SilencerShop ATF eForm 1

What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

I previously made a video detailing my experience with Silencer Shop’s eForms 4 service. Well, I recently logged into my Silencer Shop web portal and noticed something I’ve never seen before and that was a new tab that said ATF eForm 1 Beta. This completely caught me off guard because if you’ve been keeping up with SilencerShop for a while, you’d know that they previously offered a Form 1 service but stopped quite a while ago. So again, this new eForm 1 tab was a bit confusing. I tried looking around the internet but it didn’t seem like anyone noticed this and Silencer Shop themselves also didn’t seem to have mentioned it. Well, I figured with the current state of pistol braces as of December 2022, let’s see what this is all about. After looking around, I saw a pop-up that said something like this is a trial service that they’re offering to the first 1000 customers. This pop-up has now disappeared but this service is definitely in beta and is a soft launch.

Now to backtrack, if you’re unfamiliar, an ATF Form 1 is a request to create an NFA item. This is most commonly associated with turning a rifle into a short-barrel rifle, a normal length shotgun into a short-barrel shotgun, creating a suppressor from parts, or something along those lines. I personally, have never been into actually registering an SBR or SBS because there are pros and cons to it. The cons include not being able to have a loaded rifle in a car, at least for Washington residents, if you want to travel across state lines, you’d have to request government approval, and of course you have to pay the $200 tax stamp. For me, the only real pro is to be able to run a stock on a less than 16” barreled upper. That wasn’t something I cared about because I have some really good pistol braces. But again, because pistol braces may be banned pretty soon, I just wanted to experiment and know my options.

It took some personal persuasion but I decided to give the Silencer Shop eForms 1 portal a try and SBR’ed one of my lowers. At this point in time, to do this all you have to do is click the “Start New Form 1” button and a popup shows up. From here, you choose the manufacturer name of your weapon’s manufacturer and the country in which they reside. I chose to SBR my Primary Weapons Systems lower. Then we’re taken to the next page where we enter the firearm model, serial number, firearm type, caliber, barrel length, and overall length. If you’ve ever Form 1 something before, all of this should look very familiar as it’s straight from the regular ATF Form 1 site. If you haven’t, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube on how to fill this paperwork out. That’s how I learned and suggest for you to do your own research because I am no expert in this. But, once you get all this information filled in, it’s just a matter of clicking save and paying for the service. You of course have the $200 tax stamp, but Silencer Shop charges $205, and they also charge $50 for this service, so you’re looking at $255 out the door.

The next step is to wait for Silencer Shop to review your application and mark it Ready to Certify. Once they do this, the portal will take you to the ATF’s website where you essentially just verify all the information, submit the application, and wait for your approval. Certifying through this service is not like a Form 4 where you have to certify with an FFL. With the Form 1, you do it by yourself so it’s more convenient. I started this process on 12/23 and certified on 12/24 so this can be a very quick process. I do want to note that when I verified, the ATF’s site was extremely slow to load. Like I thought it just wasn’t working and was stuck on a loading page but again, it was just very slow to load each step and there were quite a few steps to go through. I just left the page open and did something else.

Again, I’m no expert in Form 1 stuff. This is my first application but I do want to note a few things that I saw during this process.

First, as with many other things with the Silencer Shop site, this portal is buggy. When I tried to pay for everything, I kept getting an error saying “Error reserving firearms”. Naturally, I thought this was a website thing so I resubmitted two more times. Well, it turns out that although I got the error, payment actually went through and I got hit with 3 tax stamp purchases. So, I had to send some emails to Silencer Shop to fix this and they ended up refunding me for the unused tax stamps.

