NEXX Garage Smart Garage Door Controller
$34.99
$79.99
56% off
Reference Price
Condition: New
Color: Black
Top positive review
Great product, Great Price, FAST installation.
By Staci Jones on Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2017
I was nervous about connecting this up, but it was so simple! Now one thing i would get is nail in cable clips ( https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-200-Pack-Nail-Clips/dp/B00Y362HSA/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1510831266&sr=8-12&keywords=wire+to+wall) because you will have a wire above your mechanical garage door you dont want to fall and get tangled. I had some from other projects which made this easy. Without them this would have been a run to hardware task! The other thing is the mount to the garage door. I was concerned and rightfully so. the small screws for that half of the sensor mount are to tiny to be useful to a steel door top which is not flat to begin with. Fortunately i had screws of various sized and was able to have two that worked well. I used a finishing nail to punch guide hole in steel top and used screws to mount. Since it was not smooth i had to also craft a small mounting block out of plastic to provide a solid spacer to the screws/mount. It actually worked better because i was able to then put the sensor closer and mount the wall sensor a bit higher on the wall (by a bit, im talking 1/4 inch, not a whole lot but it make clearances perfect and the top mount more solid than the small screws would have been. So additional to the nail clips for the wire (I did about every 2ft from wall to Garage Door Opener), you will want two screws and something about 1/4 inch to use as a spacer. (you can use the plastic wall mounts that go in a wall and clip ends if you need, that will allow a tight mount and consistent size on both screws to keep the sensor in perfect spot. The app works GREAT. The wifi has no issue at all connecting (i was worried that a garage through ceiling below a media room would have to much interference, but it connected easily and quickly! I love the logs it keeps, I have given this to all of the kids and wife and we have removed the remotes from cars. (no more worrying someone left car door unlocked to give someone access!) I have not been successful with proximity opening but to be fair, i tested it 1 time after i set everything up and never got around to figuring out why it didnt work. (there is an on/off in app and also a time of day option, im sure i did something wrong there) Overall, for the price you cant beat this! You can control the opener with Alexa (with or without a pin. I recommend with so someone doesn't come to your home while your away and yell at alexa through a window to open your garage, LOL) The voice control, opening with smart phone and log of who opened/closed and when is great. Also, if it is open it will send your phone a notification every 15 minutes until you close it or turn off that notification! Love that! No more having kids accidently leave it open and leave with friends to play or someone forgetting after bringing in groceries. Even with the "extra" items i had to get out of my things to make this work, from unbox to completion was just about 30 minutes give or take, including putting up ladder and tools afterwards. Definitely under an hour in any reasonably normal situation. check your opener for compatibility and if it is, and your wondering which to get, this IS THE ONE! I will add it took 5-10 of my 30 minutes to figure out the proper wiring. I have a chamberlain and there were 2 pairs, 4 wires and i wasnt sure which to pair with (not sure which was sensor pair and which was opener.) I took one pair out, went to panel and pushed button It did not open i knew i had right pair so twisted in wires, put back in, done. Had it been other pair it would have taken about 1-2 minutes more to switch LOL But know that the instructions are not clear for all devices as mine had no screws, but had punch ins.which was confusing to make sure i paired right. But even with the three things (clips, 2 screws/spacer and wiring question) it was a FAST install and it works GREAT. I highly recommend to anyone wanting to add that functionallity
Top critical review
37 people found this helpful
Unexpected major problem with multiple user with Auto-Open function.
By BoraDori on Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2018
2 Month use review (Jan 2019): There is a serious flaw with the way the system is designed when it comes to Auto-open function. I have my own account in my phone and my wife has shared account on her phone. Both are set up to auto-open. Auto-open has been working fine for us, unlike some of the users. When either of us are the only one in the car, there is no issue. When both of us are in the car, this has created really dangerous situation. When the system senses one of our phone, it will auto-open the garage. When it senses the 2nd phone, it will trigger the system again, causing the door to close. System doesn't recognize the fact that the door is open or opening when the auto-open from second phone is triggered. It is as if you pressed the garage door opener twice, causing the door to open and then close. If your wheels are not near the garage door safety sensor, garage door will come down on you! Auto-open function triggered by the second phone should not cause the door to close after auto-open is triggered by the first phone. After testing out why sometimes the door would auto-open and close, I figured this is to be true. I would consider this to be a MAJOR FLAW. If one of our Nexx app is logged out and we are in the same car, auto-open functions as it should. Below is the original order after week of use, which I gave high rating: Installation was not much of an issue and syncing with the Nexx App was also a breeze. Only issue with installation that I had was with the Nexx App showing reverse of the door open and close in the initial run. I had the garage door closed, but Nexx App showed that it was open. If I pressed the button to open the door, Nexx App would show that garage was closed. Sensors were within 1/4 in as suggested. This was fixed by having the door open and re-registering the machine. My disappointment is with Alexa and Google Assistant/Home integration. It is true that you can use Alexa or Google Assistant/Home to open and close the garage door. You can set up the code requirement for both Alexa and Google so that people from outside can't just open your garage by asking the door to open. This is a must! If you don't do this and have either Google or Alexa in the garage, people from outside can yell to open the garage. Here is what I found with Alexa: 1. Skill set exists, but you have to say "ask Nexx to open the door."