What UL 437 and ANSI/BHMA A156.30 actually cover, who gets real value from Mul-T-Lock, Medeco, ABLOY or Schlage Primus, and what these locks cost to live with.
A high-security lock is worth it when the risk is someone copying, picking or drilling your cylinder: rental suites with key turnover, homes set back out of sight, and outbuildings full of tools. For a typical North Vancouver house, a Grade 1 deadbolt in a reinforced frame matters more, because a kicked door beats any cylinder once the jamb splits. When a Mul-T-Lock or Medeco does make sense, expect roughly $180 to $380 fitted and $20 to $70 per key, with spares coming through a controlled channel instead of a key kiosk.
"High security" on a box is marketing until it points at a standard. For door cylinders in North America, two matter: UL 437, the Underwriters Laboratories standard for key locks, and ANSI/BHMA A156.30, the Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association standard for high security cylinders. Ask which one a cylinder meets, and for which product, because makers list specific cylinders, not whole brands.
The UL 437 standard covers door locks, locking cylinders, cabinet locks, security container locks and two-key locks. Medeco calls its key-in-knob cylinders "UL 437 listed for drill and pick resistance", and Schlage says its UL 437 Primus cylinders are confirmed under UL testing as pick-resistant, drill-resistant and able to withstand heavy physical attack.
Weiser says its SmartKey deadbolts pass the UL 437 lock-picking test, and a Kwikset press release pins that result to paragraph 11.6 of the standard, the picking test. It's a real result, and it's a narrower claim than a cylinder listed to UL 437 as a whole.
A156.30 sets requirements for mechanical and electrified high security cylinders. It rates attributes at three levels, with level C the highest, and its tests include plug pull and impact pull, torque, drill resistance of 5 minutes at level B and 10 minutes at level C, and resistance to picking or decoding. Its key control attributes include key blank control and limits on what gets stamped on a cylinder.
That's a different question from a deadbolt grade. BHMA says the levels are separate from grades, and that an assembly takes the grade of its lowest graded component. Schlage's B60 is a Grade 1 deadbolt with a C keyway any key shop can copy; a high-security cylinder adds pick and drill resistance plus control over who copies the key. Key control, briefly: the blank itself is protected, so copies come only through the system's authorized channel.
Start with the door, because a cylinder can't hold a door whose frame gives way. A kick attacks the jamb around the strike, not the keyway, which is why Schlage ships its B60 with a strike reinforcer and 3 inch screws. Reinforcing a frame after a forced entry typically runs $150 to $350 in Metro Vancouver, and the break-in repair post covers that order of work. If your house faces a busy street, nobody outside the family holds a key and the frame is solid, a Grade 1 deadbolt is honestly enough.
A house up a long driveway in the British Properties, or tucked behind cedars on a quiet Lynn Valley or Deep Cove street, gives someone time out of sight, and time is what picking and drilling need. Both standards test resistance to those attacks over minutes, and minutes are exactly what a hidden door hands an intruder. ABLOY and Mul-T-Lock cylinders are a familiar sight on British Properties front doors. Pair a listed cylinder with a reinforced strike and a porch light that actually comes on.
Basement and laneway suites change hands often, and every tenancy leaves the question of who copied what. Under section 25 of BC's Residential Tenancy Act, a new tenant can ask at the start of the tenancy for the locks to be rekeyed or changed so the previous tenant's keys no longer work, and the landlord pays. With an open keyway you're rekeying against an unknown number of copies. With a restricted system such as Mul-T-Lock's, copies need the coded key card, so the count stays known, and its MT5+ platform offers 3-in-1 keying that changes a lock's combination up to twice by turning a key. A master key system can add a landlord key for a shared laundry.
Client files, a wall of tools and bikes worth more than the car often live behind whatever lock came with the door. Two tidy fixes: a high-security retrofit cylinder in the existing deadbolt, keyed to the house key, or a high-security padlock on a proper hasp. Medeco's M4 System Series padlocks come with a weather-resistant body or a shrouded shackle, which suits a shed that sees a lot of North Shore rain.
Three of these four share a parent. ASSA ABLOY completed its purchase of Mul-T-Lock in 2000, and Medeco and ABLOY both describe themselves as part of the ASSA ABLOY Group. Primus belongs to Schlage, an Allegion company. Each solves the same problem with different mechanics and lists particular products to UL 437, so no single brand wins every door.
Mul-T-Lock is built around telescopic pins with internal and external parts that both have to line up, as its Classic platform describes. The newer MTL800, which Mul-T-Lock says is backward compatible with the MT5+, adds a locking bar and a moving element at the key tip that engages an extra pin at the back of the cylinder. Keys are controlled by a coded key card that, per ASSA ABLOY's MT5+ page, only authorized Mul-T-Lock dealers can read. The Hercular deadbolt is listed as conforming to ANSI Grade 1 and UL 437.
Medeco's pins lift and rotate, so the key has to set both the height and the turn of each pin. The current Medeco 4 adds four side pins, three finger pins and one lift pin, working a sidebar, plus a patented key with a movable element aimed at 3D-printed copies. Medeco states that M4 cylinders are UL 437 listed. On the North Shore, Medeco sits behind plenty of restricted strata and storefront systems in Ambleside and Lower Lonsdale.
ABLOY, from Joensuu in Finland, uses rotating discs instead of pins. Its Protec2 page says the design works without pins or springs, uses a disc blocking system that locks the discs together, and is patented until 2031. The North American Protec2 catalogue marks its steel-housed rim and mortise cylinders as UL 437 listed.
