PRODUCT REVIEW: Chamberlain MyQ Smart Garage Door Opener
(Showdown - ELO)
Anyone with a garage knows -that- moment where, after driving away from your home on an errand that won't allow you immediately return, you wonder if you actually closed the stupid door after you backed out.
Most of us make habits that alleviate this concern, but sooner or later, it'll happen to you again. Chamberlain, a company with a large presence in the garage door opener segment, is looking to change that. They've promised a solution with their MyQ Smart GDO that is easy to install, easy to use, and that won't break the bank.
Have they done it?
THE SHORT VERSION:
Yep. They nailed it.
THE LONG VERSION:
There will, I have no doubt, be some of you sitting there wondering, "What the heck is a smart garage door opener?" The quick version is that a smart GDO typically hooks into the WiFi at your house to allow you to raise, lower, and monitor the state of your garage door from your computer or mobile device. Companies like Chamberlain make garage door openers with all of this tech built right into the housing with the drive motor and other gubbins that actually raise and lower your garage's door. For those of us who aren't interested in buying an entirely new motor assembly, you can buy add-on technology that controls your garage door remotely.
Depending on who you get your tech from, installation of tech like this can get out of hand really quickly. Some kits require you to splice wires into your garage door opener's box or to splice wires into the lines that run into the main opener button on your garage wall. While there's nothing exotic about that, it does pose a daunting task for anyone not familiar with wire work or electricity. Thankfully, Chamberlain has a much lighter-touch solution:
https://www.chamberlain.com/myq-smart-garage-hub/p/MYQ-G0301-E
That link'll take you to Chamberlain's site so you have a better idea of what I'm talking about. This little device costs less than $50 and shouldn't require any wiring or electrical work to get the job done. It's small, light, insanely easy to install, and compatible with most forms of GDO manufactured in the last 20 years. Wondering if your door opener works with it? Check Chamberlain's compatibility list at the link above.
The box doesn't come with much inside of it. You get the main transmitter, a sensor for your garage door, a power chord for the main transmitter, an optional mounting brackets and screws, and... that's it. Installation was done in x easy steps:
- Unpack everything.
- Download the MyQ app onto my phone.
- Create a harmless account with Chamberlain within the App.
- Plug the transmitter in and pair it with my WiFi network.
- Place the door sensor on the garage door.
- Pair the transmitter with the main GDO box by pushing the 'Program' button on my GDO box.
- OPTIONAL: Use the screws and mounting bracket to place the transmitter somewhere out of the way in my garage. I did this, but could easily have just left the thing sitting on a shelf in my garage, plugged in.
With the app, you can open and close the door, but you can also set alerts for yourself. Want to know when someone opens your garage door while you're gone at work? You can set notifications to be sent to your phone or e-mail whenever this happens. Same thing with closing the door. Want to know if something is preventing your door from opening or closing fully? Nothing easier. The app lets you set alerts for this too. Want to give a guest permission to use your garage door while they're in town? No problem! You can do that too!
Sound like a perfect solution? I think it is, but I would be remiss if I didn't point out the only real flaw with this whole system, and some people think it's a BIG one:
You cannot integrate your MyQ equipment with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, or IFTTT without paying Chamberlain $1 a month.
Now, before you go reaching for the torches and gasoline, stop and -THINK- a moment. Honestly, seriously, think about this. How much of a problem is this? Is it a shameless cash-grab? Possibly. At $1/mo, it's not much of a cash grab. The bigger question is, what are you missing? Consider the use-cases for a tool like this:
- "I want to use this to open/close my garage door." That's a given. How often will you be doing this from your living room without getting up from your couch? Why would you ever just open the door with a voice command and not also go out to your garage where you could easily open the door with the button on the wall?
- "I want to use this to monitor my garage door to make sure it's down while I'm at work." Most of us don't have Google Home or Alexa rigs at our desks. We'll just look at our phones.
- "I want to let someone else into the garage while I'm not home." Great. You're not home. You won't be using your voice. You'll be using the app on your phone.
Seriously, the vast majority of people who would want a service like this would never actually -need- it to be integrated with services like Google Home or Alexa. Is it a little odd that they're charging you for connectivity that most smart devices give you for free? Sure! But it's very much an optional extra that most of us will never, ever use. I would feel differently if the primary use-cases for this tech were more impactful to situations when I was near my Google Home devices, but they don't, so I sort of...don't care.
If you're like me, if Google/Amazon connectivity just doesn't matter with a solution like this, Chamberlain's MyQ Smart GDO is a no-brainer. This is a great piece of tech that does exactly what it says it will at a price that is very, very reasonable. IoT enthusiasts have no reason not to at least consider getting one.