...or something like that. It's not a native way to talk. I found this to be the weak point of Alexa ecosystem overall and another reason to use Google Home since they are now compatible with more devices. 2. Nexx Garage DOES NOT show up in device list in Alexa. Alexa won't recognize it, but if you have the Nexx skill installed in Alexa, you can control it. Only issue I see with this is that I can't create routine in Alexa that involves Nexx garage door. For example, when I say "I'm taking out the trash" as a routine, I wanted the garage light to come on and garage door to open. There is no way to make this happen since Nexx garage does not show up as a device that I can add into routine set up. 3. Other than opening and closing the garage door, you can ask Alexa if the garage door is closed or open. You just need to remember to start the command with "ask Nexx garage...." Here is the issue with Google Home/Assistant: 1. Nexx Garage does not show up in the device list either. In the list of App/device to add, Nexx garage does not exist. Once you set your Nexx App to use Google Home/Assistant, it will pick up the device. 2. You can speak natively to open the garage door such as "hey google, open the garage door." 3. Google Assistant/Home Routine can be set up to include Nexx garage, unlike Alexa. In routine section of Google Home app, create your command in "When I say.." Click on "add action." Click on "Or choose popular actions." Click on "custom responses" box and then the gear icon. Type in "open garage door." For my set up I included garage light to come on and garage door to open. This works well. I couldn't make this routine to work in Alexa, despite the fact that both App does not show Nexx garage as a device. 4. Google Home/Assistant can't seem to do anything more than opening or closing the garage door. In Alexa, I can ask if the garage door is open or closed. In Google, it won't recognize the question. So, bottom line is that Alexa and Google Home/Assistant integration is limited. Alexa can be used to check the status of the garage door, but Google can't. Routines can be created in Google with Nexx, but can't with Alexa. Both don't show Nexx Garage as a device. I hope that this will change so that Nexx will show up as in the device list for both platform. Personally, I prefer to use it with Google Home/Assistant because I can use Routines. No Apple Home Kit integration. I'm not sure if other brands have better integration, but Nexx Garage does have its limitation with both platform. Advantage of this is that there is no monthly subscription as with some other brand. IFTTT has only 2 commands available with Google integration. So far, it has been working well. For auto-open function, 50m setting seems to be the sweet spot. As soon as I'm about to turn into the driveway from the street, garage door opens. Less than 50m either caused door to not open or it opened when I'm literally in front of the door. We have TP-Link smart switch for garage light, in which you can use IFTTT to turn on/off as the garage door opens/closes.
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Great product, Great Price, FAST installation.
By Staci Jones - Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2017
Verified Amazon Purchase
I was nervous about connecting this up, but it was so simple! Now one thing i would get is nail in cable clips ( https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-200-Pack-Nail-Clips/dp/B00Y362HSA/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1510831266&sr=8-12&keywords=wire+to+wall) because you will have a wire above your mechanical garage door you dont want to fall and get tangled. I had some from other projects which made this easy. Without them this would have been a run to hardware task! The other thing is the mount to the garage door. I was concerned and rightfully so. the small screws for that half of the sensor mount are to tiny to be useful to a steel door top which is not flat to begin with. Fortunately i had screws of various sized and was able to have two that worked well. I used a finishing nail to punch guide hole in steel top and used screws to mount. Since it was not smooth i had to also craft a small mounting block out of plastic to provide a solid spacer to the screws/mount. It actually worked better because i was able to then put the sensor closer and mount the wall sensor a bit higher on the wall (by a bit, im talking 1/4 inch, not a whole lot but it make clearances perfect and the top mount more solid than the small screws would have been. So additional to the nail clips for the wire (I did about every 2ft from wall to Garage Door Opener), you will want two screws and something about 1/4 inch to use as a spacer. (you can use the plastic wall mounts that go in a wall and clip ends if you need, that will allow a tight mount and consistent size on both screws to keep the sensor in perfect spot. The app works GREAT. The wifi has no issue at all connecting (i was worried that a garage through ceiling below a media room would have to much interference, but it connected easily and quickly! I love the logs it keeps, I have given this to all of the kids and wife and we have removed the remotes from cars. (no more worrying someone left car door unlocked to give someone access!) I have not been successful with proximity opening but to be fair, i tested it 1 time after i set everything up and never got around to figuring out why it didnt work. (there is an on/off in app and also a time of day option, im sure i did something wrong there) Overall, for the price you cant beat this! You can control the opener with Alexa (with or without a pin. I recommend with so someone doesn't come to your home while your away and yell at alexa through a window to open your garage, LOL) The voice control, opening with smart phone and log of who opened/closed and when is great. Also, if it is open it will send your phone a notification every 15 minutes until you close it or turn off that notification! Love that! No more having kids accidently leave it open and leave with friends to play or someone forgetting after bringing in groceries. Even with the "extra" items i had to get out of my things to make this work, from unbox to completion was just about 30 minutes give or take, including putting up ladder and tools afterwards. Definitely under an hour in any reasonably normal situation. check your opener for compatibility and if it is, and your wondering which to get, this IS THE ONE! I will add it took 5-10 of my 30 minutes to figure out the proper wiring. I have a chamberlain and there were 2 pairs, 4 wires and i wasnt sure which to pair with (not sure which was sensor pair and which was opener.) I took one pair out, went to panel and pushed button It did not open i knew i had right pair so twisted in wires, put back in, done. Had it been other pair it would have taken about 1-2 minutes more to switch LOL But know that the instructions are not clear for all devices as mine had no screws, but had punch ins.which was confusing to make sure i paired right. But even with the three things (clips, 2 screws/spacer and wiring question) it was a FAST install and it works GREAT. I highly recommend to anyone wanting to add that functionallity
