PetSafe SmartDoor, White, Large & Wall Install Kit for Large, White Door

There are pretty mixed reviews about this product so I'm going to try to clarify a few things. As other people have indicated, there are a couple different versions. The original version has a clear door with an extruded "range" knob whereas the newer version has a frosted door with a flush "sensitivity" knob. Some have complained about the older version. I received the newer version so can't comment with that respect. There are actually 3 different versions, though. Lowe's sells a version of this door which is "iris" compatible. This is a replica of the newer version of the door but can be distinguished by one additional "4th" blue LED as the leftmost indicator marked "link". I lucked out and got the "Lowe's" version of the door. As such, here is my review accordingly:This door is excellent. Some complain about range, intermittent ID recognition failure, magnet strength, binding, installation, etc., none of which I have noticed. If there is a range or recognition failure, it is probably caused by RF interference in the area. Mine works great and has not "forgotten" any of the 3 keys. After experimenting with a number of different pet doors, this is by far the best weatherized model I have had. It stops heavy winds and has no problems with binding or jamming. The rigid door makes a huge difference over the rubberized flaps. I ensured that the hole was square when I installed it, which is probably an issue for some. Correct installation is obviously a necessity. If the door is un-level or not squared appropriately, I can see a problem with binding. Mine is installed in an insulated steel door. Framing and mounting this through a wall would not be difficult, even without the tunneling kit sold separately. The doors frame is plastic so when the installation screws are installed, the door could easily skew if the hole, level, or square are incorrect. This would absolutely cause binding or jamming, as the door actually slides down into a channel to fully "lock" or secure. The door is pretty quiet, except for a rather loud "pop" when it lifts from the channel to unsecure. It scared the crap out of my Dingo for a few days but he got used to it quick. Now the two dogs and cat have learned that the "pop" means it's time to push. Yeah...if you didn't catch that...my 4lb. cat can easily open the large version of this door, but the wind does not stop it's reset. Now that the functionality is explained, I'll go into the Iris part.Just for entertainment, I got the matching "Iris" hub from Lowe's which is a Zigbee and Z-Wave radio home automation controller. Not only does this allow you to switch from "Automatic" "Locked" and "Unlocked" modes from a smartphone or PC (locally or remotely), it monitors which animal (based on the collar transmitter) exits or enters. You can look at the "activity log" in the Iris app or website and see which animal went "in through the door" or "out through the door" and when. This is a pretty cool feature which has a ton of practical application, even if you don't realize it at first. (ie. it's now pretty simple to see if the kids actually let the dogs out). I should note that, although it is annotated nowhere in the documentation, I have determined that the internal radio for this door is Zigbee, not Z-Wave. If you purchase it with the intent of using it with a Z-Wave controller, it will NOT work. Lowe's convolutes these systems with "Iris" by selling both Z-Wave and Zigbee devices and not bothering to tell you what product is which.There is a lot of room on the inside of the device also. I wanted to add an alarm sensor into the door and it was exceptionally easy to add a wireless reed switch based sensor inside the frame, using one of the built-in magnets as it's motivator. They should build this ability into the door, but it would require too many different versions for compatibility, as there isn't a single protocol for wireless alarm inter-compatibility. It was remarkably simple to add a Honeywell/Ademco 5800micra sensor.The door has now been running on a cheap set of 4 "D" batteries for 2-3 months and hasn't dropped a bar on the "Iris" battery monitor. I would speculate that the version without the Iris transceiver has even longer battery life.I have a 50lb Dingo, 75lb Siberian Husky, and 4lb Siamese cat. None have a problem operating this door. It is solidly constructed, albeit all plastic, and reliable. If you get the correct version, install it correctly, and aren't a complete and utter moron, I am confident (after my personal experiences) that you will be more than happy with the door. This door is well worth the $75, $100, or $229.00 (version dependent) that is spent on it. It looks clean and works great.

