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Comment by LeegleechN | Hacker News Reader

I bought a set of conventional lockpicks to try out the hobby, but it ended up being so easy it wasn't interesting! I was able to reach competence in a few hours and at that point I didn't want to spend a lot of money to find harder to pick locks or try to improve my speed further. At least it's a nice tactile thing to try out and a useful skill to have in your back packet in case you find yourself locked out of your house / bike / whatever.

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I bought a set of conventional lockpicks to try out the hobby, but it ended up being so easy it wasn't interesting!

Ordinary pin-tumbler locks with some wear on them are embarrassingly easy to pick. Raking or bumping usually works. Just apply some tension and stick in something that lets you move the pins.

There's a marketing reason for this. If you design a lock that wears out into a locked condition, customers eventually get locked out and are angry. If you design a lock that wears into an easier to unlock condition, customers don't notice.

Just make sure that it's not a felony to have them "in your back pocket" in your state or jurisdiction: http://lockwiki.com/index.php/Legal_issues

Isn't that true of every hobby? Video games are pretty boring if you don't go past pong, etc.

Agreed, it's way too easy for most locks to be interesting as a hobby, but to jump to pick-resistant locks is a huge increase in skill that I never made it past.

So I just treat it as a useful skill to have in emergencies. I leave a set of picks in my cars' glove compartments and a very crude set (a very basic tensioner and a bunch of hairpins) in my yard. Has come in handy a couple of times when I've locked myself out.

Did you try any with security pins, like mushroom pins? These are found where security actually matters, which is rarely the case for a straight pinned padlock.

I was able to open padlocks effortlessly, but my front door deadbolt kicked my butt.

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