Very functional, including Echo support
By Bocaboy - Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2019
Verified Amazon Purchase
I really love this device. While it is much more tedious to install this garage door opener than the Chamberlain MyQ, it is also more functional. My favorite feature is that the NEXX will open your garage door automatically as you approach your home. It also sends automatic updates to both my iPhone and Apple Watch every time the door is opened or closed, and they both work well. The NEXX also works with Alexa, but it takes a mouthful to do it. "Alexa, ask NEXX Garage Opener to open the [garage door]." (You can name your device whatever you want in settings.) Alexa almost always responds with "Please enter your security code." What your Echo is asking is for you to speak your code, not "enter" it. (You can find your code in the settings of the app. The code remains the same, so you only have to identify it the first time.) Once you get through all that, the door opens as expected. This issue apparently has to do with Amazon and security, and not NEXX. My experience is that you won't be using Alexa all that often because of the lengthy commands you need to do something simple like just opening the door. My only caution to potential purchasers is the installation process. Unlike the MyQ from Chamberlain, this device needs to be screwed onto the garage door, then a wire needs to be run from the sensor back to the NEXX controller. For anyone who has any experience with an electric drill, this isn't going to be a big challenge, but it's still more difficult than MyQ which uses a totally wireless system that can just be stuck on the garage door. The controller, which needs to be mounted directly on the garage opener, needs to have its wires connected to the terminals of the garage opener and then it needs to be plugged into an available AC outlet. Again, not a challenging operation, but frustrating enough that some people won't be able to figure it out. Lucky for me that the builder of my home installed an unused duplex in the ceiling of my garage, near the garage opener. If that wasn't the case, I would have needed to use an adapter with the garage light bulb in order to get power. The advantage of the NEXX over the MyQ is no batteries. Both the sensor and the controller are AC powered, so as long as you have electricity, your NEXX will work. With the MyQ, if the sensor battery dies, the system is down. Lastly, a quick word about NEXX's excellent customer support. I had a couple questions about the opener and they got back to me in under a day and answered my questions. Kudos to the support group for being the kind of technical support we all wish our devices had when we need help. So in short, the NEXX Garage Opener is a very functional device that does exactly what it says it will do. You just need to be a bit handy to install it.
Pros, Cons and Concerns
By Jamie - Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2017
Verified Amazon Purchase
Unlike most reviews who docked stars for some assembly required, I bought this with the expectation I had to make a bracket for the sensor. The instruction is a little confusing if you are not technical but I thought it was simple enough to figure out without needing to contact anyone. Beyond the install, here is what I found. Pros • Opening or closing the door using the app is almost instantaneous. No delay. • I have a manual off switch on my garage door button which I turn off at night. No issues. Door cannot be overridden by Nexx when the door is locked which is great. • This is not necessarily a pro or con but a neat feature. You can enable your device to detect your location of your cell. When you drive up about 2 or 3 homes away, the garage door will open on its own. I haven’t come across a security issue with that yet but you can easily disable that feature. • On the IOS app, I’m assuming Android is the same, there is a current status (open or closed) • The time stamps will detect when the garage door or open and closed. You need to set your notification setting on your cell phone (I use an iPhone). It also notifies my iWatch. The best thing about this feature is that it sends you a reminder 20 minutes or so later to remind you your garage door is still open. This is great for those of you who cannot remember if you closed your garage door or not. • If you open the door manually or by remote from car, it will just log that it was opened. However it was opened by your cell phone, it will log a name of the person who accessed the garage. • My daughter called me about the keypad not working. Apparently the battery died and I was away from home. I was able to instantly open the garage door from my cell. That was a life saver. Cons • Install and setup can be a little challenging but it really isn’t too bad. With that said, there were a couple of things I needed to purchase. I bought an aluminum sheet from Lowes (a few bucks) to cut up and shape in to a bracket. Also, Nexx unit requires 110V. Both of my plugs on the ceiling at the garage door motor was used so I had to purchase a 1 foot splitter, 1 plug in to 3. I only needed 1 in to 2 but I could not find one as short as 1 foot. I did not buy a plug splitter because I didn’t want the cords hanging upside down from the ceiling. The one foot cord let me rest everting on the garage door opener (motor). Although installation was not too bad, the extra hardware needed and the lack of details that tell you that you may need to purchase extra hardware makes this a con. Concerns • This is not a pro or con. I consider it a concern. My garage door time stamp was off by one hour when it was opened by my cell. If I opened it manually, the time stamp was fine. I checked my PC, Network and cell phone time setting but they were fine. I emailed Nexx about the issue. Note, I