Video It's never easy to crack into a market with an innovative new product but makers of the "world's first smart fingerprint padlock" have made one critical error: they forgot about the existence of screwdrivers.Electric Cabinet Lock manufacturers

Tapplock raised $320,000 in 2016 for their product that would allow you to use just your finger to open the "unbreakable" lock. Amazing. Things took a turn for the worse when the ship date of September came and went, and backers complained that the upstart has stopped posting any updates and wasn't responding to emails nor social media posts.

But after months of silence, the startup assured El Reg that everything was still moving forward and the delays were due to "issues with manufacturing in China."

Fast forward 18 months and finally – finally – the $100 Tapplock is out on the market and it is… well, how do we put this kindly? Somewhat flawed.

No less than three major problems with the lock have been discovered that make it less than useless because presumably people intend to use the lock to secure valuable things.

One of the first things to note is that the Tapplock used zinc aluminum alloy Zamak 3: something that it claims lends the lock "unbreakable durability." Unfortunately, as materials engineers are happy to point out, aluminum may be a lovely lightweight metal and this alloy does provide an enviable degree of detail when die cast, but it is not exactly the best choice for something that is supposed to be unbreakable.

It isn't very strong, it melts at high temperatures, and it is quite brittle. It looks cool. But it's more suited for its more common use: door handles. It will be easy to cut through this lock with bolt cutters.