RYOBI Garage Door Opener Review

RYOBI Garage Door Opener Review

Back on March 31st of this year, one of our media contacts emailed us about the new RYOBI Garage Door Opener. At first a number of us thought it was a cruel April Fools joke because it sounded like a product that was too good to be true. Luckily, it is a real product with great features.

Before we go too deep into the RYOBI Garage Door Opener let’s talk a little about the ONE+ system. ONE+ is the name of their cordless 18V line of tools and batteries. They have a slew of tools on the platform (over 70!) and the current batteries will work on tools all the way back to 1996. That means there are a ton of tools and batteries on the market in the hands of both homeowners and professionals. A lot of pros scoff at the mention of RYOBI but I bet you find at least one green tool in a number of their trucks and trailers. I carry 3.

What’s so Special about a Garage Door Opener?!

I can hear some of you from here, what’s so special about a garage door opener? All it needs to do is raise the door up and let it back down. Just about every door opener on the market has a motor unit, wired button, a couple remotes, and a keypad for outside. A lot of people think that’s all they need and that an opener can’t get any better but that’s where they’re wrong. I’m convinced that a team of engineers at RYOBI sat around one day out in someones garage, maybe over a beer or two, and just brainstormed about how to make the humble opener better. They weren’t satisfied with the commodity that passes for an opener today. They turned it on its head.

If you’ve read any of the other reviews on the RYOBI garage door opener, the thing you remember most is probably the modules. We’ll get to those a little later in the review. They’re great and all but the killer application of the opener is the wifi connectivity and the app that goes along with it. With the basic opener comes all of the things mentioned above that come with every opener but this one connects to your home network. After that you can access its status and control its operation from ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! Yeah, that was worth typing in all caps.

Any function available from the keypad in the garage is doable from the app. What’s better yet is that you can set notifications in the app to alert you to certain status changes with the door. Check out the picture to see all the things that can be notified on or set from the app. I don’t lie in bed anymore wondering if I left the door open. The app just notifies me.

A few months ago the team here at Tool Box Buzz, Home Construction Improvement, and A Concord Carpenter were all attending the annual New Product Symposium at Milwaukee Tool. My wife had gone out to dinner with some family friends and had locked herself out of the house when they dropped her off she was stuck outside, in the dark. She called me in Milwaukee and I tapped a couple buttons and opened up the door from hundreds of miles away. No call to a locksmith to get in. Instant problem solved through a smart phone app.

The other killer application to the opener is that it takes a ONE+ battery and can charge it right on the opener. The battery serves as a backup in case the AC power goes out. The battery can operate the door 100 times. Yeah, 100 times. The app and the battery backup are what make this opener amazing.

The Modules

Back to the modules. That same team of engineers not only thought about how to make the basic functions of the RYOBI garage door opener better but they thought about extending its functionality as the hub of the garage. They realized that a motor unit had “always on” power to it and decided to use that to their advantage when developing modules. They used this idea to install interfaces or ports to the side of the opener to accept the modules.

The modules are accessories that you would find as stand alone items in many of your neighbor’s garages. Cord reels, bluetooth speakers, parking assist devices, and fans. Now the modules can be leeches off the side of the RYOBI opener, be out of the way at the center of the garage ceiling, and be controlled by the smart phone app. They are reasonably priced too. Really everybody wins in this scenario.

Available Modules

• 30ft 10A Retractable Cord Reel with 3 outlets – $69
• Dual Laser Park Assist Accessory – $44
• Bluetooth Speaker and Hands-Free Calling Accessory – $54
• Variable Speed Dual-Pivot Fan Accessory – $54
• Carbon Monoxide, Temperature, and Humidity Sensor Accessory – Coming Soon
• Retractable Hose Tire Inflator – Not Yet Officially Announced

Final Thoughts

About 5 years ago, some dirt bags broke into my shop and looted a bunch of my tools. It’s a terrible thing to happen to anyone whether the crooks get tools or anything else out of your home. It leaves you feeling violated and a little paranoid. Ever since then, I’ve always been a little more worried about accidentally forgetting to close the overhead door whether it’s at night or when leaving the house during the day. Now the RYOBI garage door opener not only allows me to see the status of the door from anywhere but I have the ability to do something about it remotely. That peace of mind is more than worth the price of admission.

The only thing I would change about the opener is with the app itself. I would add a notification for movement in the garage between certain hours. That way if a similar scenario happened in the future, I would be notified no matter which way they came into the garage.

Where to Buy

The RYOBI Garage Door Opener can be purchased at The Home Depot for $248 with modules ranging from $44-$69. $248 may seem like a higher price but the connectivity, app functionality, and battery backup make it well worth the cost.