ABUS 770A SmartX Bicycle Lock with Bluetooth and Alarm (100 db)

Heavy, slow to unlock and not water resistant.
Been using this lock since earlier in the year.At almost 2kg it’s probably too heavy for most people unless you’ve an electric bike though have even seen electric bike owners complaining about its weight. Found the weight tolerable because i’m a big guy and put the lock in the backpack sleeve of my backpack which helped.There’s a steep difficulty curve to the lock in terms of getting it to unlock. Requires the app to be open in the background and there’s a slider that determines how close your phone needs to be for the lock to unlock. Found i had to set the slider to maximum distance or the phone would literally need to be touching the lock in order to detect.Once i got used to the lock it on average takes five seconds to unlock after pressing the button on the side of the lock so there will be a lot of circumstances where a traditional bike lock operated by key would be quicker to lock and unlock.Last night locked up my bike while i quickly went into the supermarket. On coming out the lock wouldn’t unlock despite being at 50% battery. Couldn’t connect it to the app though it did show as having been locked up ten minutes previous though weirdly the GPS was showing as it being on the other side of the borough.Rushed home to get some power banks and charging cables. Connected them to the lock and no charge was transfering. Even after an hour it hadn’t charged at all and my power bank was at 80% the entire time.Was getting cold and was hungry. This had been going on for over four hours now. Was late enough that locksmiths weren’t even picking up. Eventually get a response from one who said he can be over in five minutes.Grabs his angle grinder. Cuts through the shackle in thirty seconds. Lock requires a second cut which takes at most fifteen seconds as he was being careful with the first cut due to being uncertain of the material.Looked up when i got home and there’s a recent review from a reputable site, Bennetts, that encountered the exact same thing i did. Turns out the lock isn’t at all water resistant so the rain there’s been the last week has already gotten inside and corroded the electronics. Not acceptable for UK use or from a German company which has similar rainfall to us.So i’m down the cost of the lock, call out of the locksmith and damage to my bike’s frame and the aerospoke front wheel from where we had to angle the bike to get at the lock. Have reached out to Abus but the bike lock department in this country consists of one guy who’s on holiday for the next week.So to sum up – Heavy, expensive, slow to unlock, alarm takes ages to sound and isn’t very loud, can be cut through in seconds and will need to be as the lock’s not water resistant at all.Edit – Been trying to resolve this for three weeks now. Been given the runaround having dealt with Abus Germany, Abus UK and their distributor Extra UK, having been in contact with multiple people at each of those. Abus Germany three times told me to contact Amazon despite it being a six month old purchase and having incurred damages. Extra UK were only able to do what they were instructed to by Abus Germany which was a direct replacement and the only alternative was the Extreme Granit 59, a 3kg motorbike lock worth substantially less than the 770A. After two weeks was finally able to get through to someone at Abus UK. After mention of legal action, was offered a refund for the cost the lock, locksmith’s callout fee and a helmet for the inconvenience put to, but nothing in regard to the damage my bike. Spoke to someone at Abus who did the verbal equivalent of a shrug admitting that there’s nothing that can be done against angle grinders and that the numbers quoted in regard to how long locks stand up to angle grinders are essentially nonsense as the tests are using lower end angle grinders and not the more expensive ones professional bike thieves use and locks such as this despite the price are really more designed for use in mainland European countries such as Belgium and Austria where bike theft isn’t the problem that it is here and in North America. Still ongoing and will keep this updated. Based on this and research online the only options for keeping your bike safe in major cities are the Skunklock, a d lock that releases a gas when cut or a TiGr Blue which is made of titanium and has a unorthodox design though you’d need two as they look insubstantial.Edit – Nearing two months now. After countless calls and emails eventually Abus agreed to pay for the lock and locksmith call out fee and a mid value lock as apology for how much i’d been messed around. Accepted their offer as to get the cost of the damage to my bike covered would require legal action. Replacement lock, a 440A, the alarm took almost fifteen seconds of aggressive shaking to sound. The Alarmbox and NutFix also sent out as apology, the Alarmbox weighs close to a kilogram and the locking mechanism wasn’t smooth and the NutFix didn’t work and stuck out far enough from the frame that it hit my leg with each rotation of the cranks. Mentioned this and that after a week i’d still not received the bank transfer to Abus and was told that they considered the matter closed and finished with. Am having to now look into small claims court which will cost me money to file and because i’ve read other accounts of 770A’s breaking, am also having to look into starting a group litigation order as there needs to be a product recall.

Heavy, cumbersome and not waterproof
I have used this lock for some months. It is a bit too large and heavy for bike use – doesn’t mount within most frames and is cumbersome to carry. But most of all, it is not water resistant. I had my bike locked up when it rained. When I returned, the lock was simply unresponsive in spite of having shown 90% battery earlier that morning. Water had entered the mechanism and stopped it from working. I left the bike locked overnight, hoping the lock would have dried out by the time I returned. I also returned with a high-powered battery pack just in case charging it would help. Nothing worked even though I worked at drying it for several hours. Eventually I had to call a locksmith to cut it off. After all that, I contacted Abus. They failed to respond twice. After a third attempt, the UK agent contacted me to say that, if I returned the parts of the lock to them at my cost, they would send me a replacement lock. Not much use to me as I would not use this type of lock again given the risk that it fails again in a shower. Also, I was not willing to pay even more money to send the broken lock back to them – a lose-lose option from my point of view. I sincerely urge you to think twice before investing in this lock. It’s a nice idea, but if having to lug it around with you wasn’t bad enough, the risk that it might just stop working and make it impossible for you to use your bike until you destroy the lock makes it a seriously poor option. Don’t buy!!

Das Schloss ist zwar schwer, liegt für mich aber noch im vertretbaren, transportablen Bereich. Es funktioniert sehr gut, der Arlam ist nicht mega – ohrenbetäubend – laut, wie andere ABUS-Schlösser, aber ich denke abschreckend genug. Die Verbindung ist super – ein einziges Manko, das mich ein wenig nervt ist, der Umstand, wenn ich das Rad abgesperrt habe und noch etwas am Rad mache, Tasche einhängen etwas rausnehmen etc.. und das Handy in Reichweite ist, dann ertönt am Handy ein Signalton, und es kommt die Nachricht, dass das Schloss jetzt geöffnet werden kann, und das im gefühlten Sekundentakt. Wenn man es eilig hat und noch was herumwerkelt am Rad, dann erhöht das den Stresspegel – meine Lösung ist, das Schloss ganz am Schluss zu schließen und weggehen – also: soll heißen, es ist mein Timingproblem und liegt nicht man Schloss.Klare Kaufempfehlung.PS: Die Halterung habe ich nicht angebracht.1) habe ich ein Tiefeinsteiger SUV-Rad und weiß nicht wohin ich es am besten schrauben soll2) vertraue ich der beiliegenden Halterung nicht, da das Schloss schwer ist und ich glaube, dass ich es beim Fahren über Stock und Stein verlieren könnte – also habe ich es in der Tasche

The lock worked well for the first 2 weeks. But after a day and in the rain in doesn’t go to transport mode and it’s sounding the alarm whenever it’s moved. Maybe a drop got stuck where the button is, the one that switches between modes. Also, the Abus app crashes whenever you try to reset the lock to factory settings.The idea of a smart lock is good, but if you live in a rainy place like Sydney it simply doesn’t work. Get one with an old-fashioned key