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Review on Probrico Egg Style Bedroom And Bathroom Privacy Door Knobs Oval Oil Rubbed Bronze Keyless Door Lock(6 Pack) by Bob Schultz

Revainrating 3 out of 5

Manufacturing quality lacking

I could write an ode to good, solid, quality knobs, but I didn't want to buy overpriced items I couldn't use, and this knob was neither.I'm not super picky. Knobs should function, first off, and look good and feel good in your hand if you're bothering to replace them at all. The existing, random cheap brass knobs in the house I recently purchased did function, mostly. But I wanted the classier look of solid, color coordinated, quality, and I'm a sucker for egg knobs.First of all, aesthetically, these are fine. I'm a fan of the copper glints coming through the aged bronze veneer (even fake looking ones), and there was probably more matte brown than I would have liked, but fine. I also noticed how light the knobs felt, and whatever, they're not plastic, and they look fine.I ordered the 10-pack of the indoor privacy knobs because that package was the cheapest, even though I didn't need locks on the closet doors. That turned out to be fortunate since two knob locks broke on installation.Since I was replacing knobs instead of creating new ones from scratch, only two steps of the included instructions applied to me, and they were pretty straightforward: stick the two knobs together through the tongue, and tighten. Simple!And everything fit into the existing standard cutouts, so it should have worked perfectly.But it didn't. I admit I'm a home improvement hack. I'll fiddle with things until they work, and I'll settle for what works easiest. And these knobs did install fine, mostly. Except for the locking mechanisms. I tried so many ways, and I couldn't get the coin slot on one side to match with the thumb tab on the other. Almost always, one had to be vertical and the other horizontal for the pieces to slide in correctly. I was able to make it work for a couple, but I couldn't replicate it for the others, so I figured they're just put together that way, and I moved on. I even went back and tried to uninstall and reinstall the originals, and I still couldn't make it work. For my bedroom door, which I'll be using more than the others, I ended up just taking off the knob I put there and putting on one of the ones I was able to align correctly. Still, if I'm doing something dumb, I'd be happy to learn what.Lastly, two of the knob locks broke as I installed them. I was gentle with each one, but the thumb tab on two pulled out as I tightened the screws, and I wasn't able to get them back in. It worked out fine since I just stuck them on closet doors, but it's ugly.These were the cheapest package deal overall, but I wonder whether one of those $20/knob packs would have saved me the trouble of tracking down errors.

Pros
  • Loved them
Cons
  • The egg style design may be difficult to grip for those with larger hands or limited dexterity