meross Smart Garage Door Opener Remote, Compatible with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, SmartThings, Multiple Notification Modes, No Hub Needed

All-in-all, this little device works well and consistently, giving me remote access to opening/closing my Genie garage door.I purchased this MSG100 just a bit over a week ago. I was initially surprised to find some pieces missing (little screws, adhesive pads, test wire), so I reached out to Meross to see if there was anything they could do. They were able to send me a new package, this one with the missing pieces.Now that I had everything, I was ready to set it up. It really wasn't that difficult. I was initially worried that I didn't know enough about garage doors to do this, but it really wasn't that difficult. I watched a YouTube video where someone mounted this that gave a good easy-to-understand visual.They give you a little piece of wire that you can use to connect between two contacts on your garage door in order to test if the device is compatible with your opener. In my case, the terminals I needed to test had a number 1 and 2 next to them (see attached picture). If you would like to test before you decide to order, you can just use your own wire, or take a pair of pliers and bridge the connection. If your garage door opens/closes when you touch it to both of the terminals, then the Meross device will work.Walking through the app will go over all of the directions. After testing, they recommend to go ahead and plug up the device to power inside your home to get it started with wifi setup. If you can plug it up in the garage, that will also let you test if your wifi will reach. Once I had the app setup, I moved on to installing it.I used the provided adhesive pads to stick the device on top of the opener itself, and just bundled the cables together so they're all up there (see photo). The power cable is a USB plug that connects to a regular power adapter, and there should be an outlet just above your garage door opener. The control cable has two leads that now need to connect to those same two terminals that were tested before.The final cable on the device has a red connector that attaches to the long cable included for the door sensor. This was probably to longest part since I had to run the cable across the rail to the door itself. There should already be some wire running across this rail to one of the control levers that stops the door when it's closed. I just followed that and put the new wire under the plastic clips holding the existing wire. In my case, I opted to attach the sensor using the included adhesive pads to the top of the plastic piece that slides along the underside of the rail (the emergency release lever part). This is what the guy did in the Youtube video. It was a shorter run and easier than attaching the sensor on the door, while also serving the same purpose. If you do the same, just keep in mind this plastic piece also hits the levers on the rail to stop it once it's closed, so just put it like in the picture attached so it doesn't conflict.Once all was done, I just opened the app and tapping the garage door icon was opening and closing my garage door! It initially was giving an error saying that the garage door failed to open or close, even though it opened/closed just fine. This is because of the "Opening time" setting that you will need to adjust. This setting tells the app to wait a longer/shorter time before checking to see if it completed successfully. Since my door takes a while to open, I had to change the 15sec default to 20 seconds. Now I don't get the message, and successfully get notifications when the door opens and closes. These notifications work even if you use your manual remote or button in your car to open, which is cool.And on top of that, it also integrates with Alexa. Just download the Meross Alexa Skill and link it, then you can open and close it with your voice.At the end of the day, it works quite will so far and I am very happy with it. I was apprehensive at first due to my lack of knowledge, but it really was pretty simple. And Meross came through and did the right thing to get me the missing parts so I didn't have to return it. Just give them some time to respond.Final note: If I did have one small gripe so far, it would be that once you have it integrated with Alexa, the Alexa app does not have an open/close button that you can tap. So if you do not want voice control, you can't use the Alexa app to control it, so you'll just have to use the Meross app. I'm not sure if it's an issue with the Alexa app or the Meross skill. The Alexa app does not treat the garage door opener like a smart plug with a simple on/off button. I can't dock them for that, but if Meross and/or Amazon are listening: you guys should get together and find a way to have a simple open/close button in the Alexa app just like you do in the Meross app. That way you can use the Alexa app as the hub even if you don't want to use voice.

This is not a promotional, paid, or promised gift review; I am doing this because this product deserves a great review. I’ve had a My-Q system for several years, that kind of worked. Very much a pain to hook up, it would notify me that my doors were open when they weren’t, and changing batteries involved a ladder. But then one door failed, and customer service could not solve the problem without recommending replacing that $150 control board. Then I found this Meross product. I figured what do I have to lose with something so inexpensive. But this is amazing and should be selling for much more.The unit itself is about the size of a deck of cards with an antenna and some plug-in ports. One goes to the USB power supply. Then each door has its own long wire. [The unit can run 3 doors, the kit comes the wires for 2 doors.] One end plugs into the Meross. The other end is the door sensor, which is similar to most alarm system magnets. The wire is already attached to one end, and I screwed this to the wall just above the top of the garage door. I screwed the other magnet to the top of the garage door. It comes with double sided tape, but I felt better putting in screws. There are options, instructions and brackets to how to attach to the J-channel, but the method I used was super easy. Then the 2 wires in the middle of the long wire plug into the back of the door opening motor. I don’t know how this could be simpler.My case was slightly different in that I have two different kinds of Liftmaster motors. These needed accessory kits, that Meross sent right away. It took two different accessory kits for the different motors, but both were easy. The accessory kit is a small box that attaches to those two wires in the middle of the long wire. Then you program that box to the learn button for the garage door. Still, hooking up the accessory kit was maybe 2 minutes and incredibly easy.The app for my phone works perfectly to both tell me the status of the doors and also to allow me to open or close them. You can set times to be alerted, such as a reminder the door has been open for 15 minutes. You can tell the app to automatically close the doors at night just in case your forgot. You can also open/close the doors through Alexa. Note that the units starts beeping before it closes a door to warn anyone around that the door is closing.The Meross unit communicates to the app via your WiFi. This was no problem for me and my detached garage 50’ behind my house as I already use PowerLine to send WiFi to the garage for Nest cameras, TV streaming, etc. But if the distance to your WiFi router is too far, you might need an extender. What I definitely appreciated during setup is that it told me the strength of the WiFi signal it found, which was a very nice touch.I had a couple of occasions to contact customer support to make sure I had ordered the correct unit and arrange for the accessory kits. They always responded right away.In short, I simply do not know how you could find a better deal on a smart remote garage door system.