PetSafe Electronic SmartDoor - Collar Activated Dog and Cat Door - Small to Large Pets

This is gonna be a long read. So grab a frosty beverage and some popcorn and hold on tight. Or scroll past because this won't be particularly witty but it'll at least be informative. I'll try to throw some levity in for good measure, though.So, I really wanted to like this. No, I wanted to LOVE this. It's basically the only "security"-minded dog door on the market that's easy to install and readily available. So, I'll lead with the good stuff: the Pros.Pros:- It technically works. Well, it *technically* works TOO well, in fact. More on that later.- It was fairly easy to install.- It looks about as good as you can expect a giant, beige, plastic dog door to look. But it won't win any style points and you won't see it at the Consumer Electronics Show or Paris Fashion Week.And now is where I get in the real meat-'n'-potatoes: the Cons. I'll break them down into subcategories for ya so you can more easily digest the dumpster fire I'm about to throw your way.Cons, Part 1: Superficial Things That Make Me Look Like a Primadonna1. The SmartKey tag for your dog's collar is enormous for what it is and does. It's meant to hold a battery akin to watch battery and contain the RF transmitter, but the thing is way too big. It looks like a plug for a large ice chest. It's klunky, looks stupid on my dogs collar, makes lots of noise despite my best efforts to silence it with velcro instead of a typical metal ring. Overall, it's like the design of this piece of the kit was a complete afterthought. Billy in "Design" was like, "Oh, shoot, guys! We completely forgot how the dogs are supposed to open this thing! What should we do?" And his boss was like, "Who cares? It's just a dog." Send 'em back to the drawing board because it just sucks.2. It's loud. When it "unlocks" it makes a fairly loud "Pop!" Like, we can hear it from literally every room in our 1300 sqf home covering two floors. It even wakes us up in the middle of the night. (More on this later, too.) This is good and bad, sorta - but really, it's all bad because the door just doesn't work as intended.3. It comes in two sizes: Teacup Chihuahua and Pygmy Horse / Great Dane. Yes, small and large. That's it. There is no medium size for those of us with medium-sized dogs. You know, like the VAST majority of dog owners. The small is so tiny don't even think about anything bigger than a small Jack Russel getting through. So we had to go with the large for our 44-pound dog that's only about 18" high at his shoulder. But that's not all! Because this door is just so suitable for larger quadrupeds, medium-build adult males can also fit through the dog door with no problem. That couldn't possibly be a security risk. No way! But huzzah! What an unexpected treat to allow most of the adult male population access to our home! Also, more on this later.Cons, Part 2: Radio Frequencies and the Physics-Defying Dog Door.1. The door doesn't work as advertised. At all. So here's the deal. The door is supposed to have variable sensitivity. Not sensitive at all means the dog is, in theory, directly in front of the door before it pops open. Medium sensitivity means he/she is like, oh, some arbitrary distance the manufacturer states. For fun, let's say it's 5 feet away. Then at high sensitivity, the dog can be up to 15 feet away or something. Again, the number seems arbitrary and makes no sense. It's like that show "Whose Line Is It Anyway" hosted by Drew Carrey were "the rules are made up and the points don't matter."So when you initially set it up, the instructions make you go through this sorta ridiculous process of putting your dog's collar on your leg then pushing a couple of buttons on the door then adjusting this silly little sensitivity dial then walking by the door to make sure the door unlocks. Honestly, you'll look like a total fool when you're doing this. Just make sure nobody's around. At any rate, I do all this. Follow the directions to the "T". All seems great. I put the collar on my dog with the supposedly perfect sensitivity level and the thing doesn't work. I had it set so it would Pop! and unlock with doggo about 5 feet away. Now, on Trial #1, he's standing right in front of the door and pushing his head against it and nothing. Finally after 4 seconds the door decides to cooperate.I go through the process again. This time I figure it needs to be more sensitive to get past that weird little schism we just had. I'm giving this piece of junk the benefit of the doubt. This time it unlocks about the same place as last time. Success!? Hahahaha. No. Silly me. A broken clock is