I reluctantly purchased this doggie door after reading all the terrible reviews, as a last resort. We are a family of cat lovers who inherited a dog when a family member passed away and are learning to live with him. He had a doggie door his entire life before us but when we took him in we chose to try to train him to ask to go outside so our cats didn't get out. We spend 2 years trying to train him and all we ended up with is a wall in our hallway that needed sheetrock replaced because he peed on it repeatedly and LOTS of frustrations. We decided to try a regular doggie door and see how our cats did going out because we couldn't find any electronic doggie door with even semi-good reviews. The cats loved going out but one started roaming too much and another one loved to hunt and brought us lots of half dead animals (lizards, mice, moles and SNAKES). We also had 2 stray cats decide to wander in our house in the middle of the night. Waking up to a strange animal in your house is no fun. I include these things for anyone considering a traditional doggie door who has never had one.On to the Petsafe electronic door. We ended up having our handyman install the door so I can't really comment on installation. We were installing in a metal door and didn't have the tools to cut through the door so I didn't even try. I had read a comment on here about making sure the door was level and passed that along to him. He said he put it in and was having a bit of trouble getting it working right so he loosened the screws and re-leveled to get it working. This makes me think being level is quite important, as would make sense for a swinging door.We have had this door for a week now and it is working great for us. It makes a pretty loud click when it unlocks. This scared the dog a bit in the beginning but he is used to it now. He has to be in the range for about 15 seconds for the door to unlock. The range can be adjusted so maybe it would open quicker if I adjusted it but I like it taking him standing in range for a bit for it to unlock so it doesn't unlock every time he walks by. In the beginning he would try to get out the door before it was unlocked but has now learned to wait for the click to know it is unlocked. To teach him to go out the door I held the door open and showed him it was just like his old doggie door. When I tried to get him to go out on his own he didn't seem to understand that he could open it by himself as this door seals tightly unike a flap door. I gave him a little nudge from behind a couple of times to push his nose into the door and he quickly realized he could open it this way. Next, I stood outside the door and gave him treats when he came out, then moved back inside and did the same. It took about 5 days for him to get really comfortable with the door but now he uses it just fine.We have not had any issues with the door not opening when it is supposed to. It has not gotten stuck once. It closes quickly behind him and locks in about 15 seconds. So far our cats have not tried to go out behind him, but I do realize this is a very real possibility. The door is pretty loud when it locks/unlocks and swings so thus far the cats have only investigated from a distance. So far we love the door and it has saved my sanity (I couldn't take another half dead animal coming in my house, my kitties roaming off and getting injured, or another midnight visit from a strange animal) but, I am still a bit skeptical. With so many bad reviews I am just waiting for this thing to break any day. I will update this review if my opinion changes from my current 5 star rating.****Update August 6, 2012****At this point I would give this product more than 5 stars if I could! We have not had a single problem with it, I'm not sure if this is luck on our part, but I'm not questioning it :-). It has never gotten stuck or locked our dog out or in. I had to change the battery in the collar today. A red light came on on the collar unit to notify me it was dead, I replaced it and it worked just the same again.One of our cats has learned to go out of the door, in fact he has trained the dog to let him out when he wants out (it took him about a month to figure it out). He will meow at the door like something important is going on until the dog comes to check it out. The dog then stands there confused trying to figure out what the cat is yelling about and unlocks the door for him. As soon as the cat hears the click he is out the door! Whoever said dogs are smarter than cats hasn't lived with both ;-). This really hasn't been an issue because he always comes back quickly and hasn't yet trained the dog to let him in so I have to let him back in (the doggy door is in the garage so I know he always has a safe, cooler place to go) preventing him from bringing any of his half dead prey in the house with him. Our other 2 cats still have no interest in going near this door even though they used to go out the regular doggy door all the time. I think the noise of it still scares them, they are both more timid than the fearless hunter who has it all figured out.If you are like me and questioning this door because of the terrible reviews, I think it is definitely worth a try, just make sure you are precise in installing the door.

This door is wonderful and functionally, it does everything I need it to do. The reason for the 4-star rating is the very LOUD sound it makes every single time it needs to unlock itself when the pet enters its sensor area and the door unlocks itself. If you have a skiddish pet, this door may not be the one for you. Otherwise, the door is great! It can be set to allow any and all pets to come & go, even without a sensor. We use this setting during daylight hours when all of our pets are allowed in or out at any time. Then, it can be set to allow only the pets who are wearing a sensor to enter and exit, which is what we do at night when we want our cats to stay inside…but the dogs can still come & go all night. It can also be set to lock for all pets, whether they are wearing a sensor or not. We only use this setting when the weather is extremely bad or when there is anything or anyone around who may not be safe for our pets to be allowed to be outside.I love this door with the ONE EXCEPTION of when the door is locked and has to make the VERY LOUD sound every time pets wearing a sensor go in or out. And yes, it makes our dogs skiddish, but our dogs (who are wearing a sensor) just happen to be brave enough to hang in there to wait a couple of seconds for the door to enter the “unlock” status after the very LOUD SOUND the door makes to unlock itself. Then, they enter or exit through the door without fear. (I will try to add a video of one of the dogs with a sensor approaching the door to enter, if I can get one soon.)