emailed them on Saturday of a 3 day weekend. I expected to get a response on Tuesday but they responded that same day which is excellent support. My concern is that they only said they fixed the time and emailed that they set it to MST (Mountain Standard Time) so I shouldn’t have any problems any more. Sure enough, they did fix the problem but now I’m concerned they can access my garage door opener. I did not give them any of my information, I just asked how to do it myself. They must have used my email address to access my account. Not that they would do anything criminal but I am now just wondering how much they can access and disable without my knowledge, meaning can people hack in to Nexx and access my garage? • This is currently under “concern” but can easily be a “Con”. Nexx is looking in to my issue. The app size supposed to be 18.3MB. Nexx said with the logs it should be around 20MB. For some reason my data for my app is taking up 1.93GB. If they cannot fix this, this issue will definitely be going under con.
Unexpected major problem with multiple user with Auto-Open function.
By BoraDori - Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2018
Verified Amazon Purchase
2 Month use review (Jan 2019): There is a serious flaw with the way the system is designed when it comes to Auto-open function. I have my own account in my phone and my wife has shared account on her phone. Both are set up to auto-open. Auto-open has been working fine for us, unlike some of the users. When either of us are the only one in the car, there is no issue. When both of us are in the car, this has created really dangerous situation. When the system senses one of our phone, it will auto-open the garage. When it senses the 2nd phone, it will trigger the system again, causing the door to close. System doesn't recognize the fact that the door is open or opening when the auto-open from second phone is triggered. It is as if you pressed the garage door opener twice, causing the door to open and then close. If your wheels are not near the garage door safety sensor, garage door will come down on you! Auto-open function triggered by the second phone should not cause the door to close after auto-open is triggered by the first phone. After testing out why sometimes the door would auto-open and close, I figured this is to be true. I would consider this to be a MAJOR FLAW. If one of our Nexx app is logged out and we are in the same car, auto-open functions as it should. Below is the original order after week of use, which I gave high rating: Installation was not much of an issue and syncing with the Nexx App was also a breeze. Only issue with installation that I had was with the Nexx App showing reverse of the door open and close in the initial run. I had the garage door closed, but Nexx App showed that it was open. If I pressed the button to open the door, Nexx App would show that garage was closed. Sensors were within 1/4 in as suggested. This was fixed by having the door open and re-registering the machine. My disappointment is with Alexa and Google Assistant/Home integration. It is true that you can use Alexa or Google Assistant/Home to open and close the garage door. You can set up the code requirement for both Alexa and Google so that people from outside can't just open your garage by asking the door to open. This is a must! If you don't do this and have either Google or Alexa in the garage, people from outside can yell to open the garage. Here is what I found with Alexa: 1. Skill set exists, but you have to say "ask Nexx to open the door."...or something like that. It's not a native way to talk. I found this to be the weak point of Alexa ecosystem overall and another reason to use Google Home since they are now compatible with more devices. 2. Nexx Garage DOES NOT show up in device list in Alexa. Alexa won't recognize it, but if you have the Nexx skill installed in Alexa, you can control it. Only issue I see with this is that I can't create routine in Alexa that involves Nexx garage door. For example, when I say "I'm taking out the trash" as a routine, I wanted the garage light to come on and garage door to open. There is no way to make this happen since Nexx garage does not show up as a device that I can add into routine set up. 3. Other than opening and closing the garage door, you can ask Alexa if the garage door is closed or open. You just need to remember to start the command with "ask Nexx garage...." Here is the issue with Google Home/Assistant: 1. Nexx Garage does not show up in the device list either. In the list of App/device to add, Nexx garage does not exist. Once you set your Nexx App to use Google Home/Assistant, it will pick up the device. 2. You can speak natively to open the garage door such as "hey google, open the garage door." 3. Google Assistant/Home Routine can be set up to include Nexx garage, unlike Alexa. In routine section of Google Home app, create your command in "When I say.." Click on "add action." Click on "Or choose popular actions." Click on "custom responses" box and then the gear icon. Type in "open garage door." For my set up I included garage light to come on and garage door to open. This works well. I couldn't make this routine to work in Alexa, despite the fact that both App does not show Nexx garage as a device. 4. Google Home/Assistant can't seem to do anything more than opening or closing the garage door. In Alexa, I can ask if the garage door is open or closed. In Google, it won't recognize the question. So, bottom line is that Alexa and Google Home/Assistant integration is limited. Alexa can be used to check the status of the garage door, but Google can't. Routines can be created in Google with Nexx, but can't with Alexa. Both don't show Nexx Garage as a device. I hope that this will change so that Nexx will show up as in the device list for both platform. Personally, I prefer to use it with Google Home/Assistant because I can use Routines. No Apple Home Kit integration. I'm not sure if other brands have better integration, but Nexx Garage does have its limitation with both platform. Advantage of this is that there is no monthly subscription as with some other brand. IFTTT has only 2 commands available with Google integration. So far, it has been working well. For auto-open function, 50m setting seems to be the sweet spot. As soon as I'm about to turn into the driveway from the street, garage door opens. Less than 50m either caused door to not open or it opened when I'm literally in front of the door. We have TP-Link smart switch for garage light, in which you can use IFTTT to turn on/off as the garage door opens/closes.
