Never Forget to Close your Garage Door Again!

I am pretty excited about a new product that we have installed into our home.  But I must explain my excitement a bit.  You see, way back in 2011, late one night we took the trash out- it was one of those, you’re laying in bed falling asleep only to remember it is trash day tomorrow, moments…DOH!  So, my sweet husband stumbled out of bed and took out the trash, but in the haze, he forgot to shut the garage door.  Well, 8 hours and $1,000+ worth of stolen tools later, we woke up.

It is one of those moments, I’ve never really forgotten!!  That feeling that I was completely unaware that some stranger with bad intentions was rummaging around, taking my stuff, while me AND my babies were asleep just an unlocked door away …  So, I got a security system, but they just didn’t have good options for garage door monitoring, and that was the one thing that I wanted the most.  Because well that was my main concern.

So, just a month or so ago, when I heard that Chamberlain Garage doors, had a new wifi garage door opener coming out this month, I was practically bending over backward to get one!!  You will not believe the features on this baby!!

One: Imagine pulling out of your garage and taking off down the road when you get that thought… “Did I shut the garage door?”  I know I hate that, so you double back, make sure it is closed, most of the time it is you just don’t want to be that one time…

Well, if you had this new garage door, you could just pull over  (yes, don’t do this while driving, it is irresponsible and dangerous), open the app on your smart phone and it will tell you if the garage door is open or closed, and by the way, if you forgot to shut it… you can shut it.  BAM!  BEST THING EVER!!!

Two: In our case we hadn’t even left the house… So, if we left the garage door open and went to sleep, we can set the settings in our app to notify us if the garage door has been open for let’s say 30 minutes.  And have an alarm sound on our phone to remind us to close it.  GENIUS!

Three: Okay, so one feature that I wasn’t even aware of until last night is that it has a backup battery… (I guess I am in story teller mode today, sorry for all the stories!)  We were hanging out in our backyard Friday night when we heard what sounded like a cannon go off not far away… About 2 minutes later our neighbor came out to ask if our power was out, and YEP it was.  So our dinner plans were out the window and we called to order pizza for pickup.

We walked into our garage, like any other time and opened the garage doo r(without even realizing with the power out it wouldn’t work…duh)  Well, it opened, and mid opening, I realized, “Wait, the power is out, how is the garage door opening”.   Apparently it saves enough power for about 5 openings, that feature is incredible and so convenient!!

Four: the light turns on automatically when I open the door to the garage.  IAs a mother who usually has her hands full quite literally I appreciate this feature so much!

Okay so for those of you that read bullet points… (I get you)

Key Features

• Built In Wi-Fi – The first garage door opener on the market with built-in Wi-Fi. Connects directly to your home’s Wi-Fi router and sets up in minutes using your smartphone, no additional hardware needed.
• Smartphone Control – Monitor and control your garage door from anywhere using your smartphone or tablet. Never worry about an open garage door again. (use your phone as a keyless entry!!)
• Smartphone Notifications – Smartphone notifications alert you when the garage door has opened or closed, and for how long the door has been in that state.
• Smart Home Partnerships – Will integrate with Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings and others, Nest and Wink Devices.
• Battery Backup – Built in battery allows for 3 days of use when the power is out.  Never get locked out of your garage during a storm.
• Whisper Drive – Strong and durable steel reinforced belt is quiet as a whisper.  Especially great when garage is adjacent to a living area or bedroom.
• 1-1/4 horsepower – Powerful DC motor will provide durability even when used frequently.  Great when your garage door is used as your front door.
• Homelink Compatible – Works with the Homelink buttons built into most cars.
• Easier to install than you think – Requires just a few, simple, common tools to fully assemble and install.
• Motion detecting light!  (love this feature!)
• Thermometer – My husband is excited about the built in Thermometer that is in the opening button display, after all, the garage is his Man Cave… so the little feature of knowing how hot or cold you are going to be is exciting to him!
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I am seriously such a home tech geek now, I will admit, I am slow on the uptake… but once I realize what you can do and how convenient it can be, my everyday way of living life changes so easily to accommodate the awesome-ness of the features at my fingertips.

I really am excited about my new garage door opener!!  It is one of the best new updates we have made to our new home.  Thanks to Chamberlain for providing the product for review.  All opinions are my own.