Primus adds a second, independent locking system to a Schlage-style pin cylinder: a sidebar controlled by finger pins that read a factory-milled side cut on the key, allocated by geographic area. Schlage offers a UL 437 listing on conventional Primus cylinders, patent protection on Primus XP to 2029, and restricted key orders authorized through Allegion. A Primus key also operates standard cylinders in its keyway family.
Typical Metro Vancouver ranges:
The security features are also the inconveniences. No spare gets cut at the hardware store on a Sunday; you need the dealer, and with Mul-T-Lock you need the key card, so file it somewhere you'll find it in five years. Who may authorize copies of a restricted key is its own subject, and the short version is whoever the system is registered to.
Lockouts get slower and dearer. A lock built to resist picking resists the locksmith too, so opening one can mean drilling and replacing the cylinder. A lockout on a high-security or smart lock typically runs $130 to $200 in Metro Vancouver, against $95 to $160 for a standard deadbolt, before any new cylinder. And bumping alone isn't a reason to upgrade: Mul-T-Lock and Schlage say their high-security cylinders resist it, but so do ordinary deadbolts like Schlage's B60 and Weiser's SmartKey.
You often don't need a new deadbolt. High-security makers build cylinders to drop into other brands' housings, keeping the lock you have and swapping the part that takes the key. The catch is that the bolt, housing and strike stay exactly as strong as they were, so retrofit into a solid Grade 1 deadbolt rather than a tired Grade 3.
Mul-T-Lock lists a cylinder for Kwikset-type locks that fits the Kwikset Titan 780 and 785 deadbolts, on its Classic or Interactive+ platforms. Medeco says its M3 key-in-knob and key-in-lever cylinders retrofit cylindrical locksets and bored deadlocks, in formats for most hardware on the market. ABLOY's catalogue lists knob-type Protec2 cylinders for Weiser D-4000 and D-9000 and Schlage B-160N and B-660P deadbolts, though its UL 437 marking sits on the steel-housed rim and mortise cylinders, not these brass ones. Fit is model by model, so note the brand and model number first.
Many newer fibreglass and European-style entry doors lock at several points along the edge and take a euro-profile cylinder, the keyhole-shaped one held in by a single screw through the door edge. There the upgrade is a straight cylinder swap, and Mul-T-Lock lists a Euro cylinder among its formats. Euro cylinders come in lengths to suit the door's thickness, so measure first.
| Lock | Certification named by the maker | Key duplication | Formats | Typical cost, Metro Vancouver |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mul-T-Lock (ASSA ABLOY) | Hercular deadbolt: ANSI Grade 1 and UL 437 | Coded key card, authorized dealers only | Euro, rim, mortise, key-in-knob; Kwikset Titan retrofit | $180 to $380 fitted; keys $20 to $70 |
| Medeco (ASSA ABLOY) | M4 and M3 key-in-knob cylinders UL 437 listed | Patented key; M4 resists 3D-printed copies | Retrofit cylinders for bored locks and deadbolts; padlocks | $180 to $380 fitted; keys $30 to $70 |
| ABLOY Protec2 (ASSA ABLOY) | Steel-housed rim and mortise cylinders UL 437 listed | Patented until 2031 | Rim, mortise, knob-type retrofits | $180 to $380 fitted; keys $30 to $70 |
| Schlage Primus (Allegion) | UL 437 listing on conventional cylinders | Restricted, Allegion-authorized orders; XP patent to 2029 | Conventional and interchangeable-core cylinders | $180 to $380 fitted; keys $30 to $70 |
| Standard Grade 1 deadbolt (Schlage B60) | A156.36 Grade 1, A156.40 AAA; no UL 437 listing claimed | Open keyway, copied at most key counters | Bored deadbolt | $110 to $220 fitted; keys $5 to $15 |
With high-security cylinders, fit, keyway and key records are all settled at the order, so a locksmith is worth involving:
In Metro Vancouver, budget roughly $180 to $380 per door fitted, $20 to $70 per key, and an extra $40 to $80 for after-hours or weekend work. Ask whether the locksmith is authorized for the brand you choose, because that decides who can cut your spares later.
No single model wins every test, and the lock is only one part of the door. The strongest practical set-up is a UL 437 listed cylinder in a Grade 1 deadbolt, a reinforced strike with 3 inch screws into the framing, and a solid door and jamb. Upgrade the frame first, the deadbolt second and the cylinder last.
The RCMP's published home security tips for BC don't name a lock brand. They stick to habits: keep doors locked even when you're only in the back yard, close and lock windows when you leave, and fit a door viewer. A 2026 Nanaimo RCMP break-in notice points to better locks, lighting, alarms, cameras or reinforced entry points, again without naming brands, so a lock sold as police-recommended isn't drawing on either source.
Typical Metro Vancouver ranges are $20 to $45 for a dimple key such as Mul-T-Lock and $30 to $70 for a high-security or restricted key such as Medeco, cut for the authorized holder. Mul-T-Lock copies also need the coded key card, which makes the card worth more than any single key.
Yes, if the other doors get cylinders from the same platform. Mul-T-Lock offers keyed-alike and master-keyed options, and retrofit cylinders let you keep your existing deadbolts. Your current Schlage or Weiser cylinders can't take a Medeco or Mul-T-Lock key, though. Primus is the exception: Schlage says a Primus key also runs standard cylinders in its keyway family, so a Primus front door can share a key with ordinary Schlage cylinders elsewhere.
Fast Locksmith North Vancouver fits high-security deadbolts and retrofit cylinders across the North Shore, and checks whether your frame and existing deadbolt are worth upgrading before any cylinder is ordered. Call 778.262.1107 or book online with a photo of your current lock and what you're protecting, and you'll hear which option fits along with a price range.
Posts and services that go with a high-security upgrade.