I've resolved to give my partner all the locks and keys I've collected as a symbolic gesture. We never really have gotten out of the trial run phase and I want her to know that the keys are hers permanently, not just borrowed when I put the cage on for fun and hand them over to her. So the issue is, I've collected three knock off barrel locks and though I have heard the keys are typically interchangeable, my experience is that the tolerances are crap and it's difficult or impossible to get certain keys to work with certain locks. I like the idea of having some spare keys but that's not really working out. I'm wondering if I should toss all these junkers and just buy the real thing so there's no chance of false confidence / mix ups with incompatible keys. Anyone who has sprung for one. Are you happy with it for $25? Or was the knock off good enough?
Short answer: Yes. Longer answer: Absolutely yes. The Chinese knockoffs vary in design and assembly. The quality is usually crap. There was one company making decent knock offs, but that was 5 or 6 years ago, and I haven't seen them online.
Yes, absolutely worth the cost. As said before, the clones are not of consistent quality construction or material. My wife has me locked pretty much 24/7/365, which means the lock is in my cage on my body pretty much 24/7/365, and the key always goes in and turns without a problem the few times that she has decided to unlock me. We’ve been using the same lock and key for almost 2 years straight.
Alright already I've bought one I think the only thing I would change is see if I can make a more aesthetic copy of the key for my partner. I'll take a closer look at the automatic key copy kiosk at the mall as I dont think I can look someone in the eye in the middle of Lowes or visit a locksmith and tell them I need a cute key for my cabinet haha. I know nicer keys are sold online but I assume they are more commonly keyed for the knockoffs. In my research, Burg Wachter may have a few different variations of key on the ME/2 and this isnt something I want to spend a large amount of money on to go boutique. Not at this time anyway. Thanks.
keys seem to go on a scale of ten-a-penny > cheap > off-the-chart very quickly I too would like something more presentable, but I don’t need diamond-encrusted custom in platinum … you’ve done the right thing binning the cheapos & starting with a quality pair for now
Price is definitely relative to what is affordable, however for my wife I instead of thinking about it as merely a key I thought about it as a piece of jewelry. A couple hundred bucks is definitely a lot of money for a key but less disproportionately so when thought about as jewelry. Chastity-shop.com has a simple key for as cheap as $105 USD. Also, there are several options on Etsy that are less than price of a casual meal for two.
I've got 3 Chinese knock off cages with the barrel locks. And whilst the cages themselves are not bad, the locks are poor quality. They all have the locking tab bored out at the end, creating a weak point. I managed to find a replacement lock off eBay that had a solid locking tab (without the hole) that was much better quality. The keys were not compatible with the other locks. So, I gathered the inferior locks and all the relevant keys and showed them to my gf/Kh, before binning them. No doubt, the Burg Wachter are going to be better quality. But, for around £8 it's an upgrade on what I had
Those are great and come with a brand name lock. I would certainly consider them down the road. For now though, I've spent enough on this hobby buying cages in the past year or so. Most of you know how that goes haha. If things get more serious for her then sure I'll spring for a jewelry grade key
Yeah they are worth it, I got really lucky and managed to grab one on amazon warehouse for approx. £10 I had about 30 Chinese locks that came with devices and they varied but the more recent ones were all the same and terrible, a couple of the older ones were ok, most of the keys fit most of the locks, none of the keys fitted the burg An alternative to a pretty key is a nice keyring for her to keep the key on.
Open to suggestions for nice key rings. I only know about the simple functional kind... Other than that there's just carabineers? I was thinking some jewelry necklaces as she was mad I "stole a good one". More like I kept it on the key when we put it away. I saw one vendor that sells a bra strap key chain which seems good on paper since the keys are not very attractive as a jewelry item. However I don't know if it's something she'd want to wear day to day. In other news I took delivery of the new lock today and I'm not blown away, but it is nicer quality for sure. Worth $25 is subjective and I'm still on the fence. Having 2 keys and a little chance of finding/aquiring backup is a nice mind fuck though so long term I think it'll be worth it.
There are loads on Aliexpress, Etsy, Amazon, Ebay etc https://www.ebay.com/itm/325416963049 Do a search for things like heart lock keyring etc
Will a new lock help reduce movement in the cage? I've just started wearing an Amazon cage (Terence brand) and there is about 2-3mm of movement which opens up the ring gap and I am having issues with ball slippage. Is it the lock or do I simply have to adjust the pins to reduce this? Thanks