Smart garage door openers are becoming more common as more people adopt the smart home as a way to gain more control over their homes. The MyQ has long been a go-to solution for those who want integration with their preferred smart home. But over the past few years, a number of serious MyQ alternatives have popped up – the latest of which is the Konnected Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ.
Konnected may not be as well known as Chamberlain, but the Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ seems to have a lot going for it. One of its big selling points is that it's cloud optional, so those who prefer to keep their garage door opener off the cloud for security reasons can still get smart features. However, it's also relatively expensive at $89. Is it worth that money, or should you stick to one of the more established brands among the best smart garage door openers?
Konnected Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ review: Price and availability
The Konnected Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ is available from the Konnected website and other retailers for $89. That's quite a bit more expensive than many alternatives, like the Meross Smart Garage Door Opener, which has a list price of $59.99 and was only $39.99 at the time of this writing.
Konnected Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ review: Installation and design
Installation of the Konnected Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ is quite simple and very versatile. The device is compatible with Chamberlain and LiftMaster garage door openers that have yellow, red, orange, blue, purple, or brown learn buttons. That covers a large portion of the garage door openers in the United States.
To install the device, you'll start by plugging it into power and connecting it to Wi-Fi through the Konnected app. I found that this process was a little buggy and had to force-quit the app during installation after it seemed to hang up when connecting to Wi-Fi. After doing so and refreshing the devices in the app, it found the Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ, meaning that it had connected to Wi-Fi and simply failed to move to the next step in the app. It wasn't a huge issue, but I certainly didn't do anything strange during installation to cause it to act in this manner.
After connecting to Wi-Fi, you'll want to physically set up the device with your garage door opener, and there are a few ways to do so. You can wire the device directly to the garage door opener or to compatible open/close buttons. The device has a pass-through feature too, which I made use of when I found that my garage door button had been wired to the terminals that I needed to use to connect the Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ. All I had to do was disconnect those wires from the garage door opener itself, connect them to the Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ, and then use the included additional wires to connect the Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ to the garage door opener. The whole process probably took me around five minutes.
The design of the device is relatively simple. It has a black body with an opaque top to send and receive signals. The wiring terminals can be found on the bottom. It can be mounted with included screws, or simply with command hooks, which are also included. It’s very lightweight, so even weaker adhesive would keep the device mounted. It has a MicroUSB port on the top for installing firmware updates.
Konnected Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ review: App and performance
If you're expecting a comprehensive app that allows you to have full control over your garage door, you'll be disappointed in what Konnected has to offer. The app is built largely just to connect the device to Wi-Fi, after which you'll be able to open it to see things like your garage door openers, MAC address, and model number, but not to control the device itself. That's right; you can't open and close your garage door through the Konnected app, which is very disappointing.
You can use the app to launch into a web portal where you can control the device, as long as you’re connected to the same Wi-Fi network. The web portal is pretty bare bones in terms of design, but it does offer all the controls you'll need, including the ability to open and close your garage door, control the light built into the garage door opener, lock the opener, and more. You'll also see information related to the garage door opener, like Wi-Fi strength and the IP address. It's basic, but it works well.
When using the web portal, I found that the garage door opener responded quickly the vast majority of the time. I appreciated that you could control things like the light and lock on the garage door opener, and not just open and close the garage door.
Konnected Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ review: Smart home compatibility and security
Of course, the reason the app is so basic is that this device really isn't built to be used as a standalone product; instead, it is more built for integration into the rest of your smart home. The device supports many of the major smart home platforms, though some are missing.
Notably, you can use the device locally with smart home hubs such as Home Assistant, Hubitat, and HomeSeer. Additionally, it's specifically designed with ESPHome in mind, which is an open-source Internet of Things platform that allows for a high level of customizability, at the cost of a bit of a learning curve. ESPHome is designed to be integrated with Home Assistant, and typically involves very little latency. All of these platforms are built with advanced automations and deeper control in mind.
If you are willing to connect the device to the cloud, you'll unlock additional smart home support with Alexa and SmartThings. Notably missing are Google Assistant and HomeKit. If you're in those ecosystems and looking for a smart garage door opener, you'll want to look for an alternative.
That could change soon, though. Currently, the Matter specification doesn't include garage door openers, but Konnected says that when it does, it'll offer an upgrade for the Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ that will allow it to add Matter support. This will involve flashing new firmware to the device with a computer and USB cable, which could be complicated for some users, and it's currently unclear when the Matter specification could support garage door openers, so you could be waiting a while.
The security in the app is a little relaxed. Not only does it not have two-factor authentication enabled by default, but there's no way to enable it in the app. Additionally, it's easy to jump from the app into the web portal without having to authenticate, which allows access to the garage door. That said, accessing these controls will require someone access your phone, and the device does use the so-called Security+ protocol also used by some of the other devices, which essentially involves sending a unique code to the garage door each time it’s used – meaning that someone else couldn’t replicate that signal to gain access to your home.
Konnected Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ review: Verdict
The Konnected Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ isn't really built for basic users wanting a smart garage door opener to use with Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple HomeKit. To be sure, it does support Alexa, but most users who want support for one of these platforms should go for an alternative like the Meross.
Instead, the Smart Garage Door Opener blaQ is built for advanced users willing to put in a little work and learn a little code in exchange for more advanced automations and local controls. All that said, it does excel in terms of responsiveness and lack of latency. If you use a platform like ESPHome for your smart home and connected devices, you'll appreciate what's on offer here, even if it does cost more than some of the more consumer-focused alternatives. Still, even if that’s the case, the app should still at least offer basic controls over the state of the garage door.
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