Is a Smart Garage Door Opener Worth It? myQ, Retrofit Hubs and New Openers

A smart garage door opener does one thing the old kind cannot: it tells you where the door is when you are not there, and lets you do something about it. Most of the rest — schedules, guest access, cameras — is useful to some households and noise to others.

The good news is that the question has become less expensive to answer. Most current openers in the two lines we fit have the smart part built in, and many older openers can be brought onto the same app with a hub. What follows is when it pays off, what it costs to run, and when the right answer is a new opener instead of an add-on.

Four decades of garage doors and openers for names Ontario knows — Canada’s Wonderland, Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire, the LCBO, Metrolinx, Marriott & Hilton hotels, the University of Toronto — plus thousands of businesses across the GTA. Dependable people, quality products, since 1979.

What does a smart garage door opener actually do?

A smart opener is an ordinary opener with a Wi-Fi link to an app on your phone. For LiftMaster and Chamberlain — both made by the Chamberlain Group — that app is myQ, and on most current models the Wi-Fi is built into the opener rather than sold as an add-on.

The

myQ app

lists the garage features as free: an alert whenever the door opens, closes or is left open; opening and closing from anywhere; schedules that close the door at a set time; and shared access for other people in the household. Some models add a camera in the head unit and battery backup, which keeps the door running through a power cut.

Is a smart garage door opener worth it?

For most households with an attached garage, yes. The feature that earns its keep is not opening the door from the office — it is the alert that says the door has been open since 7:40 this morning, and the button that closes it. An attached garage left open is an open door into the house, and in an Ontario January it is also a cold one.

It is worth the least when the garage is detached, rarely used, or when nobody in the house will keep the app installed and signed in. The honest test is simple: has anyone in your house ever driven back to check the garage door? If so, it is worth it.

Retrofit hub or a new opener — which should I buy?

Keep a healthy opener and add a hub; replace a failing one. A retrofit hub puts a sensor on the door and a small unit on the ceiling that talks to the opener, so the opener you already have joins the app. According to myQ, most opener brands made after 1993 are compatible, and those openers will usually have safety sensor eyes.

The trap is a hub on a dying opener. It works until the opener's gear or logic board goes, and then you are buying the opener anyway — and most new LiftMaster and Chamberlain openers would have given you the same app at no extra cost. A failed opener is one we replace rather than repair, for reasons set out on garage door opener repair or replacement.

Does myQ require a monthly fee?

Not for the garage door. The myQ app is free, and the door features — control from anywhere, open and left-open alerts, scheduled closing — are part of it. What costs money is recorded video: according to Chamberlain's own FAQ, saved event history and smart detection on a camera device come with a video storage subscription.

The part to be sceptical about is integration with other platforms. Connections between myQ and other smart-home systems have been charged for, changed or withdrawn more than once over the years. Buy the opener for the machine and the myQ app, and treat any third-party integration as a bonus that may not last.

What are the downsides of a smart opener?

A smart garage door opener has three genuine downsides, and none of them is a reason to avoid one if you plan around them.

1. It is only as good as the Wi-Fi in the garage. Garages are often the weakest spot in the house — an exterior wall, a steel door and a concrete floor between the router and the opener. Check the signal where the opener hangs before you pay for the feature; a mesh node or extender often solves it.
2. It depends on the maker's cloud. When the service or your internet is down, the app cannot reach the door. The remotes, the keypad and the wall button keep working, because they talk to the opener directly.
3. It is a door on your network. Give the myQ account a unique password and turn on two-step sign-in. A garage door that opens from a phone is only as secure as the phone and the account.

Which smart opener should I choose?

Choose the drive for the garage and the smart features come with it. Both lines we fit run the same myQ app, so the brand decision is about the machine: a chain drive is the value option and the loudest; a belt drive is the same machine made quiet, the right answer under a bedroom; and a jackshaft mounts on the wall beside the door and turns the spring shaft directly, leaving the ceiling clear.

Horsepower is set by the door, not by preference — an insulated double door is heavier than a single, and the opener has to match it. Model detail is on LiftMaster openers and Chamberlain openers, and the belt, chain and jackshaft comparison is on garage door openers. Extra remotes, keypads and help getting an existing opener onto myQ are on remotes & keypads.

What happens when a new smart opener is installed?

A new opener is normally one visit of one to two hours. The door is checked first — balance, springs, cables and rollers — because a smart opener on a badly balanced door fails as quickly as any other. The old unit comes down, the new one goes up, the photo eyes are set and wired, the travel and force are set, and the safety reversal is tested against an obstruction before we leave.

The last step is the smart one: joining the opener to your Wi-Fi and the myQ app. Do it before the installer leaves, standing in the driveway, so you know the signal reaches and the app works. If the door itself is the problem — it sticks, reverses or will not close — sort that first; the free checks are in garage door not closing.