Surely the best wi-fi garage door opener?
By M. Williams - Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2017
Verified Amazon Purchase
This is a great product. It is fairly simple to install although I had some difficulty putting the sensor on the garage door. It was simple to get the unit online. The app is clean and seems to work well, although there are some functions that aren't explained very well in the documentation, like "Enable Voice Notification" and what "Primary Device" is/does? I have made guesses and am probably right but maybe I'm not? I tried to screw one of the sensors to the steel garage door but failed. This is more likely representative of my failings at DIY than the fault of the manufacturer so no stars off. I did have much more luck just going with the supplied double-sided tape so hopefully that will keep everything where it needs to be. So far so good. The beta function of the auto-open (geofenced) is working well for me. A couple of glitches but they were down to me and after fixing the parameters in the app, it should work exactly as I want now. I find it very convenient to use the app to control the door up/down when I am working in my back yard (no backdoor from the garage to the backyard) and it is much faster and more convenient than using the numeric keypad (which barely works at the best of times anyway). One thing that could have been better would be for the manufacturer to stay on top of what openers it works with or does not work with. They kept telling me it probably would not work with mine but that I should jam a paperclip where the two wires from the door controller came in to the opener, to be sure. If the door began to cycle, then it worked. Fortunately, when I eventually stopped pestering them and did this, it did work. I wrote them back to tell them my make and model worked so hopefully they can add it to the list and save others the trouble of moving car, getting ladder, jamming paper clip in wiring etc. I am looking forward to some more functionality being added. It would be great to get an Apple Watch app for instance. The manufacturers at least say they are working on stuff like that and Apple HomeKit compatibility. Finally it is not often that my wife is as excited as I get about adding automation features to the house but she is very interested in this, so more points to the product. Update: January 25th, 2018 I still love this device but some developments since I installed it last year. 1) The sticky adhesive pad I was relying on failed in the cold of winter and the sensor with the wire fell out of it's place. The one on the door was still rock solid though. I temporarily reattached it and more on my permanent fix later. 2) I started to get false alarms saying the door was open when it was not. Not fun when at work and no way of telling other than driving back to check. (I put a cloud-cam in there so I can remotely verify). I assume again it was the cold affecting the sensor distances from each other. Now to the good part. I wrote to NexxGarage support, asking just for the size of the self-tapping screws as I was going to attempt to attach the little sensors much better and they went above and beyond for me! I had misplaced the ones that shipped with it and had nothing that would fit the sensors. Instead of just getting the screw size for me to head to the DIY store, they sent me the four screws and the new plastic brackets they have recently been making. Unfortunately, my sensors were too small for these brackets and apparently the newer units are shipping with much larger sensors. Not to be stymied by this, when I let NexxGarage Support know, they sent me the new sensors! It was easy to configure the brackets for my particular door situation and I had everything swapped out and installed in about an hour. It all looks much better and should not be affected by the temperature changes. All in all, a great product and I was very impressed with the customer service. I highly recommend it!
Simple concept, quality implementation.
