Should I Get a Smart Garage Door Opener?

should I get a smart garage door opener

Then I break-down the importance of picking the right smart garage door opener and how they are quite user-friendly–anyone who knows how to use a smartphone will find them intuitive. Thanks for the awesome assignment and stay safe and healthy!

Should I Get a Smart Garage Door Opener?

Is a Smart Garage Door Opener The Right Choice For Me?

You may be asking that question above, “Is a smart garage door opener the right choice for me?” The answer is in most cases a very clear, “Yes!” Those who already are the proud owners of smart garage door openers will almost always share their positive experiences and forewarn you of any possible complications so you know what to do in order to avoid any issues.

If you’re considering whether a smart garage door opener is the right choice for you there are probably a number of questions you have. Those will be addressed now and should help you determine why a smart garage door opener is most likely a good choice for you, and which are the best should you choose to purchase one!

Is a Smart Garage Door Opener Expensive or Reasonable in Price?

It makes sense to lead with this question because the cost of something is often the #1 thing we take into account when making decisions on our purchases.

Thankfully, finding attachments like the MyQ smart garage door hub which you can attach to a number of standard garage door openers will only cost you in the realm of $40-$80 depending on how the kind of attachment for your garage door you buy–e.g. the one you feel is best for your needs and other smart devices you have in your home (if you’re an Alexa household or a Google Home house, for instance).

Now, if you buy a WiFi-enabled smart garage door opener that is itself brand-new and connected to your smart network, that can cost more because you’re not simply retrofitting an older garage door opener, you are installing new belts and everything. That can run you $400-$600 pretty easily, but it also is not necessary to get something that utterly new if your garage door opener itself is working and can be upgraded to become smart for the aforementioned much lower costs.

It is now evident the biggest hurdle for most people–cost–is not that bad at all! A smart garage door opener can be had for quite a reasonable price, and a bit further one the best options for you depending on your household will be delved into. First, however, there is the question of what kind of factors can influence your decision to buy a smart garage door opener now that we’ve addressed cost.

What Factors Should I Consider When Buying a Smart Garage Door Opener?

When considering buying a smart garage door opener you want to consider certain things. First, determine if you want an entirely new garage door opener to replace what you have in your garage.

If you do need a whole new opener, make sure it has the needed horsepower and the kind of chain-drive, belt-drive, or screw-drive you want as well as being WiFi enabled so that it is smart and can work with your home’s smart network or its own network depending on its brand. The last thing you would want to have happen is that you purchase a snazzy smart garage door opener and it is not powerful enough to open your actual garage!

Should you not be getting a whole new garage door opening system and instead will be adding a device to your garage, double-check the devices you are considering are compatible with whatever non-smart garage door opener you currently have and plan to retrofit.

When deciding on the kind to use it really is not that complicated and instead comes down to exercising common sense to ensure you have a smart garage door opener which will work for your garage and features the kind of network you would like to utilize (MyQ, the Aladdin app, etc.) which will be touched upon in a moment.

What Benefits Come With Owning a Smart Garage Door Opener

Having a smart garage door opener brings with it many perks. Depending on the kind you have it is relatively easy to sync it up with the rest of your smart home and enable such features as saying, “Alexa, open my garage,” then watching as it happens smoothly as ordered!

It definitely provides more security too, enabling you to be aware of anytime your garage opens. Again, with a little technical know-how, you can make it so that when your garage opens it activates any kind of smart camera you have in your garage, and for not too much spent you have a very in-depth security network!

Plus, there is just that lovely convenience factor. With certain smart garage door openers or by adding programs such as the IFTTT app it is possible to make it so once you pull-up to your house your garage knows to pop-open for you without any buttons needing to be pressed!

Connectivity, security, and convenience–all positives of having a smart garage door opener! Frankly, after having a smart garage door opener in your home you’ll find yourself wondering how you lived a functional life without one!

So…Is a Smart Garage Door Opener Worth It?

Assuming you have a garage, a smartphone/smart device, and also have a decent WiFi connection for your home a smart garage door opener is surely worth it!

Now, in a situation where the internet is for some reason not reliable (a remote area with so-so satellite internet), or if you lack much in the way of smart-devices (no smartphone, no Alexa or Google Home) then maybe a smart garage door opener is less of a useful investment.

Those specific situations aside, however, having a smart garage door opener is almost unquestionably worth it. The handiness of having increased connectivity, better security, and how it makes life just plain easier all make it apparent that a smart garage door opener is a stellar investment to make.

What is the Best Smart Garage Door Opener Should I Choose to Buy One?

Should you choose to buy a smart garage door opener it is wise to consider a number of options. If you buy an entirely new garage door opener, brands such as Chamberlain and Liftmaster use a program called MyQ.

MyQ actually can work with almost all WiFi-enabled garage door openers (some intentional competitive exceptions aside), and brands like Chamberlain and Liftmaster ONLY use MyQ. MyQ also makes it own little hubs you can attach to other garage door openers to give them that WiFi compatibility so that you’ve retrofitted your previously not-smart garage door opener into a smart one.

Then there is Gene with its Aladdin garage door openers that use its own network and do not really work with MyQ. However, many of these networks can also connect to smart devices such as Alexa and Google Home.

Basically, there is not one easy-to-say, “Best,” brand so much as observing that MyQ is one of the biggest names in the field, with other solid options existing and basically all of them having the programming-intelligence to know they need to also to connect appropriately with Alexa, Google Home, and other smart home devices.

Just exercise common sense and make sure you double-check the smart garage door opener that appeals to you will also work with whatever smart home network you have set-up (or plan to implement).

What Should I Know in Advance to Avoid Complications With My Smart Garage Door Opener/What Are Some Helpful Tips?

As long as you can handle using a smartphone and smart devices you should find a smart garage door opener quite intuitive. The main things to be aware of are having them installed safely by either yourself being extremely careful or using a professional.

An incorrectly installed smart garage door opener can be a HUGE safety risk and may also utterly wreck your garage–then you’re paying for a new one twice-over!

Also, make sure that if there is a specific smart program you want to utilize (such as MyQ) you install a smart garage door opener compatible with that system. Some smart garage door openers only work with certain programs or smart devices and the last thing you want is to discover that your carefully designed smart home network is incompatible with a new smart garage door opener!

In Closing, Life’s Better With a Smart Garage Door Opener!

The question of, “Should I get a smart garage door opener,” has been answered as almost always being a clear, “Yes,” with only some exceptions. As long as you have a garage, decent WiFi, and some smart devices you want to sync up with a smart garage door opener (a smartphone, smart devices, etc.) a smart garage door opener makes sense to have!

They are not too costly and make life oh-so-much easier while also providing a greater degree of security than having a regular garage door opener would give you.

As long as you pick a smart garage door opener that will be compatible with your other smart devices or apps you want to use before you know it you’ll have a wonderfully interconnected system of everything from smart cameras to your, lights, thermostat, and whatever else you want to automate along with your smart garage door opener! The future is here, and it is quite convenient!

Sources:

https://www.myq.com/myq-compatibility
https://www.chamberlain.com/garage-door-openers/c/smart-garage-door-openers
https://www.liftmaster.com/garage-door-openers/c/smart-garage-door-openers

Steve Foster

Suburbanite, tech geek, handy man, automation enthusiast who started blogging about the stuff I do around my home and found he had a knack for it.

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