2825 System

Having been a long-time user of the Lucky Line Flex-O-Lock cable rings, I decided to switch up my everyday-carry routine and try this Free Key thingy. Not that the Flex-O-Lock ever failed me — they are great key rings and I’ll probably go back to them at some point when I want to switch it up again. My main reason though for purchasing this item was the security I get knowing that losing a key is a virtual impossibility, and never having that “what if” feeling that I had with the other key ring is a relief. Also, taking keys off is pretty easy and hassle-free, though not quite as instant as the Lucky Line product where you press inwards on the ball-and-socket part, and boom, there’s your key. Still, the few extra seconds needed to retrieve a key with this product is worth the added security. Lastly, the Free Key is robustly built, looks nice, and the smaller split rings fit all of key ring items, which was initially a concern. Good product.

It's weird to write a gushing review about what is essentially a key ring. But it's great and it took away a pain I only vaguely knew I had. I'm not an EDC maniac. I have a little multitool and flashlight. And a prybar, ok. Well, at times, when you're boarding a plane or going for a run, you need to take this bundle apart. Doing it with ordinary key rings would be nightmare filled with punctured flesh under my nails. This little metal ring makes taking keys off and adding new ones simple. It's 0 hassle. I'm writing this review after almost two years of using this. Not because something broke, but because I'm ordering a set of spare loops for more keys. It's this damn good.

My only complaint is that these are a bit expensive, and I wish you got more than 3 little rings with each big ring. I bought a pack or two of extra rings, so now I have everything I need, but I wish I could have gotten everything without spending $20-30. That said, I like these so much better than whatever key ring my keys happened to be on before. The big ring really does make it easy to get things on and off without using your nails. It's pretty quick to add or remove something from the main ring, which lets me use these to be somewhat modular and only carry what I want at a time. Unfortunately the little keys do require prying with your fingernail to get things on and off of them, but you should only have to do that once for each thing you want to be able to carry on the big ring, and thereafter you can just slide them on or off the big ring as needed. I use one big ring for my main keys and have a house key, flash drive, and a little bottle opener multi-tool thing. I have a few other keys on small rings that I keep in a drawer, and if I need them, I can quickly add them to the main ring and remove them when I'm done with them. I use another big ring for my truck keys, which lets me add keys for my trailer locks when needed and remove them when not. At the end of the day, it's a key ring, but I find it to be significantly nicer than the average key ring, both because it looks nice and because the big rings make it so much easier to add or remove things.

The skinny version: This is a good key ring and system. Not a great idea if you do a lot of hard manual labor, sit and stand a lot, or otherwise have this product exposed to where it will get caught frequently. A solid 4/5. My transaction: Seller - FFB Direct Condition - New Price - $7.85 Shipping - Free (economy) Purchase date - February 26, 2015 Details: I did get the genuine Freekey system. To go with the main ring I also bought supplemental small Freekey system rings. I hooked the main ring through my steel carabineer and then hung smaller rings off of it for each structure or unit that I have keys for. Then I hung additional rings off of those ones if I had multiple keys for that same place or thing. The product description says that the product is made of high grade stainless steel. I'm not sure if I really believe that in my experience. I used this system for over three years before ultimately replacing it with some (definitely real) regular stainless steel keyrings. I had to replace them because my Freekey rings (all of them) started to get bent and I even lost one key. I nearly lost a few keys a couple of different times but I noticed that they fell off before I did. I ran into this problem as a mail carrier as I am getting in and out of my mail truck several times a day and I will sit on my keys or they will get pinned at an angle because I hang my carabineer off of my side. Before my job as a mail carrier this system was fine. Kinda cool actually, but once the main ring gets bent at all any other items that hang from it are liable to fall off if they slide at the right angle. This is because of the design of the main ring which has a portion of the inside layer of the ring purposely bent to make it easier to open up and adjust the other rings/items. I did like how it was easier to tweak the keyrings and attach keys to them but realistically I only did this a couple of times and after that I didn't adjust them again. That would be a better feature of I were someone who added or removed keys from my keyring more frequently. Personally I won't be buying this again. I'm happier with the rings I have now. Still though, this isn't a bad product for less strenuous use.