By Paolo - Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2017
Verified Amazon Purchase
I've received the garage opener literally the day after I ordered it (thanks Amazon!) and was amazed at the quality and the level of craftsmanship the company put into this little gadget. First things first, I'm a computer engineer and a DIYer, so I apologize in advance if my review will be a little too technical, although I'll try to avoid it. The concept behind this box is great in its obviousness: it connects in parallel to the existing garage opener button and makes it "cloud-based". All the box does is draw AC power from an electrical outlet, connect with two wires to the existing opener button and acknowledge the status of the door via a little magnet. Brilliant. Installation couldn't be easier: put the box on top of the existing garage door motor, optionally secure it with dual adhesive tape (provided) or screws (provided); connect the two stripped wires (red and black) to the pair that comes from the wall button; connect the magnet to the only other plug on the box and run the wire to a suitable spot on the garage door, I've put mine along the top edge of the door. The two little magnets can be screwed in (screws provided), adhesive-taped (dual adhesive strips provided), "glue-gun-ed". I decided to screw them into the top edge of the door and the wooden frame around the garage door. Mind you, it's literally taking me longer to write this review than it took me to actually install and configure the whole thing. To those giving one (or two) star rating, whining its difficult to install or to secure/place the magnets, or that the implementation is poor because the two magnets don't work: that's the only, the ONLY part that requires basic do-it-yourself skills. It's really unfair to give the device a poor review because you lack those basic skills. I wonder if you'd also leave a bad review to the latest pan you bought on Amazon because it keeps burning your omelette... Once the installation is done, download the App, create a login, search for the opener, connect it to your home wireless and you're done. A few security details I've appreciated: - once discovered and configured, the box disappears from the wireless range, which I obviously expected; - the cloud-based login only requires an email address and a password, no other details are requested (I'd have felt uneasy providing, say, location or address etc). Well done, SimpalTEK; - communication happens on port 8883, and no data seems to be transmitted back to the "mothership", other than the credentials to access the account on the server. - lag is imperceptible. That was the amazing part. I'd have expected a few seconds' delay between tapping the open button on the app and seeing the door moving, but it's never been more than fractions of a second, one second tops. I hope this will not deteriorate with time, or with more users purchasing the system and loading the servers. I own a Chevy and use the OnStar system (same concept, remote keyfob from an App) and it normally takes between thirty seconds to two minutes from tapping on the App to executing the command on the vehicle. Shrinking that lag down to fractions of a second was amazing to see. All in all, a simple concept and a great implementation. What stands out for me, in a market overcrowded with cheap chinese crap, is the quality and the effort that was put into building the box and the App. Kudos!
DIY Project! The (4 - 5) will be well worth it...
By QSFYC - Support Guy - Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2017
Verified Amazon Purchase
Pros - Allows you to setup multiple users - Garage Door up warning - Detailed Notifications (Since there are multiple users at play here you get a notification that states <Wifey> Opened <House> closed) Great feature when you wonder who opened the garage. - Support (They will provide feedback within 24 hours) - Confirmed it works with Amazon Echo (Just remember to enable the skill) Cons - Documentation - After connecting the Nexx Garage to your Wifi Network the instructions are sketchy. I have a Craftsman 1.2 HP and the instructions included do not work for this unit. I had to reach out to support and spend time on Sears Youtube channel to figure out the correct connections to open an close the door. - Setup Time - Nexx Garage states 20 minutes to get this device stood up. In reality it takes about 4 to 5 hours. You have to figure in time to run to your local hardware store to pick up a few items, configuration problems with connecting to your garage door (Especially, if you have a Craftsman.), and next is mounting the sensor that required additional effort. - Cost - This device should be around the $50 - $75 range because of all of the additional work required. - You will need tools in addition to a drill. Other Thoughts Nexx Garage is a good product once you have it stood up and the sensors in place. The user interface is good. I just wish they had a Web GUI interface that you could access from your PC or MAC. I also wish they would have provided a mounting bracket in addition to the 4 screws. Tips Before you get started here are a few tips...(not necessarily in this order) 1. Visit the Nexx Garage website and confirm your garage door opener is compatible. 2. Take a look at the installation examples. You can find them on Nexx Garage's website under Support> Install Examples. (I will also share a few photos that will help. 3. Review their installation videos. 4. Measure to see how much clearance you have this will help in determining how much room you have for cables and mounting the sensor. 5. Once you have the device take a trip to the local hardware store and bring one of the sensors with you. Here are the items I picked up: 1. Simpson Strong-Tie 20-Gauge 1-1/4 in. x 9 in. Strap Tie $0.93 (Used to mount the sensor on the garage door. They come in various sizes. Pick the length that makes sense for your garage door. The product is bendable but strong enough to keep the sensor in place.) 2. A small bag of screws (6), lock washers, and nuts(6). roughly $4 3. Surge Suppressor $5 (To power cycle the device, if needed. Make sure the surge suppressor is mountable.) 4. Zip Ties 5. (Industrial strength) Velcro (Nexx Garage provides some small pieces of Velcro. I just wanted something a little more reliable. I attached the Nexx Garage to the back of motor.) 6. Bicycle Hook to hold the cable away from the door. $.75 I added a few photos for additional info... I also included a picture of the correct connections for Craftsman owners.