The next issue is with the application process and how you fill it out. As previously shown, a few of the fields that you need to fill out are just drop-down options. There’s no way to edit them and this is a problem because those fields are not completely accurate. Again, I SBR’ed my PWS lower but I first attempted to do this with a Radian Weapons lower. The lower’s model number is the A-DAC 15. This is not an option on Silencer Shop’s portal and they’re getting these options directly from the ATF. You may think that you can just choose another option, but if things don’t accurately line up, your application is going to get denied. Realistically, my Radian lower cannot be registered with this system currently. I sent an email to Silencer Shop about this and they’ve updated the website to include a little disclaimer about this.

Another issue with the Silencer Shop form is with the caliber choice and your various measurements. When doing a Form 1, even though your lower may be multi-cal, you can only choose one caliber. To include other calibers, the regular Form 1 application gives you a description box where you can write in other calibers that you’d like to include. This also goes for different barrel lengths and overall lengths. What I’m getting at is if you use this Silencer Shop Form 1 portal as of the time of this video, you’re pretty much locked into one caliber and one set of measurements. To get around this, after the Form 1 has been approved, you can write the ATF a physical letter to ask to include other calibers and barrel lengths that you’d like to use. They may approve this but it can add an undetermined amount of time to the entire process.

So, if this is the case, then why use this Silencer Shop Form 1 service? Well, to me, it’s purely about convenience. If you already have a Silencer Shop account and you’ve gone through the process to get everything uploaded for a Form 4, SilencerShop will have all the information that they need to get the Form 1 completed. They’ll just reuse that information and look up other information that’s needed like the appropriate chief of police to contact and include it in your application. They’ll also have your fingerprints so you won’t need to get a copy of that. This service just streamlines the entire process.

Then on top of this, Silencer Shop is also now expanding its Single Shot Trust, which was previously only available with Form 4s, to Form 1s. I already have the Single Shot Unlimited Trust so I can add a trust to my Form 1 with no extra cost. However, because the site is still in beta, it didn’t recognize that I already have the Single Shot Unlimited Trust and still asks me if I want to buy one. I declined but the Silencer Shop associates went through my application and added it on their end.

Again, although the current Silencer Shop eForm 1 Beta service is a bit buggy and limited, it is without a doubt the most convenient way to submit a Form 1. I’ve personally gone ahead and given it a try and will hopefully get a response fairly quick. I’ll definitely be making more content to update you guys about this process in the near future so make sure to subscribe for that.

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DIY 3D Wood Slat Wall Art

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What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

Observant viewers will notice that there is a new addition to the background. This is a 3D wood art piece that I recently made and I’m going to show you guys how I made it.

First, let’s start with wood selection. For my personal build, the foundation was a 2’x4’ sheet of OSB. Because I knew whatever was going to be in the background is going to be visible, I went with OSB because it naturally has that 3D layered look. Now, just a heads up. I purchased a precut 2’x4’ piece but if you want to save money. Definitely buy a regular 4’x8’ sheet because, at the time of this video, that only costs about $11 and the 2’x4’ sheet cost about $19. I was in a rush and haven’t moved my table saw to the new shop yet so I didn’t feel like cutting and really paid the cost. This is definitely not recommended but you do what you gotta do.

Next, we’re going to pick up the wood that makes up the various 3D slats. For this, I personally went with 3 different wood species to give more variation in the final product. If you want something more cohesive in look, maybe buy the same wood for everything.

I personally went with:
(2) 1”x2”x8’ Douglas Fir
(2) 1”x2”x8’ Hemlock
(1) 1”x2”x6’ Poplar
(1) 1”x2”x10’ Poplar

These 6 boards gave me pretty much the exact amount of wood needed for the entire inner 3D pieces.

Next for the frame, I went with (2) 2”x2”x8’ boards of Douglas Fir. This left me with about 3-ish feet of spare material so you can buy less but I knew that I needed the spare just because of how I planned to cut the wood to get certain pieces of the boards.

Other materials needed will include paint, painting supplies, wood strain or finish, wood glue, and various things to use the previously mentioned materials. I’m not getting super-specific right now because you can definitely go with something different and I’ll go over what I used later in this video.

