not too useful of a product for those of you that only have one or two locks it’s good to worry about day in and day trip, but anything more than that may quickly become a pain within the ass with a jangly keyring that you would be able to’t quietly take out of your pocket to avoid wasting your life. Let’s take a look at what this thing’s all about, shall we?

Obviously, ordering a Keyport isn’t quite as simple as heading over to the company’s website and meting out a credit card number. The gadget uses custom key blanks designed to fit within the shell and attach to the studs that you just use to retract and extend them from the body, so that they first have to know what blanks to send you. To do that, you lay out the keys you’d like Keyported on a published PDF that they offer, identify any codes that appear on the keys, write down descriptions, and take a picture of the spread using your camera — twice, actually: once for all sides of the keys. They advise you you can tape up the information of each key for extra security (that way, Keyport doesn’t know the particular grooves necessary to replicate them), and since you most likely don’t want perfect images of your keys floating around the interwebs, it gave the impression of a good suggestion to us.

After you’ve got the images, you email them to Keyport; within a number of minutes of doing that, we had a FedEx tracking number saying our unit and blanks were on their way. We also got an email mapping each blank to a key in our picture (Key 1, Key 2, and so forth) by a different code that appears on each blank so that you simply know that is which while you go to have the blanks cut (turns out the locksmith can figure this out anyway, nevertheless it’s still a pleasant touch on Keyport’s part).

Once you open your package, you find two components: a black Ziploc-style bag full of blanks held together by a zip tie, and a metal box — almost identical in size and shape to an Altoids tin — that contains the Keyport itself together with the colored studs that you simply’ll connect with the blanks. Pretty deluxe, but nonetheless, we’d expect no less for $80.

At that point, it’s an issue of taking your blanks all the way down to your friendly neighborhood locksmith and getting them cut to compare the keys that you just’d sent pictures of. Here’s where we bumped into some problems: turns out not all locksmiths are comfortable using your blanks because they’re frightened of damaging them or cutting them incorrectly. We tried two Ace Hardwares before finally coming across a locally-owned shop that was willing not only to cut our blanks, but to do it free of charge (since we weren’t using their blanks). It was a very nice gesture, but we wouldn’t expect that form of courtesy everywhere.

After you’ve got the blanks cut, the company recommends that you just test them before installing them — if they don’t work, in spite of everything, you’ll must get more blanks from Keyport and start the process anew. We found this slightly bit tricky since there’s no ” base” of the main to grab onto, but we managed; folks with arthritic hands or other conditions may need a tricky go of it, though. Fortunately, everything worked in our case, so we were able to install. At that point, you pop the black plastic cap off the tip of the Keyport by pressing a tab on the side, insert a colored stud into each blank (that is how you differentiate between keys when they’re in there), then slide them one after the other into all the six slots. The studs and slots felt like they’d tight tolerances and were built well — there wasn’t a hint of sloppiness in any of them.

At that point, your Keyport is fully assembled and able to go; all told, the process from start to complete took two days, due to overnight delivery and our willingness to truck around town in the hunt for a locksmith willing to cut our blanks. For what it’s worth, the company says that the device is built to resist up to 20 pounds of twisting torque per key and that almost all locks require 1 to three pounds to actuate, so it’ll last — we’ve got a couple tricky locks in our arsenal here, and nothing ever felt find it irresistible came virtually stressing the Keyport’s assembly.

Overall, we like the theory of the Keyport in the event you’ve got anywhere from four to six keys that you just need with you almost always and you’re purchasing for an easier solution to carry them — and take into account that, it’s an off-the-beaten-path approach to impress your folks with a unusual gadget they’ve probably never seen. We’d've liked a metal ring capable of connecting the Keyport to another keyring, though — in our case, we’d love on the way to carry this and a USB memory stick together — and the original concept had just this sort of ring, so we’re unsure why they spiked it (instead, the production unit just offers a slot for an included string lanyard). We also would’ve preferred the front and rear caps done up in matching metal in preference to black plastic, especially once you’re spending the easier component to a Franklin on the package. Having said that, when you’re spending $150 on a wallet and $300 on sunglasses, why not $80 on this?

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This post is tagged: Keyport