I bought a Keyport a while back and while I like things about it, there’s something seriously wrong with it.

I like the overall design and the fact that we have something new to carry our keys in – I like the concept much better than a normal keychain. But recently, I had one of the Keyport keys warp and break right in half on me. And that’s not good.

I’ve been living in my current home for close to a year and a half now, and for over 12 of those months, I used a standard key – the one that came with my home, without issue; but for only a few months did I use the Keyport to lock and unlock my front door.

The standard metal key that came with my place that I’ve used for over a year has suffered no problems of any kind – no warping, nothing. But the Keyport key that I used for my front door before reverting back to my standard key, did have a problem – it slowly warped over time and finally broke in half.

A chunk of the key is missing – who knows where that went…

At that time, I didn’t have my regular key on me – just use of the Keyport, so I ended up having to devote time tracking down and hiring a locksmith at that hour and paying him $75 to pick my lock to let me into my home. Needless to say, I was not happy, and even more unhappy with Keyport.

Of course, the first thing everyone will ask is:

1) “Do you have a tough lock to open?” Answer: NO
2) “Did you crank the key real hard each and every time like Superman?” Answer: NO
3) “You must have did something wrong.” Answer: NO

I did nothing wrong. There was nothing wrong with the blade when I first bought it or after it was cut. And it was installed correctly into the Slide. You can also notice in the photo that there are no stress marks anywhere else on the keyblade.

The metal in these key blades for the Keyport apparently is not very strong – certainly not as high quality as a standard key, or it wouldn’t have done such a thing. The proof is in the fact that this Keyport blade warped over a short period of time and finally broke, combined with the fact that my standard house key on my keychain has been used for over one year without incident. If there was something wrong with my lock or my use of keys, my standard house key would’ve warped and broke, too, but it hasn’t. And I know how to lock and unlock a door just fine.

The lock on my front door is not difficult to open or close. The only logical conclusion is that there is something subpar with the metal in the keyblades that Keyport uses. Perhaps they use a cheaper metal to save weight. But if that’s the case, who would care about one measly ounce or two of weight if it meant better metal that would allow the device to operate reliably?

I don’t say this just to slam them, because I like the concept of the product and I want it to work, but this is just unacceptable and it needs to be known. This has turned out to be quite the expensive little “experiment” – $80 for the Keyport, $75 for the locksmith, lost peace of mind at that moment, and I can no longer trust this thing with my front door.

So I’m back to using my standard house key.

There are other design improvements that Keyport needs to consider – some design flaws that have caused me to lose some interest in the product, but I’ll save that for another time. Right now, operating without breaking is the most important thing, and something as simple as operating a key isn’t supposed to require a lot of thought… it should just work. So although we need our keys, they’re on the bottom of the totem pole of significance with all of life’s demands and responsibilities, and they’re the last thing I want to worry and devote energy thinking about while I’m just trying to live my life from day to day. They’re supposed to be a “set it and forget it” type of thing – you buy it, and it should just work.

I know that some may say, “Well, I’ve had keys break before.” But I’m 40 years old, have operated a thousand locks and keys over the years, and have never had a single key warp or break, until I bought a Keyport.