Let’s get started with actually creating this piece. Again, I have a precut 2’x4’ piece of OSB so I didn’t have to cut that down. I actually started with the frame. For this, I went with a pretty straightforward approach by just laying the board over the OSB and marking my corners. I went with an overlapping design that gave me only one exposed wood edge per corner. This takes a few extra cuts but I thought that it would look better.

Next, let’s move on to the inner slats. For this, I started out by doing a rough eyeball estimation of how long I wanted the pieces to be. Remember, there are going to be wood slats coming from both ends so just make sure to leave some empty space in the middle. I was able to pretty quickly figure out what sizes I needed and just started to rip all the boards down with little thought. Remember though, you can take away material but you can’t add it back very easily. So, if you have a bunch of long pieces, you can always cut them down. But if you have a bunch of short pieces, you’re pretty much stuck with them unless you want to try to glue everything back together or buy more wood.

Throughout my cutting process, I would stop and just gauge how much more wood I would need. In the end, it turned out that I needed everything that I purchased. But how many slats are needed is largely going to be determined by how many pieces you’re going to lay on the narrow end. If you have a bunch of vertical pieces, you may need to pick up some more wood.

Once I got everything cut and have an idea of the layout, I moved on to painting. For this, I used an 8-ounce can of Krylon Satin Black paint. I purchased this purely because it was the smallest can and the cheapest paint that I could find. I personally don’t feel that this is the type of piece that I would want to overspend to get good paint because I honestly don’t know how long I’ll keep this thing. You may be different. Just consider what this piece is going to be for. Also, I went with black because it matches the theme of the room and the house. You can definitely go with something different. Now, I will say that with the 8-ounce can, it was pretty much the perfect amount to get everything I needed covered. It was definitely close so don’t go too heavy-handed. Go light and cover everything that you know will be visible, then go back and touch up if needed later.

Now that everything’s painted and dry, we’re going to glue everything down. For my build, I just went pretty quick with the glue. For the frame, I took the time to spread it out to get good coverage but with the slats, I just ran a bead down the center and called it good. This is definitely not the ideal way to apply wood glue but I knew that this piece was going on a wall and no one will be touching it so I wasn’t too worried about my glue job. I knew that it would hold up just fine and it did. In the end, the finished piece is going to be decently heavy and I was able to pick it up by the frame with no problem at all. However, because I purposely chose wood that had a bit more character, one of the frame boards was bowed in one corner. So, I decided to hit it with a brad nail and while I was at it, I did the rest of the perimeter. This was more for cosmetic reasons and had the bow not been there, I wouldn’t have bothered because everything was plenty sturdy with just wood glue.

I do want to mention that I did use some Danish oil to darken some of the slats. This was done to give me some extra variations. I oiled probably less than 10 slats and the rest are just bare wood. You’ll have to use your own judgment and decide if you want to do anything with your project. I left most of the slats unfinished because that’s the look I was going for. For me, this is supposed to be an imperfect piece. There’s wood with knots, dents, cracks, and various other things. I purposefully did as little fixing up as possible because I wanted the imperfections and actually highlighted it by my choice of wood.

Finally, because this piece is heavier than the typical picture frame, I decided to go with a bracket to hang it up. Hillman makes this one. It is 6” long and is rated for 75lbs. This is my first time using this type of hanger but it works a lot like a French cleat if you’re familiar with that. It seems to work just fine and is holding my piece up with no problem.

And that’s about it. This is a fairly simple and straightforward build that most people shouldn’t have any problems finishing. Obviously in this video you saw me using some power tools but this is the type of project that you can get everything done with just hand tools. It’ll be a lot of extra work with cutting especially with all the slats but it can definitely be done.

