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LIMINK Bike Lock Review: Not Ready for Prime Time?
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May 29, 2025
The concept is fantastic: A secure bike lock that doesn't require a key or combination because it's all based on Bluetooth. LIMINK got the hard part right too, with the LIMINK Bluetooth Bike Lock. The problem is that it also requires a simple and straightforward app on your smartphone to work easily, and that turns out to be the Achilles heal of the product. Tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ got his hands on a LIMINK Bluetooth Bike Lock and put it through its paces, after puzzling through the pairing process and learning that you have to wake up the padlock before you can unlock it with your phone. Learn more at Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Pwqc3M
View Video Transcript
0:00
A Bluetooth bike lock? Let's check this out
0:09
Dave Taylor here and let's just start right out with a demo. I have my app on my phone. It's connected via Bluetooth to this bike lock
0:16
I'm going to push the button. Actually, before I push the button, it's locked
0:20
Now I'm going to push the button on my phone. It says unlocked successfully
0:25
And now it's unlocked. I put this around my bike. I put this in the lock part. I push the button and that's all there is. And now it's locked again
0:36
That's basically what you have here. This is the Limink Bike Lock, and it's a pretty interesting
0:42
device. It's not the only Bluetooth or smart bike lock on the market, which is good, but we'll come
0:47
back to that. So first off, here's the app and the app gives you pretty basic functionality. It shows
0:55
you when your lock was locked or unlocked, which is nice. And it ostensibly has a sharing mechanism
1:01
but honestly, I completely don't understand it. I've asked the company for clarification
1:07
They have some sort of vague other people get the app and then you compare them, but I don't see any
1:12
buttons that let me do that. So I will assume it's a one phone, one bike lock. So let's go ahead
1:19
and let's have a closer look at the lock itself. So I'm going to put the phone back in my pocket
1:25
And the lock is actually a pretty nice bike lock. It's 39.4 inches
1:30
It's a heavy duty cable with a heavy plastic wrap. So this is like layers and layers of woven steel and all this It is waterproof IP66 and it can survive from minus 14 to positive 140 degrees Fahrenheit So if you in colder than minus 14 or warmer than
1:51
140 then you probably shouldn't have your bike outside because there's going to be other issues
1:56
One of the things to immediately wonder is what about the battery? And the answer is the battery
2:01
lasts about 9,000 opens, which I figure is somewhere between three and five years of typical
2:07
use of unlocking and locking and unlocking and locking probably no more than three or four times
2:12
a day, even if you're on campus. So that's nice. If you do need to charge it, the company says on
2:19
its Amazon page, there's a micro USB connector. I don't see one. There is, however, a panel on the
2:25
side with a screw, but there's a sensor. If you do that while it's locked, it will actually start
2:31
emitting some sort of an alarm sound. So hopefully a bad guy wouldn't say, hmm, if I have a screwdriver
2:38
I can take this thing apart easily enough. And it would be loud enough that they would just
2:42
scream and run and be terrified. I haven't tried the alarm, so I'm just assuming that works
2:48
Now, like I said, the positive here is that it's actually a really nice bike lock and it's
2:54
you know, reasonably long. 40 inches is pretty decent. But the downside is that the app really
3:02
desperately needs a complete rethink. It's so confusing. The pairing, the initial pairing with
3:09
this device is also super confusing because it says enter your phone number or enter your email
3:14
address But you can use the phone number if you not in mainland China They tell me that part going to go away So you enter your email address and then they send you a code and you have 60 seconds to enter the code
3:25
But it took me anywhere from five to 20 minutes to get that email. So amazingly, I tried it after the 60 seconds and it worked anyway, which was good
3:33
So that helped me get the functionality of the lock. Now, here's the other thing to notice is that the light has now gone out
3:40
So it doesn't sit in Bluetooth ready mode forever. It just basically sits there and it's active for a couple of minutes
3:48
And now if I pull my app out, it will say that it's disconnected. And that's a drag
3:53
You can see here. Let me just take a screenshot. You can see it says disconnected, which means I have to wake the lock up and then wait about 15 seconds for them to see each other
4:06
And then I can unlock it. So I'll show you what that looks like. So I'm going to push the button
4:10
and now you can see hopefully there's a little flashing red and my phone's still disconnected
4:18
disconnected now it's connected so now I can unlock it so that's nice and that works but it's
4:26
not quite as convenient as as you walk up to your bike you simply push the button on your phone
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or even have like a geofencing proximity sensor and it's like as your phone gets within two feet
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of this, boom, you're good to go. It's not quite that simple, but still pretty cool. No keys, no
4:43
combo lock. Everyone keeps track of their phone, so it's not like you're going to lose your phone
4:48
So I feel like the concept is really good, and the lock is pretty nice. I might go for an even
4:54
longer cable on this than just 39 inches but you might find that to be the perfect length for your bike and bike lock But the real issue here is that their software desperately needs a rewrite I feel like
5:06
if they can nail the software and then it can be like, oh, I could tell, for example, my girlfriend
5:12
or my kids, I just authorized your phone. You can now unlock the lock. That would be really cool
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That's a really nifty technology. So they got the hard part right, which is the hardware. Now they
5:24
just need to get the software right. But, you know, your mileage may vary. You might use the
5:28
software and say, this is totally worth it. At this price, this is a no-brainer. Speaking of which
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let's talk about the price. But wait, before we get to the price, can I ask, can you click on that
5:38
subscribe button and subscribe to my channel? I really appreciate that. Cool. And give me feedback
5:43
Do you use just old school bike locks? Or have you given up and you actually have a junker bike
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assuming no one will ever want to take it? I know people that do that, especially on college campuses
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Or do you want something super high-tech like this? Pretty interesting. So this is the Limink Bluetooth Bike Lock, and it will cost you $43.99 at Amazon.com
6:06
I say check it out, maybe keep an eye on it to see if they release new software
6:10
But technology-wise, it's a really cool solution. So this is Dave Taylor, and I'll catch you in my next video
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