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Both companies are selling the chain. The padlock is just an accessory to make the lock worth it.
The chains are good, with the Almax being the best. But the Squire lock is silly... the Abloy on the other hand is a beast and you can pick them up on eBay for a reasonable price (I'm betting a number of those are swiped from workplaces as they have an industrial use).
Velocio-
I'm Steve at Pragmasis. There are lots of lock-picking videos on YouTube but you can never tell which are genuine from those where people have doctored the cylinder inside in advance (e.g. these locks have removable cylinders so it's easy to take out half of the pins, for example, and then make the video), or where they're practised for ages with that specific lock, or where they've got advance knowledge of the profile of the key. Squire have checked into several of these claims and have never come across anybody that can pick an unknown SS65CS lock in a realistic situation like those videos suggest.
Independent of all that, we actually use a different cylinder inside the SS65CS and SS50CS locks anyway. It is a 'restricted' cylinder that has a much more convoluted keyway and we've not heard of anyone, ever, being able to pick it. We switched to that cylinder last year and Almax are now using it, too. These locks are not 'accessories' that are trivial to pick.
The PL362 is an excellent lock, but not with these chains, and especially not with a 'thin' 19mm chain like Almax's. There is far too much clearance on the shackle so someone with bolt croppers can gain access to the shackle beside the chain. The following video (in German) demonstrates, albeit with a smaller Abloy 'PL342' lock and a smaller chain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiaOSf2sQxM
It is important that the chain link fills most of the space below the shackle on the lock, unless the shackle is as thick or thicker than the chain link. This is why neither Almax nor we sell our 16mm or 19mm chains with the PL362. FYI RiDE magazine did a locks & chains review with proper testing earlier this year and scored our Protector 19mm identically to the Almax Series IV - we both got joint first place.
If anyone wants to see any of our stuff in the flesh, we will be exhibiting at the Cycle Show at the NEC in September and we'd be very happy to show you what our stuff is like.
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Just a note about the Abloy PL362 locks. Make sure they come with a key cutting card identifying the key profile. If the keys have anything stamped on them then it's part of a master key system and you won't be able to get replacement/additional keys cut.
I say this because I just had a chat with the guy at Abloy UK and he said that it's solvable by having the disc combination changed (same barrel, new discs) and they (the locksmith) will issue a new cutting card.
Pragma
hamrack
Fair enough. Thanks for answering, I'd been looking at the almax/pragmasis chains and saw they both came with these. If the lock's so easily picked why do they still use the lock?