Credit: Reviewed / Whitson Gordon
The Chamberlain MyQ Smart GarageHub is the best smart garage door opener, for most people.
Credit: Reviewed / Whitson Gordon
The Tailwind iQ3 offers a superior user experience over the Chamberlain MyQ Smart GarageHub.
How We Tested
The Tester
I’m Whitson Gordon, a freelance tech writer charged with testing smart home gadgets (among other things) here at Reviewed. I’ve been writing about tech professionally for over 10 years, from building computers to setting up smart homes.
I served as the editor-in-chief of Lifehacker and How-To Geek before starting a freelance career writing guides for publications like the New York Times, PCMag, and Reviewed. This isn’t just my day job—it’s my calling. I’m obsessed with researching, testing, and finding the best possible gadget in a given category, so much so that my brother made it a central joke in his best man speech at my wedding.
I've been decking out my house with smart home tech for a few years, including a major revamp after buying a new house in 2019. With all-new electrical, a robust Wi-Fi system, and an ever-growing tool chest, my house is primed for testing smart gadgets of all stripes—alongside my experience setting up smart home devices in my family's older, more challenging houses.
The Tests
To test garage openers, we connected them to our sectional garage door using an old-but-not-ancient Genie Pro Screw Drive CM8600 motor which was compatible with every opener we tested—more on that below. We then configured the opener's smartphone app on both an Android phone and an iPhone.
We tested the door's responsiveness when opening and closing, using both the app and smart speakers, as well as evaluated the user interface in the app itself. We also tried any extra features included like geofencing and notifications to make sure they worked properly.
What You Should Know About Smart Garage Door Openers
Installing a smart garage hub is easier than it sounds, even if you have to deal with a bit of wiring. As long as your opener is compatible, the only tool you should need is a screwdriver—and some may not even require that. Just make sure you unplug the motor before you start messing with its wiring.
You will, however, have to check compatibility before you buy. Most of the openers we tested should work with relatively modern garage motors since they attach to the screw terminals used for wall buttons. Before you buy, check the manufacturer's website for a list of compatible openers, or an interactive tool that walks you through compatibility checking.
In addition, consider how much smart functionality you require. All the models we tested will open and close your door from your phone, and send notifications when the doors are opened or closed. But only some offer auto-opening when you arrive home, voice assistant integration, or the ability to share access with other people.
We've addressed these concerns (and more) in our guide, so be sure to read each entry thoroughly if you're considering buying a specific opener.
Other Smart Garage Door Openers We Tested
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Checking our work.
We use standardized and scientific testing methods to scrutinize every product and provide you with objectively accurate results. If you’ve found different results in your own research, email us and we’ll compare notes. If it looks substantial, we’ll gladly re-test a product to try and reproduce these results. After all, peer reviews are a critical part of any scientific process.
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