Oh, and no, before anyone asks, I didn't sign up for Amazon Key. Because screw that.
Anyone with a garage knows -that- moment where, after driving away from your home on an errand that won't allow you immediately return, you wonder if you actually closed the stupid door after you backed out.
Most of us make habits that alleviate this concern, but sooner or later, it'll happen to you again. Chamberlain, a company with a large presence in the garage door opener segment, is looking to change that. They've promised a solution with their MyQ Smart GDO that is easy to install, easy to use, and that won't break the bank.
Have they done it?
THE SHORT VERSION:
Yep. They nailed it.
THE LONG VERSION:
There will, I have no doubt, be some of you sitting there wondering, "What the heck is a smart garage door opener?" The quick version is that a smart GDO typically hooks into the WiFi at your house to allow you to raise, lower, and monitor the state of your garage door from your computer or mobile device. Companies like Chamberlain make garage door openers with all of this tech built right into the housing with the drive motor and other gubbins that actually raise and lower your garage's door. For those of us who aren't interested in buying an entirely new motor assembly, you can buy add-on technology that controls your garage door remotely.
Depending on who you get your tech from, installation of tech like this can get out of hand really quickly. Some kits require you to splice wires into your garage door opener's box or to splice wires into the lines that run into the main opener button on your garage wall. While there's nothing exotic about that, it does pose a daunting task for anyone not familiar with wire work or electricity. Thankfully, Chamberlain has a much lighter-touch solution:
https://www.chamberlain.com/myq-smart-garage-hub/p/MYQ-G0301-E
That link'll take you to Chamberlain's site so you have a better idea of what I'm talking about. This little device costs less than $50 and shouldn't require any wiring or electrical work to get the job done. It's small, light, insanely easy to install, and compatible with most forms of GDO manufactured in the last 20 years. Wondering if your door opener works with it? Check Chamberlain's compatibility list at the link above.
The box doesn't come with much inside of it. You get the main transmitter, a sensor for your garage door, a power chord for the main transmitter, an optional mounting brackets and screws, and... that's it. Installation was done in x easy steps:
- Unpack everything.
- Download the MyQ app onto my phone.
- Create a harmless account with Chamberlain within the App.
- Plug the transmitter in and pair it with my WiFi network.
- Place the door sensor on the garage door.
- Pair the transmitter with the main GDO box by pushing the 'Program' button on my GDO box.
- OPTIONAL: Use the screws and mounting bracket to place the transmitter somewhere out of the way in my garage. I did this, but could easily have just left the thing sitting on a shelf in my garage, plugged in.
With the app, you can open and close the door, but you can also set alerts for yourself. Want to know when someone opens your garage door while you're gone at work? You can set notifications to be sent to your phone or e-mail whenever this happens. Same thing with closing the door. Want to know if something is preventing your door from opening or closing fully? Nothing easier. The app lets you set alerts for this too. Want to give a guest permission to use your garage door while they're in town? No problem! You can do that too!
Sound like a perfect solution? I think it is, but I would be remiss if I didn't point out the only real flaw with this whole system, and some people think it's a BIG one:
You cannot integrate your MyQ equipment with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, or IFTTT without paying Chamberlain $1 a month.
Now, before you go reaching for the torches and gasoline, stop and -THINK- a moment. Honestly, seriously, think about this. How much of a problem is this? Is it a shameless cash-grab? Possibly. At $1/mo, it's not much of a cash grab. The bigger question is, what are you missing? Consider the use-cases for a tool like this:
- "I want to use this to open/close my garage door." That's a given. How often will you be doing this from your living room without getting up from your couch? Why would you ever just open the door with a voice command and not also go out to your garage where you could easily open the door with the button on the wall?
- "I want to use this to monitor my garage door to make sure it's down while I'm at work." Most of us don't have Google Home or Alexa rigs at our desks. We'll just look at our phones.
- "I want to let someone else into the garage while I'm not home." Great. You're not home. You won't be using your voice. You'll be using the app on your phone.
Seriously, the vast majority of people who would want a service like this would never actually -need- it to be integrated with services like Google Home or Alexa. Is it a little odd that they're charging you for connectivity that most smart devices give you for free? Sure! But it's very much an optional extra that most of us will never, ever use. I would feel differently if the primary use-cases for this tech were more impactful to situations when I was near my Google Home devices, but they don't, so I sort of...don't care.
If you're like me, if Google/Amazon connectivity just doesn't matter with a solution like this, Chamberlain's MyQ Smart GDO is a no-brainer. This is a great piece of tech that does exactly what it says it will at a price that is very, very reasonable. IoT enthusiasts have no reason not to at least consider getting one.
Oh, and no, before anyone asks, I didn't sign up for Amazon Key. Because screw that.
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