WORKS GREAT - RECOMMEND! (With its App & Google Home with 1 compatible door and 1 incompatible door using universal remote)
By Bradford Boyle - Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2017
Verified Amazon Purchase
Firstly, I did a ton research and I did not want to get looped into a monthly service. This was my overall pick for a number of reasons: Works great. I have 2 garage doors, a double and a single. The single door opener was not compatible so they offered an incredible deal/work around. I almost didn't buy it but this reassured me it was a good product. I took a cheap universal charger (CLICK3U on ebay for $15) and shipped it to them (another $3). They wired it so the the NEXX module would plugs into the remote instead of the incompatible garage door. PERFECTO, my one NEXXX is plugged into my compatible garage door and my other NEXX is plugged into a universal remote I simply shipped them. MUCH better than buying a whole new garage door! Very good idea and thinking on their feet to resolve an issue. The GPS open is probably my favorite feature. I love swinging around the corner and the garage door opens automatically. We've all been there trying to push the garage door button, creeping closer and closer to the door until it starts to open. The garage notification, notifying every hour, is my second. I also get notifications when the door opens and closes, but I think I might turn that off and manually turn it on when I go on vacation. I'm VERY happy with the product, I have not had any glitches, and it's been about 2 months owning it and using it frequently. I forgot to close the garage door one time and was able to do it remotely. I had something blocking the garage door one time and realized my status wouldn't update, so I turned around and realized why the garage door was open. The NEXX was reporting corrrectly, the broom stick that fell over was the problem. Installation was straightforward. Find a spot to mount it. I put it on my ceiling because I did not want the module vibrating every single time the garage door opened, so I did not install it on the garage door opener itself. Installed the sensor (Be careful to install it so that the door opening doesn't clip the sensor on the wall on the way up) then ran the wires back to the NEXX module. WIreless config was a breeze, make sure you are familiar with your phone. Using the quick settings on your phone is important to jump from the NEXX garage app to wifi signals and look for the NEXX signal for initial set up. Google Home: YES, it's awesome. made a shortcut so I don't have to say the length "Hey Google, Ask Nexx garage to check big garage door" -> "Hey google, check big garage door" You can find instructions on how to do this online. I also use the PIN feature, which is nice because my first concern was to only allow google home to CHECK or CLOSE the doors, not open. I did not want a burglar yelling from outside "HEY GOOGLE, OPEN GARAGE DOOR" and get lucky. After I ask to open the garage door, google home asks for my pin which is a great security feature.
Product works well, and app works well, but Alexa implementation (an Amazon issue, not a Nexx Garage issue) is very lame.
By Lewis B. Hayes - Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2018
Verified Amazon Purchase
UPDATE after about a month of use: I'm still torn about giving only four rather than 5 stars. I absolutely love the product, but am rather peeved at the way Amazon requires skills for such products to be implemented. Integration with Alexa, as forced by the way Amazon security makes the other skill developers work, is less than ideal and I almost always go right to the Nexx app (which you have to do outside, anyway). To open the garage door with Alexa, you have to say "Alexa, ask Nexx Garage to open the garage door". It then asks for the PIN before proceeding. Closing doesn't require the PIN. I understand that is is almost the only way for Amazon to ensure that skills don't jeopardize your physical security, but it is annoying, to say the least. I commend NEXX for jumping through the hoop provided by Amazon, and it's link to Alexa is brilliant marketing. I'm sure I would not have bought it if it weren't sold as Alexa enabled, so I can't fault them for that. In fact, I would have been wrong. It's a great company to do business with with great customer and technical support. I'm torn about only giving 4 stars rather than 5. First, the good (great) things about it. For a product in this price range, the tech support is absolutely fabulous - 5 stars all the way. Before purchasing, I checked the website to see if my opener was compatible. It was not listed on either the compatible or non-compatible lists, so I emailed them asking how I could figure it out. They replied within less than an hour with detailed instructions on how to make the determination. Their instructions were clear and easy to follow. (I might point out that the instructions involved shorting out the terminals on the opener where the wires from the manual button come in. For my opener, at least, it probably would have been much easier to simply unhook the manual button then disconnect the wires and short there, achieving the same result. My garage ceiling is 10 feet high, so anything that keeps me off the ladder is good. :) The company even followed up with me via email to make sure that my question had been answered. After ordering the product, I was finally ready to install it. The temperatures outside and in the garage got high enough that I didn't risk freezing to death trying to muck about in the cold. I ran into a strange problem when trying to register the Nexx Garage App. It did not like my credentials - email and password for the email :(. I went through several iterations closing the app and uninstalling it, etc. I finally sent an email to tech support which responded in well less than an hour. It turns out that the registration finally worked on the fourth try without any direct involvement from tech support but their responsiveness was impressive. Installation was reasonable, well within the bounds of what I consider acceptable. There are a few things in the instructions that lack clarity or precision, and unfortunately their videos don't really help allot, The parts in the instructions about what to do if there are already wires going to your opener has a photo showing twisting a red and black wire together without any real explanation. As far as I can tell, it doesn't