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Great write-up!
After articles I've read online about the benefits of going to a locksmith over a hardware store for keys, I hit my local locksmith to duplicate my Ninja keys. The locksmith's wife was working in the shop and went on and on about all the research she's done to find the right blanks, and that's service I could never get in a hardware store because of the matching guides she'd compiled and the whole wall full of blanks they had in stock. She said she could do the Ninja key for $9. If it didn't work and needed any filing/tweaking, etc., the licensed locksmith would have to do that at a minimum charge of $20. Even if it didn't work I'd still have to pay for cutting the key, since once cut it was non-returnable. I had a fiver in my wallet, so I figured I'd come back.
On the way home I stopped at my local Ace hardware. They compared blanks to what they had on their little display rack - the X266/KA1 was their closest match, and they ground off the extra ridges so it matched the original. They charged $2, guaranteed (i.e. if they couldn't make a working key, I would pay nothing). I walked out of the Ace with a pair of new working keys, and less time spent in their store than at the locksmith's.
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