Chamberlain MyQ Smart Garage Door Opener Review

When my old LiftMaster garage door opener finally stopped working after over a decade of reliable service, I decided to upgrade to a smart garage door opener.

I decided to go for a Chamberlain MyQ Smart Garage Door Opener.

Pros

Reliability

Chamberlain has decades of experience making garage door openers. They are a market leader when it comes to garage door openers. In fact, they own a number of different brands, including the LiftMaster brand that served me so well in the past.

They also have great warranty service. That being said, I don’t expect having to make use of the warranty. Since I have had it for a year, I can tell you it has never failed me. It has continued to operate as expected.

Connectivity

I’ve been using the iOS app with FaceID and I have never had any issues with it. It’s very responsive and opens and closes the garage door within seconds.

Another thing I like about it is that it includes a history log, so I can conveniently check when the garage door was opened and closed on different days.

If you are the forgetful type, you can also set up schedules for the garage door opener to close automatically, for example every night at 11pm.

Safety Sensors

The garage door opener comes with standard safety sensors, which you place on each side of the garage door. Beyond that, when you use the app to close the garage door, I noticed the lights also blink and you can hear an audible sound. This way there is advance warning for anyone nearby. I think this feature was well thought out. Nice job, Chamberlain!

Amazon Key Compatibility

I’ve been tempted to use this service but so far I’ve held off because I haven’t had any problems with Amazon deliveries in the past. However, if you have dealt with package theft in your area, then this is a great safety tool. Basically, you can give Amazon drivers access to open your garage door and leave your packages inside.

The newer Chamberlain myQ garage door openers include a built-in camera, which you could use to monitor Amazon deliveries of course. If you don’t have it built in or you don’t want to pay for the subscription service that’s required for the Chamberlain camera, you could also just set up another security camera in your garage.

One thing to note about Amazon Key with Chamberlain, there are typically promotions available within the app. You could get $30 or $40 off on your first Amazon Key delivery, so that’s an additional incentive for you. Definitely check it out!

Cons

Subscription Service

If you buy the garage door opener with a security camera (or you opt to add their security camera as an add-on), you will have to pay a subscription fee unfortunately. That’s very common these days of course but the downside is that there are no free days at all to take advantage of. It’s a straight subscription service.

HomeKit Setup

If you want to connect your garage door opener to Apple HomeKit, you will need a separate myQ accessory a bridge. It’s great that Chamberlain offers this but it would be a lot easier if HomeKit integration came built in. It’s incredibly inconvenient to buy additional accessories and find a place to set them up. It’s just too much clutter!

Takeaways

Overall, I am quite pleased with this garage door opener. I know Chamberlain is constantly working to upgrade and adding new features. I also looked at competing garage door openers, but to be honest I didn’t feel comfortable with the alternatives because they don’t have the long history like Chamberlain. Safety and reliability are top concerns when it comes to garage door openers and this is why I’d still prefer Chamberlain ultimately given their track record.