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Kobalt Quiet Tech 26-Gallon Air Compressor

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What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

I’ve been using a little Porter Cable pancake air compressor since, I think, middle school. It’s still going but at 6 gallons, the size is a bit limiting. I think it takes a couple of refills just to pump up four car tires. Anyway, since moving into a new garage, I knew that I wanted something larger. After some research, I’ve decided to purchase the Kobalt Quiet Tech 26-Gallon air compressor. Now, I personally am no air compressor expert. I think this is only the third one that I’ve ever owned so I don’t have a lot of knowledge about the field. For this blog, I just wanted to share with you why I decided to go with this particular compressor.

First off, if something is advertised with giant words saying “Quiet Tech” across the body, you know it’s probably going to be quiet, right? Well, it is, relatively. Kobalt advertises that this compressor is up to 80% quieter. Quieter than what? I don’t know but compared to my pancake, it is quite a bit quieter. I don’t have any scientific way of measuring sound so for my own personal testing, I downloaded a decibel meter app for the iPhone and the results can be seen and heard in the video above, listen for yourself.

For this experiment, I had the phone about 6 feet away from the compressors. My results showed that the Kobalt sits just about 20 decibels quieter than the Porter Cable. You can do your own research about how decibel ratings work but that is a pretty significant difference. I doubt the iPhone app is super accurate, but it does provide some frame of reference. From my personal experience, yes the Kobalt is absolutely quieter and no doubt is the quietest air compressor that I’ve ever heard. That being said, it’s still pretty far away from silent. I really don’t know what to compare it to. I would say that it’s quiet enough for me to stand within arm’s reach away, hold a conversation, and barely raise my voice over normal levels. If I did this with the Porter Cable, I would definitely have to raise my voice, practically yelling. So, it’s quiet, but not something that you don’t know is there.

In terms of design, everything is functional and operation is just about the same as every other air compressor. There are two gauges, one for tank pressure and the other to show the regulated output pressure, a regulator, two output quick-connect couplers that work with industrial-sized fittings, and the on/off switch and pressure release valve is on the right side. Again all pretty straightforward. The only thing that I find annoying about this compressor is the water release port that’s located about dead center at the bottom of the tank. This is actually a good and bad thing. Good because all the water in the tank naturally moves down towards this outlet because it sits at the bottom of a curve. This is a bad thing because it’s just a little bit more inconvenient to access. I’m likely just going to take the stock fitting off and replace it with a hose so I can drain the tank without constantly rolling it outside.

At this point, I’ve only had the Kobalt compressor for a few days and have only tested it by airing up some tires so I don’t have too much to say about use. I’ll come back with a more in-depth review at a later time so subscribe for that.

And that’s going to be it for now. So far so good. The Kobalt Quiet Tech Air Compressor is quieter than what I previously used and holds significantly more air. No real complaints yet and hopefully things stay that way. I’m hoping to do a lot of projects in the future that will involve this thing so I hope you’ll be around for that.

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Lee Sporting AR Style Lower for the H&K MP5

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What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

Because I primarily shoot 9mm, the H&K MP5 is pretty up there if not my favorite firearm. This is just one of the smoothest, soft shooting, and overall easy-to-handle firearms. However, I’m not a die-hard fanboy, pun not intended. Although the radial delayed blowback operating system is fantastic, there are shortcomings elsewhere, at least compared to more modern options.

First and foremost, the lack of a last round bolt hold open. That just is what it is. If you want an MP5, you just gotta understand that. Another issue that I have with the MP5 is just the entire lower. At the back, we have an integrated, molded into the lower, grip. This is going to be a hit or miss depending on the user. Me personally, the grip angle of a stock MP5 is a bit too angled back for my taste but it’s something that I can deal with. Moving forward, we have the safety. With this particular lower and safety, the safety is extremely stiff and basically impossible to use with my right thumb. When I want to use the safety, I actually use my left hand. With my right hand, the safety switch is not the right shape so it only catches the edge of my thumb. This doesn’t allow me to employ any leverage. Because of this, I pretty much always leave the safety off on this MP5 because if I had to defend myself with this firearm, I wouldn’t want to put myself at a disadvantage having to deactivate this safety. Finally, we have the trigger. I think it’s universally agreed that the MP5 trigger isn’t that great. It’s pretty heavy, pretty mushy, and there’s a lot of travel. It’s functional but leaves a lot to be desired. But that’s kind of the theme with the entire MP5 lower. All of it is functional but leaves a lot to be desired.

