I Swapped My Old Adams Rite Lock for the SK1850SSFIC—Here’s What Happened After 90 Days

If you run a retail shop or manage an office with narrow-stile aluminum glass doors, you know the drill. You’re likely using a standard mechanical mortise cylinder—most likely an Adams Rite MS1850S.

For two years at my own shop, I lived with the daily hassle of physical keys. Employees would lose their brass keys, I’d have to pay $200+ for an emergency locksmith call-out to re-key the cylinder, and I was constantly worried about who had duplicate keys floating around.

I wanted a keypad. But every commercial contractor I called told me the same thing: “We have to drill permanent holes in your aluminum frame to run wires.” As a commercial tenant, drilling into my landlord's door frame meant risking my entire security deposit.

Then I found the EASILOK SK1850SSFIC drill-free combination keyless storefront door lock. Here is my honest breakdown after using it on my main entrance for 90 days.

1. The Installation: Truly DIY and Drill-Free

I’m pretty handy around the store, but I’m no professional locksmith. The main reason I gave this lock a shot was the promise of a drill-free DIY commercial lock installation.

It’s engineered as a direct 1:1 drop-in retrofit for standard mortise setups. When the package arrived, I grabbed a basic Phillips screwdriver, unscrewed my old Adams Rite lock cylinder, and slid the SK1850SSFIC right into the existing cutout.

• No electric drills.
• No metal shavings on the floor.
• No wiring through the frame.

It took me roughly 18 minutes from opening the box to testing the first code. If I ever decide to move my store to a new location, I can swap the original lock back in and take this hardware with me without leaving a single mark on the landlord's glass door.

2. Why the SFIC Feature Was a Dealbreaker

If you manage a business under a corporate umbrella or share a building with other tenants, you probably know about SFIC (Small Format Interchangeable Core). My landlord required us to maintain a master key override for building emergencies.

Most smart locks make you choose: you either get a digital keypad or you stick with a physical key system. The EASILOK SK1850SSFIC keyless storefront door lock solves this by supporting standard 6-pin and 7-pin SFIC cores.

My staff uses their custom PIN codes on the illuminated keypad every morning. Meanwhile, I handed the SFIC Control Key override to my property manager. He keeps his master access, and my team gets keyless convenience. Everyone is happy.

3. Real-World Daily Operation

After three months of heavy foot traffic (and a few rainstorms), here’s how it holds up:

• Instant Access Revocation: When an employee left our team last month, I didn’t call a locksmith. I stepped up to the door and wiped their PIN code in less than 30 seconds.
• Tactile Keypad: The buttons are back-lit and physical, not a glossy touchscreen that gets covered in fingerprints or freezes up when wet.
• Solid Mechanical Lockup: The internal motor drives the heavy-duty deadbolt home with a solid, satisfying clunk. You know the door is actually locked.

The Verdict

Upgrading your storefront entrance shouldn't mean fighting your landlord or burning cash on locksmith bills.

If you want the convenience of keyless entry, need to keep your master-key protocols intact, and refuse to drill into your storefront frame, check out the EASILOK SK1850SSFIC commercial smart lock. It’s easily one of the best operational upgrades I’ve made for my shop this year.