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Front keypad

Schlage FE595 Keypad Door Lock Review

The time came to improve the security in my house but I didn’t want to have to carry more keys. After looking around, I found an electronic keypad door lock on the Schlage website and got it at OSH nearby. Just by chance, they had a President Day sale and I saved $50 off the MSRP, which according to Amazon is $278. It was $150 at OSH minus the 50 bucks.

Back baseplate with 9v battery

Installation was pretty simple. Just remove the old lock, place the keypad on the outside of the door, and the baseplate shown above on the inside. Connect some wires and plug in the 9V battery as shown above.

Front keypad

After screwing in the back onto the baseplate, it’s done. Instead of reading the paper instructions that comes with the unit, just watch the Youtube installation video, which shows you step by step, how to install the lock. Their full user guide can be found here on their website.

This particular model features a lever on the inside that activates or deactivates the lever on the outside. When deactivated, the lever on the outside does not open the door and the keypad must be used. If you want to disable that, you can do it with the lever on the inside. You have to be careful not to accidentally lock yourself out when you’re testing things.

The lock allows you to add new 4 digit passcodes or delete them using a master 6 digit passcode. There is no way to change the master code. You can also delete all passcodes if you screw up and want to start over. You can store up to a maximum of 19 codes, which should be more than enough for any normal user. Remember, there is no LCD or LED display so you have no idea how many codes you have added unless you write everything down.

There is also no way to know which code was last used to enter, or any other logging security feature. This feature would not be too difficult to implement if the unit had a tiny LCD display.

According to Schlage, with normal usage, the battery should last at least 3 years. I’m not sure what normal usage is but if true, would be a long enough time that it would not be annoying.

One thing missing is backlighting on the keys while you are typing in your passcode. There is actually a light there but I’m assuming that they don’t want to drain the battery by lighting up the keypad on each use. Basically, what this means is, you’d better have a flashlight if you’re trying to use this in pitch darkness. For me, since I have it inside, it doesn’t really matter but if you have it outside, it might matter to you. [A reader commented that by pressing the top logo button, the entire keypad lights up in blue, which I have verified.]

It hasn’t been very long since I installed it so I haven’t used it much. So far, I’ve had no problems with it.

Update July 2018:
I finally had to replace the battery. I cannot remember if this is the first time I’ve had to replace it since 2011. The reason I think this is the 1st time is because the brand of battery inside is not what I normally use to replace batteries. This makes me think that it’s more likely that this is the first time I’ve replaced this battery. But keep in mind, I rarely use the lock as the door is left unlocked.

4 comments

  1. Thank you. I would love to hear an update if you would be so kind (March 2017)

  2. Actually of you press the Schlage button prior to insert the code the all the keys will illuminate blue (back light) very useful feature at night you don’t really need to carry a flashlight, and the master programming code can be changed also in the programming steps part of the user guide is printed how to do it, another useful feature is the vacation mode or the beeper on/off feature you can PM me if you are interested in know more features about this lock. Cheers! CL

    • Thanks for the great tips! I just tried pressing the Schlage button and I can confirm that all the buttons light up blue. That would come in handy if you are in the dark. I’ve had this for 6 years and I never knew about this feature. I guess I should read the user guide next time. 😀