You would think for a GadgetGuy, I would have a smart house with everything automated. Since day two, I have had a Google assistant smart speaker, then another, then a smart clock radio, but that’s about it. Recently, I bought myself a couple of smart light bulbs and found them very useful. So when Laser corporation launched its Connect Smart Garage Door Opener, I figured it would make life easier around the house.
What is a ‘smart’ garage door opener?
The Connect Smart Garage Door Opener allows a ‘dumb’ garage door to be controlled by your smartphone or voice assistant. The app will also alert you to your garage door being open or closed. The system connects via Wi-Fi to the internet, and geofencing allows the garage door to detect your presence when approaching or leaving a virtual perimeter.
Turning into a driveway is not the best time to be searching for a remote to operate your garage door. That split second you look away could very easily distract you from avoiding something unexpected in the driveway. Therefore the simple use of your voice to ask Google or Alexa to open your garage door makes the process much easier. You can even set up zones using geofencing to open and close the door automatically when you enter or leave a pre-set area. Other features include the ability for family members to open the door without a garage remote. I find it useful to open the door when I come home from a bike ride. If your hands are full of shopping, no problems, just ask your smart assistant to shut the door. A friend needs to borrow a tool from your garage when you are on holiday? No problem, open and close the door from wherever you are.
Details: Laser Connect Smart Garage Door Opener
| Australian Manufacturer | Laser corporation |
| Manual or Support pages | User guide, video |
| Price | A$49 |
| From | Exclusively at JB Hi-Fi |
| Warranty | 12 months/exchange |
| Country of Manufacture | China |
| About | In 1987, LASER started out in a Surry Hills garage importing and selling floppy disks and storage cases. Today, it is one of Australia’s fastest-growing and most trusted consumer IT and consumer electronics companies. Specialising in bespoke solutions, their product range spans more than 13 categories and 500+ products. |
How to set up your smart garage door:
In the box, you will find 4 items. A smart door controller must be plugged into a power socket. A cable and instruction manual with really tiny writing (hint download the instruction manual above and read it on your computer). Also, there’s a door sensor that attaches to your garage door.
Before you go too far, we strongly suggest you check the compatibility with your garage door. The manual link above lists 1460 compatible Australian garage door models. There is also a QR code in the manual, which will take you to a list of the latest supported models.
The next task is to download the app and open an account. The Laser App supports all their smart products, including lightbulbs, power boards and secuirty cameras. It will also support some 3rd party products.
After that, connect the supplied wire to your garage door opener and then plug the controller in. From the app, add your garage controller as a device, and you are done. The whole process took around 10 minutes from opening the box to controlling the door.
Activate voice control
Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Apple Siri are supported. So once you have done the initial setup, you might never use the Connect smart home App for control, and rather you could just use your voice instead. To do this, open your chosen smart assistant’s settings and add the Connect Smart Home app. Note that when your voice assistant asks for an access code, you set this up in the Connect smartphone App. We also recommend that you change the name of your garage door to “garage door”. Then simply ask your smart assistant to “open the garage door” or “close the garage door.”
Operation
How many times have you driven away from your home and thought, did I shut the garage door?
The Laser’s garage door sensor attached to the door (by double-sided tape) can answer that, and the app always shows if the door is open or closed. The app will also allow you to see this through a visual representation.
The app also supports an action list that would allow the door to be opened at a set time (perhaps to let a pet out or in) or open or close in certain weather conditions. This is also where you set the geofencing against your location changes.
GadgetGuy’s Take
Often, when you buy a tech product, it lists all the wonderful things it can do, but often there is a “but” when you get it running. For $49, if you have gone down the smart assistant route, this garage door opener is a steal. It is simple to install, easy to use, extremely convenient and most likely to improve the safety & security of your garage.
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