Really, all of these problems can be fixed by hitting the aftermarket and buying new parts. I personally haven’t because I haven’t found anything that I like. That is until recently when YouTube randomly advertised to me this video, asking about a Geissele SD3G AR trigger in an MP5. I was very intrigued and after some research, it turns out that Lee Sporting, the people who made that video, actually makes aftermarket lowers that essentially allow you to run AR parts on an MP5. My mind was blown by this and I had to try this lower for myself.

Lee Sporting offers housings for the various MP5 variations out there so there should be something that fits most people’s needs. I received a comment from a viewer that does a good job of explaining the various versions of the MP5 lower attachment systems and will include it here for those who need it.

You can either buy a complete lower or a stripped lower. A complete lower comes with a grip, safety, and trigger pre-assembled. Installing the complete lower is one of the easiest installs you can do as the entire lower stays together in one piece and is held in place by only two pins. Even if you purchase the stripped lower and have to install your own parts, the lower is an AR-styled lower so installation for all the parts is basically the same as on an AR-15. Again, pretty straightforward. There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube if you need help. I do want to note that there are some requirements as far as what parts will fit in these lowers so if you are interested in a stripped lower, definitely read the description of the product. All the necessary information is laid out there.

Alright, now that we got all the informational stuff out the way, what’s actually use of this product like? In terms of shooting with it, I can’t say because I haven’t had the chance to live fire with this lower yet. I’m recovering from an injury that’s affecting my shooting hand so I’m letting that heal. It’s also raining quite a bit so I haven’t been able to get to the mountains and do anything fun. For this video, I was pretty excited to share the lower with you guys so this is more of a first impressions. I’ll come back with a more in-depth review in the near future so make sure to subscribe for that.

Now, how’s the Lee Sporting lower in terms of improving the MP5? For me, great. The Lee Sporting lower solves all the problems that I had with a stock MP5 lower. First of all, with the Magpul MOE K grip that was included in my lower, I get an overall more comfortable shooting position. Not only that but this lower actually moves the grip slightly higher and more forward. From my experience, this does help with the overall balance and feel of the gun in hand. Something interesting that I did notice was that because everything is now a bit more forward, I’m actually now able to use the side mag release button of the MP5. This was basically useless to me before because it was too far away but now that it is functional, I can do some more practical mag changes.

Something else that’s more practical is the safety. It’s actually now usable and is as easy to use as it would be on an AR. It’s light enough for me to flick with my thumb and I’m now able to use this thing without worrying about it slowing me down if the firearm is actually ever needed to be used in a defensive scenario.

In terms of the trigger, this particular lower came with the Geissele SD3G. I have this trigger in my Primary Weapons Systems AR so it’s nothing new to me. However, having it here in the MP5, it’s a night and day difference compared to the stock trigger. Obviously, trigger feel is very subjective so I don’t want to blatantly say that this is better but I will say that the Lee Sporting lower gives you more opportunity to find something that does work for you. The AR platform is extremely popular and has massive aftermarket support. There are so many options out there and this lower allows for the opportunity to use many of them. The stock MP5 lower, on the other hand, there is really only a few handful of options and as with many other MP5 specific things, the price can get pretty high. This Geissele is relatively expensive, but you don’t have to go with this. There are plenty of other options that are more budget-friendly. One thing that I do want to comment on is the minor attention to detail that went into the Geissele that Lee Sporting installed. To get the SD3G to work in this lower, you have to file some edges down for proper clearance. I knew this but didn’t expect for Lee Sporting to actually polish the hammer the way they did. This type of attention to detail is just something that I appreciate.

