The 19th Toool NL competition is concluded (https://toool.nl/competitie/). The Toool members worked on lockpicking a set of 27 locks over a period of one year, and registered the quickest opening times. The full competition details can be found on https://toool.nl/competitie2024/.
Before we started picking, Walter asked the Toool members to make a guess on the best opening times for each lock. With this data he expected to see which locks are perceived to be difficult, but were not, or vice versa. Four lockpickers made their guess, and we analyzed the data.
Please note, the final opening times are heavily skewed in favor of short opening times, as the locks are picked several times at the Toool meetups and only the lowest time counts. A lock may be opened in 15 minutes during the first attempt, but during several meetups the final opening time can be reduced to five seconds. Many of the locks in the competitions are perfectly suitable locks, and us opening a similar lock in five seconds, shouldn’t be the reason to replace yours.
We found this data isn’t easy to visualize in a single graph, as each lock is unique. We chose to break down the analysis results and report on the five most underestimated locks and the five most overestimated locks.
| Cylinder | Brand | Fastest | Lockpicker 1 | Lockpicker 2 | Lockpicker 3 | Lockpicker 4 |
| T1906 | Abus E60 | 66.50 | 74.00 | 630.00 | 5.00 | 20.00 |
| T1907 | GTV | 36.43 | 5.00 | 940.00 | 30.00 | 15.00 |
| T1910 | EVVA | 39.00 | 420.00 | 304.00 | 60.00 | 15.00 |
| T1915 | Mul-T-Lock Classic | 216.04 | 360.00 | 312.00 | 120.00 | 45.00 |
| T1924 | Sargent | 27.64 | 150.00 | 925.00 | 5.00 | 5.00 |
| Cylinder | Brand | Fastest | Lockpicker 1 | Lockpicker 2 | Lockpicker 3 | Lockpicker 4 |
| T1913 | DOM iX 5KG | 47.41 | 240.00 | 985.00 | 120.00 | 200.00 |
| T1916 | ISEO | 8.31 | 180.00 | 781.00 | 60.00 | 25.00 |
| T1918 | ASSA 500 | 5.00 | 120.00 | 610.00 | 180.00 | 45.00 |
| T1919 | Best SFIC | 5.00 | 240.00 | 558.00 | 180.00 | 20.00 |
| T1926 | Medeco Biaxial | 5.00 | 132.00 | 121.00 | 600.00 | 180.00 |
It is quite interesting that only a few locks were underestimated, while most locks were overestimated. Several of the underestimated locks have a tight keyway, but this in itself is not a guarantee for the lock to be difficult. For example, it’s common for the old Evva to be full of standard pins. The biggest surprice is the Sargent lock, which is much better quality than they are usually given credit for.
On the overestimated side, we have locks which are usually quite secure. The Medeco has good tolerances, and the SFIC rely heavily on their double shearline for security. While the Assa 500 and DOM IX are well-made locks from Europe. However, with the right tools and techniques, they just opened without too much difficulty. (The Medeco was raked several times.)
This analysis and report may not have solved the mystery of why some locks are easy, and other locks are difficult, but it was interesting to analyze these nonetheless. We will not take guesses for the 20th Toool competition, but do take a look. https://toool.nl/competitie2025/ We chose to save all the keys of this new competition, which enables us to see if the bitting is what makes the difference after the competition concludes.
