My family can’t be the only one who’s accidentally left the garage door open overnight, right? Chamberlain wants to solve that problem by making your dumb old garage door smarter with the MyQ Smart Garage Hub, which allows you to open and close your garage door or check its status from your smartphone. Grab yours today for $99.99.
The MyQ Smart Garage Hub is simple to install and even simpler to set up. Inside the retail box, you’ll find the hub itself, a garage door sensor, and mounting hardware. Before installing the hub inside your garage, you’ll want to connect the hub to your WiFi network and set everything up via the incredibly simple in-app instructions. Once you’re all connected electronically, you’ll want to mount the hub to your garage ceiling, close enough to your electrical outlet, using the included mount and hardware.
The hub itself has an LED light indicator that’s used to warn occupants that the garage door is about to close. The LED light flashes along with audible beeping, for safety’s sake, so that no one runs out under the closing door. The garage door sensor is a neat little box that talks to the hub letting it know whether the door is in the open or closed position. It’s connected to the top panel of your garage door using adhesive tape and runs on a battery that appears to be easily replaceable.
Using the MyQ Smart Garage Hub is very simple. I am able to open the app, use Touch ID to log in, and my Smart Garage Hub shows up on the main screen. There, I can check the status of my door or open/close the door as I wish. You can also set alerts in the MyQ app to let you know if the door has been left open for a specified amount of time or at a certain time of day. The alerts are very customizable and will absolutely prevent us from leaving the door open all night in the future.
I can’t tell you how nice it is now that I never have to wonder whether or not I left the garage door open now that the MyQ Smart Garage Hub communicates over WiFi with my smartphone. I can easily check the status of my garage door (including how long it’s either been open or closed), open my garage door, close my garage door right from my iPhone. Plus, the $99.99 cost of the MyQ Smart Hub is a much easier proposition than spending $500 plus installation a new garage door opener system would cost with smart features built-in.
Check out this gallery of installation screenshots:
The MyQ Smart Garage Hub is compatible with most brands of garage door openers made after 1993 that are equipped with standard safety sensors. The Smart Garage Hub is also able to work with your other smart home devices and platforms, like Nest or Wink. You’re also able to use the MyQ system with partner apps such as Google Assistant, Apple Homekit, or IFTTT, but after a 30-day trial period, you’ll be subject to a $1/month or $10/year fee. In all honesty, the fees feel a bit stingy when many companies offer these services free of charge.
During my testing, I was impressed with the ease of installation and ease of use of the MyQ Smart Garage Hub. While Chamberlain unfortunately charges additional fees to link up with other services that stand to add more features, the built-in features of the MyQ Smart Garage Hub are more than worth the $99.99 price tag on their own.
You can purchase your MyQ Smart Garage Hub directly from Chamberlain at their website or through Amazon.
Source: The MyQ Smart Garage Hub was a manufacturer supplied review sample.
What I Like: Simple setup and installation; Easy to use; Smart alerts; Adds smart features to existing dumb garage door openers
What Needs Improvement: Disappointing fee to link up with external free services like IFTTT, Google Assistant, etc.