Overall, I’m very happy with this lower. It really improves the utility of an MP5 for me. But I know that this isn’t going to be for everyone, especially the traditionalists out there who think that the MP5 is fine the way it is and that we shouldn’t try to turn it into an AR. That’s perfectly fine and I can appreciate that. However, I personally try to make all my firearms as practical as possible for my uses. I personally love the MP5 because of the radial delayed blowback, not necessarily because of the MP5 clout. So, if I have the radial delayed blowback and can make the controls more functional for me, I’m going to do that. This lower provides me with just what I need to get that done. So, if you have a similar mindset then the Lee Sporting lower for the MP5 is definitely something that I can recommend. This thing is such a game-changer for me. It takes something that I already love in the MP5 and makes it even better. Now, if someone can ever figure out last round bolt hold open, then I’d pretty much have my perfect firearm but I don’t think that day is coming any time soon if ever so for now, we have the Lee Sporting lower.

If you're considering buying any of the products mentioned, please support my work by using the links below.

https://leesporting.com/

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Eufy Smartdrop | Smart Delivery Package Drop Box

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What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

I personally get a good amount of package. I would prefer to be able to receive packages at home but sometimes the timing just doesn’t work out. Things can sit outside and possibly be stolen. So when I discovered that you can now get a smart delivery dropbox, I was all over it and this is just that, the eufy Smartdrop.

In short, this is a metal box that is openable via a 4-6 digit code, physical key, or the eufy app as the Smartdrop can connect to a wifi network. The SmartDrop also has a built-in 1080p camera for you to track when it’s in use or for general security monitoring. It is powered by a rechargeable battery or you can hardwire it for constant power.

The Smartdrop comes with concrete anchors and bolts for a more secure mounting solution. You can just put it outside without anchoring it if you want, but just remember that the entire box only weighs about 40lbs so it’s not exactly difficult to just walk off with the entire thing if it’s not anchored down.

On-screen, you can see the manufacturer’s advertised dimensions and eufy advertises that the SmartDrop is large enough to fit 99% of packages. Obviously, that just depends on what you’re ordering but the Smartdrop has been working out pretty well for me in terms of its size.

Overall, this is a pretty straightforward product. Sure, it has a bunch of settings that you can adjust but day to day, this thing just sits there, someone comes and punches in the code, it opens, they leave the package, close the box and leave. The package sits there until you retrieve it. Pretty straightforward. There are videos out there that fully break down the app features and everything that you can do with the Smartdrop so I suggest you check those videos out if you’re interested in that. What I want to do is to share my experience with the SmartDrop and if I think it’s worth buying.

Let’s start off with general use. Because a security lock box isn’t exactly a common thing for residential use, will something like the SmartDrop even be used by shipping carriers? From my experience, this is a hit or miss. Since having the SmartDrop, I’ve had deliveries from all the major shipping companies and adoption definitely varies. No doubt, the people who use the SmartDrop the most are the people that repeatedly deliver to my address. For me, this means my regular Amazon and UPS guy.

Now, you may be wondering how you give the access code to the delivery people. eufy recommends that you add it to the address line 2 of your shipping address, the place where you typically write suite or apartment number. From my experience, you can do this but the delivery people are not always going to take the time to look or read through the label. What I did was to also make some high-vis signs, one at the front door in case they walk past the giant box and one right next to the box. Both signs reiterate important instructions. I’ve found that this really helps but again not perfect because, at the end of the day, some of these delivery people are just going through the motion, trying to get through the day. Some have made up their mind and plan to put the package at the door and nothing’s going to change that. I’ve even had some people instead of trying to put it in the box, they literally put it right next to the box without even trying. From my experience, every courier has people who are willing to use the box and people who aren’t. The best that I can do is to talk to my regulars and ask them to use the box. This helps as my regular Amazon and UPS guys make the effort when possible.