matter which wire goes into which connection on the opener as long as you choose the two terminals receiving the wall opener wires. All that's being done is the connection is being momentarily shorted, so you really can't go wrong. The instructions should indicate that. The garage door position sensing unit is a bit of a pain, even though it is the main thing I wanted for a device like this. If the garage door position sending unit connected wirelessly to the main unit, things would be a lot easier, but that would probably have added about 35% or more to the cost (you would still have to get power to the sensor, although a battery could do the job.) As I have a metal clad garage door, installing the unwired part of the position sensor was a bit more challenging than expected since the supplied screws are not designed for sheet metal and you have to pre-drill the holes accurately . Also with the aforementioned 10 foot ceilings my installation is kind of sloppy. I'm sure my wife, if she looks up at the wires, will require me to do something about that. The product does work as advertised and so far I am quite satisfied. It was easy to link to Alexa as well. The app seems to be ok, although I have yet to try anything beyond the basic features. I haven't yet tested the proximity opening, and I'll update this when I do. [EDIT: I still have not tried this feature and I'm not sure I will. If I'm out mowing the lawn, I don't really want to open the door every time I swing near the garage.] Amazon has a lot of work to do to make its skills implementation better. I would give this a 1-2 star rating in that area. It does work, sort of. You have to go through the hoop of telling Alexa to tell Nexx Garage to do something. Opening the garage through Alexa REQUIRES telling Alexa the PIN, drawing out the process even further. Unless you don't have your phone handy but do have an Echo nearby, it's probably easier to go to the Nexx Garage app for whatever you want. Furthermore, Amazon needs to get Alexa to take voice commands on a phone or from a car to take advantage of this kind of technology. In summary, kudos to Nexx Garage, just don't buy it solely based on Alexa capability.
I love this product so much, I find it easy to overlook its flaws
By Randy - Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2017
Verified Amazon Purchase
I bought this because 1. I wanted to control my garage door with my Amazon Echos, 2. I wanted to control it with my iPhone whether I was at home or away, 3. I wanted to be able to confirm that it was closed when I was away or at home in bed or watching TV, etc. and 4. I wanted to receive alerts on my iPhone/Apple Watch whenever someone else opened or closed the door, whether I was home or away. Pros: It does all of these things flawlessly, provided you install it correctly. Cons: There are two important cons to be aware of, which is why I didn't feel it would be honest to give this product a 5 star rating. Having said that, I like the simplicity of this product so much that I really, really wanted to give it 5 stars. Please bear this in mind as you review the following comments: 1. It is very tricky to get the door sensor placed correctly. I did NOT have the trouble that many reviewers had of not being able to space the sensor from the magnet properly. For me this was not an issue. What was a problem was that the garage door moves side-to-side as it opens or closes, which means that the magnet does not line up laterally with the sensor the same way every time the door closes. It can be off by as much as a quarter inch in either direction from one closing to the next. When I first installed the sensor, I did not recognize this as an issue. Consequently, I left the house, closed my garage door, drove my family to a breakfast restaurant, then checked my iPhone only to discover that Nexx thought my garage door was open when it wasn't. Telling it to open and close again (an uncomfortable thing to do when you're away from home and have no reliable way to verify) triggered the sensor to report the door's state correctly as closed. This issue repeated itself later the same day when I left to run an errand. Again, opening and closing a second time (this time from my driveway where I could watch) triggered the sensor properly. The next day, I re-positioned the sensor a couple of times (this is when I noticed how far I could move the closed door back and forth by hand) and did some more rigorous testing. Ever since that time (a week ago today) I haven't had a single false "Open" report from Nexx, so I consider this issue resolved. My recommendation to a potential customer is this: when installing the sensor, move the door back and forth while making marks on the frame to track the full range of distance that the sensor may drift, then line up both parts of the sensor in the exact center of that range. My recommendation to Nexx is that they redesign the sensor so that the magnet portion is twice as wide as the wired portion in order to account for lateral shift of the door. (Is this possible, Nexx?) 2. Unlike Philips Hue bulbs, Wemo switches and ecobee thermostats, the Nexx Garage device is NOT controlled via an Alexa Smart Home Skill. It is controlled via a Custom Alexa skill (just like the game skills, or the pizza ordering skills, or any one of a number of other app-like options that are not related to specialized hardware.) I don't know why this is, but it seems to impose a minimum level of complexity on the verbiage needed to control your garage door. For example, I can say "Alexa, turn off my living room light," and my Hue bulb turns off. I cannot, however say "Alexa, close my garage door," and watch my garage door close. I have to say, "Alexa, ask Nexx Garage to close door." Once I've issued this command, I then have to provide a minimum 4-digit PIN verbally before Alexa will oblige. The PIN is apparently a security requirement imposed by Amazon, not a choice of Nexx's software developers. Whether or not the PIN would still be required if Nexx had developed this as a Smart Home Skill, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure the total number of words that must be included in the verbal command could be reduced significantly. As I say, I don't understand Smart Home Skills well enough to know for sure if this is possible, but if it is, I would petition Nexx to consider adding a Smart Home Skill to control this device.
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