Gadgetory

hi I'm rich brown first CNET today we're going to look at the Chamberlin my cue garage door opener this is $130 smart home product and this basic function is pretty simple you connected to your garage door opener and then through an app on your iPhone or Android device you can use it to remotely control the garage door from pretty much wherever you are it also lets to see the status of the garage door and a containing notifications so if it's open when you don't want it to be your phone will tell you and you can close it pretty quickly with the app so you mount a Wi-Fi hub for the mic you hear in the ceiling and the idea is that it flashes a signal to your existing garage door opener and then that tells the garage door to open and close there's a sensor on the door that helps detect whether the garage door is open or shut and that sends a signal to the Wi-Fi hub which then tells your phone hey your garage is open your garage door shut gives it kind of that status update now you do need to plug it into a power outlet so you have to have one nearby probably will if you already have a electronic garage door opener it's also designed to work with pretty much any garage door opener on the market chamberlain says it works with about 90 percent of existing models anyone from about 1986 on I think is the date they say is pretty much going to work you do need to be comfortable popping off the top of the garage door opener and finding the program button inside that will send the signal to the mic you opener to have it programmed for the right sensor setting to open and close the door so installation is pretty simple there's a bracket here that you have to screw into your ceiling it comes with a couple of drywall anchors if you need those here I just went right up into the woods and there's no drywall and then the hub itself slides right on as for the sensor on the front of the door you can use screws but it also comes with some adhesive strips and that's what I used here that in order to control my cue from your phone you do need a Wi-Fi signal out to your garage now I do have a pretty weak Wi-Fi signal coming out here but it still works there's only one bar it shows up on the app but it's good enough I've had no problems with connectivity now there are a few other smart garage door openers out there and some you have to wire directly to your existing opener that's not really ideal for obvious reasons wireless solution is a lot more convenient it also will tell you through a series of beeps and light flashes when you close the door you have about a 30 second delay once you press the close button the mic you and from when the door itself actually shuts so the mycube garage door opener is a pretty simple product and that's sort of nice it kind of does what it says is going to do you don't have to worry about much else with it so it's nice about the my cue is that it's kind of evidence that the smart home ecosystem isn't going to be the series of walled off little gardens it's a part of the nest Developer Program so it can work with your nest thermostat and other devices in that ecosystem it was named as one of the first partners for apple's homekit program which is going to link various devices into iOS and just this past week they also announced support for the new wink hub which is part of quirky smart home spin-off design exclusively to make smart home products so it works pretty well it's relatively affordable and my cue is poised to work with all kinds of other smart home devices if you want to go down that road that makes it kind of an easy recommendation by maurice brown this is the chamberlain mycube garage door open