At the time of this video, I’ve used the Smartdrop for over 3 months and I want to share some of the issues that I’ve experienced. Right off the bat, right after installation and after putting the box outside, for whatever reason my lid kept having trouble opening. The SmartDrop has some voice prompts and mine kept telling me that the lid may be stuck and to try again. For whatever reason, the lid always got stuck on the first try and would open on the second or third attempt. I was worried about this but the issue just resolved itself and the box worked as it should by the next day. However, this touches on another issue. If for whatever reason a delivery person can’t open the box, they’ll usually try a second, MAYBE third time, and will usually give up. This can be because the lid is stuck or because they put in the wrong access key. If it takes multiple tries, the delivery people will usually give up. So, if there’s already something wrong with the lid and it won’t open on the first try, the chances of the delivery people using it will dramatically decrease. Just remember, these people are on the clock and don’t have all day to deal with some security box.

When it comes to the code, I’ve noticed a few things that have been an issue for me. First, I don’t know what it is but some people just can’t seem to open the box with the code. I don’t know if it’s user error and they’re just entering the code wrong, or the code is actually wrong on the label because that is definitely possible. In the beginning, I noticed that some Amazon people just could not punch in the right code. I asked some what they were punching in and they said the wrong number. For some reason Amazon was only displaying 5 out of the 6 digits. This is exclusively a problem with Amazon and I wish I can say why but it seems to be a random sporadic problem.

Next, let’s talk about weather. The SmartDrop is IP65 rated and eufy advertises “weatherproof”. Prior to buying the SmartDrop, I watched reviews where people mentioned that during freezing temperatures, the latch mechanism can freeze and not open. I personally have not had this problem and my Smartdrop has been out in the rain one day and snow the next so theoretically, if the lid were to freeze shut, this would’ve been the time. However, I had another problem. During my mini snowstorm, I guess enough of the snow got around the buttons, melted, then froze all buttons. I didn’t know that this was a thing until I saw an Amazon delivery person outside going at it on the box. When she saw that the buttons were frozen, she even tried to melt the ice with her breath. Then she called us so were could get the package instead of just leaving it outside at night. You gotta appreciate a hard worker like this. Later, I went to check on the Smartdrop and sure enough, it was frozen solid. The buttons didn’t even want to move. When I saw that this issue was possible, I was pretty bummed because it’s very likely going to happen again considering my environment. To solve this issue, I can move the SmartDrop under my porch where it would be out of the rain and snow but I really don’t want to do that because it’s a big ol’ box that is somewhat unsightly next to the door. I put it where it currently is with the plan to grow the surrounding bushes out so they camouflage it. But if the box is going to freeze shut and not be usable, I might just have to move it under the porch.

So over the last few months of use, those are the main issues that I’ve had. Hard to say if they’re deal breakers because I have had a lot of use from this box. I think what ultimately determines things for me is the price. The SmartDrop retails for $399.99. Even as someone who enjoys this product quite a bit, I would say that that is a bit much. However, as with all eufy products, it will go on sale. I held out from buying this product when it came out because, again, $400 is a bit much. After about a month of price watching, I saw the Smartdrop go down to $300. Then, $250. Then, $200, which is how much I purchased it for. I have seen the Smartdrop sit around $200 quite often now so I would definitely recommend picking it up for around that price if you can wait for one of the sales. When in doubt, wait for a holiday because eufy always has sales. It may not be on the SmartDrop so you may have to wait a few holidays but if you want a deal, wait it out. I guarantee you that it will go on sale.

So, at $200, I would say that this product is worth it. It provides me with a sense of security and assurance that I’m willing to pay for. It’s not functional 100% of the time but that’s mostly a problem with the delivery people. They just aren’t trained to work with such a device but hopefully, that will change in the future. I guess I’ll be the guinea pig and help to introduce such a device, at least with the delivery people that I interact with.

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