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The best smart garage-door controller
By Jennifer Pattison Tuohy This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full guide to smart garage-door controllers. After spending over 20 hours wiring and rewiring garage-door openers, opening and closing the doors with our smartphones and our voices, and controlling them through smartphone apps and home-automation routines, we found that the Chamberlain MyQ Garage (MYQ-G0301) is the best smart garage-door controller for most people. It was the easiest and quickest to install of all the controllers we tested, it's among the simplest to set up and use, and it's compatible with the most garage doors out there, thanks to the huge popularity of Chamberlain and LiftMaster products in homes across the country. It also integrates with the popular Nest Cam if you want a remote view of your garage. With the addition of an optional bridge, MyQ can work with Apple's HomeKit smart-home platform, too. Chamberlain's MyQ Garage is a great choice for extending the remote-control operation of your garage door beyond your home. The MyQ Garage integrates with Nest, Wink, and Xfinity Home smart-home hubs. Apple HomeKit compatibility is available with the purchase of the MyQ Home Bridge, and Google Home and IFTTT are offered for a $10 annual subscription. MyQ can also integrate with the Google Assistant on smart devices, like the Google Home, but you'll have to pay for an integration service ($1 per month or $10 for a year). The MyQ Garage also works with the MyQ smart light switch and smart lamp controller, letting you turn on the lights and air conditioning as you open the garage door, if you like. It is also compatible with Amazon's Key in-garage service for Amazon Prime customers in certain cities. Of the controllers we tested, the Gogogate2 boasts the most useful features and is the smallest, most lightweight, and least obtrusive (the MyQ Garage comes in a close second in size). Its app opened and closed the door seamlessly and simply every time. It's compatible with a wide range of garage doors, and it integrates directly with many IP security cameras if you want to see your garage door in real time. You can also check the temperature inside your garage, share access with up to 10 users for free, and automatically open and close your door using geolocation and voice, through integration with IFTTT and Amazon's Echo. The downsides are a more complicated install than for the other units we tested, little support for integration with smart hubs despite its smarts, and the lack of an ability to set custom alerts when the garage door is left open. If you already have a smart-home automation system installed, and you find the Gogogate2's lack of hub compatibility to be a dealbreaker, the GoControl/Linear Z-Wave Garage Door Opener Remote Controller is the most "vanilla" model out there, with Z-Wave control allowing you to add as many sprinkles and toppings as you are comfortable with through your choice of hub. The GoControl is the least expensive option for off-site remote control of your garage door.
Amazon Key in-garage deliveries are available for Prime customers
Those wary of package thieves can now add an extra measure of security to their home. Amazon is officially launching its Key in-garage delivery service, which it began testing in 37 US cities earlier this year. Now, Amazon's Key service, including Key for Garage, is available for Prime customers in 50 US cities. The service is intended for customers with a myQ smart garage door opener, which allows you to open and close your garage door with your smartphone. You can now give Amazon couriers access to your garage, which allows them to place your packages securely inside.
LiftMaster uses your iPhone as a remote garage door opener
Sometimes I begin to wonder if the entire "let's control your life from your smartphone" thing is going a little too far. We've seen iPhone-powered barista tools, ADT sells a smartphone-connected security system, and now garage door opener manufacturer LiftMaster is selling two openers that can use your iPhone or computer to open and close your garage door. From the marketing materials on the LiftMaster website, it's apparent that they want you to be able to open or close your garage door from any room in your house, from your backyard, or while you're on vacation thousands of miles away. Call me old-fashioned, but why can't you just walk a few feet and punch the wall-mounted garage door button to open and close it? The system, which LiftMaster refers to as MyQ, uses an internet gateway that connects to the garage door opener. Install the LiftMaster Home Control app (free) on your iPhone, and now you're opening and closing your garage door from that internet café on Novaya Zemlya. Sure, MyQ can also turn on and off lights in addition to opening and closing that garage door, but what ever happened to the good old days when you either a) used timers on lights, and b) had your neighbors check on your place? That's certainly less expensive than this system, which ZDNet reports has a price tag of $350 - $500, plus a $15 annual fee for the privilege of using your phone to operate your garage door. Seriously?
Master Lock unveils smartTouch garage door opener
Let's face it: there's a myriad ways to open one's garage door, but you won't find us kvetching over a new, relatively affordable alternative to the tried and true numeric keypad. Master Lock's smartTouch GDO is a universal add-on device that ditches the numbers and relies instead on the swiping of your digit to open the connected door. Purportedly, you can register up to 20 users on a single device, ensuring that your entire fraternity will have the ability to sneak in through the garage door if they misplace the house key. Sadly, it's not likely to arrive before the Spring semester starts, but you can snap one up shortly after Rush Week for $129.95.[Via Gearlog]
Waleli GSM-doorbell hits version 2.0
When you're already using your cellphone to track your wild domesticated animals, keep your family safe, and even buy gadgetry, you might as well use it to let the butler in too, right? Waleli has revamped its GSM-doorbell apparatus, which allows pedestrians to "ring your mobile," so that a simple doorbell press phones the owner and allows for a full-fledged conversation to occur. After you've determined that the mystery caller should gain entry, you simply "enter a pincode" which triggers the system to unlock the house or open a garage door. New to version 2.0 is the ability to access the device remotely in order to create a virtual remote control; if you (or your significant other) gets locked out of the crib, the machine will recognize your phone number and release the latches for its master on command. While we aren't sure how much this incredulous convenience will cost you (or save you over the long haul), at least the GSM-doorbell allows for more important keys to occupy that overstuffed keyring.[Via Textually]
