Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart Garage Door Openers
One of the most popular recent advances in garage door technology is the smart garage door controller. This is a feature for your automatic garage door that gives you much more control over the way your garage door opens and closes. If you’ve heard of a smart home, a smart garage door opener is another addition to the smart home system. With the developments of smart home devices such as smart thermostats, video cameras, security systems, voice assistants, etc., smart garage doors are the next step you can take in automating your home through your wifi-network.
What Is a Smart Garage Door Controller?
A smart garage door controller is a Wi-Fi-enabled garage door opener that allows you to control your garage door using a digital device like your phone or tablet after downloading the related app.
You may be wondering, why get a smart garage door opener if you already have a remote garage door opener that works fine? What can a Wi-Fi garage door controller do that my current remote doesn’t? Here are a few smart garage door opener benefits to consider.
What Are the Benefits of Smart Garage Door Openers?
Convenience is the most obvious benefit of having a smart garage door opener. Once your opener is enabled, you never have to worry about losing your garage door remote or having it run out of batteries at an inopportune moment. You will always be able to open your garage door as long as you have a Wi-Fi connection and your digital device.
An even greater benefit is home security. You can set the door to open just before you get home, so there’s no time spent waiting outside for the garage door to open. As soon as you get home you can drive right in. You will also always know when your garage door is opened, even if you aren’t home, thanks to an automatic alert on your device. Some smart garage door openers even have the added capability of connecting to your home security systems.
You can open and close your door remotely from anywhere, as long as you have power at home, so if you arrive at work or are headed out on vacation and suddenly realize you left the garage door open, you don’t have to return to close it. You can also use this feature to allow people access to your garage or home without giving them a key or passcode.
What Are the Disadvantages of a Smart Garage Door Controller?
There are not many disadvantages to having a smart garage door opener. There is the time and expense it takes to have it installed, but these are minimal compared to the benefits such a device can bring.
You also should not toss away your regular garage door remote entirely, as most smart garage door opener technology is designed with the idea that your primary method of opening and closing the garage door will still be the remote opener — unless you have it set on an automatic opening and closing schedule.
A common worry among homeowners is that if the garage door is wifi-enabled, will it still open without power? The answer is yes! Much like remote-operated garage door openers, these openers will have battery backups and other fail safes so you can still operate your garage door in case of a power outage emergency.
If you can tolerate these issues, you may want to take advantage of smart garage door opener technology for your home.
What Are the Best Smart Garage Door Openers?
If you’re sold on smart garage door openers, you may now be wondering which one to get. You actually have quite a few choices. As the popularity of this technology increases, the number of available systems is only growing. Here’s a brief smart garage door opener buying guide to some of the most popular opener systems to help you figure it all out.
MyQ Garage Door Opener (LiftMaster®, Chamberlain®)
When you install a new LiftMaster® or Chamberlain garage door opener system, you will definitely want to get it with MyQ, which is a leader in smart garage technology.
MyQ openers have all the features mentioned above, allowing you to set a daily schedule for when your garage door opens and closes, receive security alerts and open or close the door from anywhere you have a wireless connection. Another useful feature is that MyQ can be integrated with Amazon Key, which allows Amazon to deliver packages directly into your garage for your convenience. MyQ also has compatibility with platforms to provide connectivity between popular smart home platforms such as ring, another Amazon product.
Nexx Garage
People enjoy the Nexx Garage system for its simplicity. It plugs into a regular outlet and uses a wireless and a wired sensor to register when the door is open or closed.
It has all the standard smart garage features, like open/close notification, door open alerts and auto-open scheduling and is also compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, which means your garage door can be voice-activated and serve as an integrated part of your smart home system. Pairing Nexx Garage with your home assistant is easy and happens basically automatically.
The most modern versions of Nexx Garage also feature geofencing, which is a feature you can enable that opens your door automatically when your smartphone enters the vicinity.
Genie Aladdin Connect
Another popular smart garage door opener is the Aladdin Connect, from Genie. This one works with a Bluetooth center statically attached to the door, so you don’t have to worry about the connection dropping. Like the Nexx Garage, the Aladdin Connect is also compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant.
Bonus features on the Genie Aladdin Connect include the ability to control up to three garage doors with the same system and an automatic setting called trigger that automatically closes the door if it has been left open for more than a set amount of time.
Although many garage door opener companies have their own smart garage door systems, you do not necessarily need to have a company’s garage door opener to use their smart garage door controller. Some smart garage door systems come with a new garage door opener installation, while others you can buy separately and install yourself.
Contact Best Overhead Door to Learn More
If your garage is in Portland, OR, Vancouver, WA, or anywhere in the Portland Metro area, Best Overhead Door is here to help you sort it all out. We can show you a range of new garage door openers with smart technology or help you select and install the smart garage door controller of your choice.
For more information about smart garage door technology and what it can do for you, read our recent posts or contact Best Overhead Door today. Reach out to us online or call us now at 503-620-1205.