correct twice a day, right? Next time doggo tries to go out, it doesn't unlock at all. At all. Makes no sense.So I conduct an experiment to find out how screwed up this thing is. I go through the initial setup process again to set the sensitivity. I do it for three settings: lowest, medium, and most sensitive based on the silly little sensitivity dial. To keep things as scientific as possible, I hold doggo in "the staging area" at the base of the stair and call him to the dog door via the same route the the kitchen each time. I do this ten times for each sensitivity level and mark/measure where he is when the dog door Pops! So 30 times (I'm not joking - I really AM this determined) I did this. At the end of the 30th run on the highest sensitivity level where, presumably, the door should Pop! from as far away as possible, I noticed three things:a. No two successive tries at any sensitivity level yielded the same results. The first run it'd Pop! at 4 feet away. The next run it'd Pop! at 10 feet. The third time it'd Pop! only after doggo was sitting in front of the door for 2-4 seconds.b. There was not even a grouping for each sensitivity level that would indicate a rough distance that would correlate to the specific sensitivity level. All three sensitivity levels were seemingly random for when the dog door would decide to Pop!c. The distances and associated graphs for all three sensitivity levels could be interchangeable. All three were so randomized for the data showing when the door decided to Pop! that clearly the sensitivity dial is merely for show. The dial is a lie!2. Because the dog door clearly does what it wants, it's a good thing (I guess) that it's quite loud. It alerts my dog that he's free to pass through the flap during the many, MANY instances where he's standing in front of it and the door doesn't work. It's like some twisted Pavlovian trick that I'm putting my doggo through every time he has to pee or poop. Seems almost cruel...I can only imagine doggo thinking, "Will the door open? Will I be able to go outside to pee? Will I have to pee right here? I don't know!!" Keep in mind, this has happened since Day 1, so this isn't a battery issue. It's a cruddy product issue.3.Also because it's so loud, we can hear it when it opens on its own in the middle of the night. Yes. In the middle of the night. The same door that won't open when doggo is right in front of it somehow thinks it's appropriate to Pop! at 2 AM, then again at 5:30 AM. During these times, doggo is of course in bed. His bed is at a vectored distance of about 40 feet from the door. Vectored because his bed is upstairs in the northwest corner of the house whilst the door is downstairs in the southeast corner of the house. Also keep in mind that there's multiple plaster walls (I know...plaster is the WORST!) and a plaster ceiling and hardwood floors. I literally have a hard time getting WiFi signal to where his bed is when the wireless router is even closer than the dog door. That's not how physics and radio frequency propagation works. There's no way on this planet that his collar is activating it. And no, it's not their neighbors dog because they don't have dogs. This also happens during the day, again, when he's nowhere near the door. Over a 7-day period I counted the times the door spontaneously opened. It averaged 5 times per day. That's assuming we heard all of them. Which we probably have because it's so loud.This is problematic for three reasons:a. The whole point of this stupid door is to keep unwanted critters out and let out/in only those magical beasts with the Collar of Dreams. We have lots of nocturnal animals (raccoons and the link) in our neighborhood as well as a particularly amorous feral tomcat that has shown a Pepe Lepew-like affection for our female (inside only) cat. A door that pops open on its own is not a good thing to have in this scenario. Also, raccoons are creepy because they have human hands. And they're jerks because they go through our trash.b. It wakes us up in the middle of the night!c. Remember how medium-framed adult human males can fit through this thing because the manufacturer apparently decided we were too dumb to want options? Well, what a great way to break and enter! Well, really, it wouldn't be breaking and entering because the terrible dog door would just welcome them on in! Like I said earlier, not a security risk at all! /sSo I've done a lot of complaining here. And I think it's all pretty warranted. These guys have a corner on the market with this thing so it feels like they just kinda punted it and figured consumers have no other options, so they can totally turn out a garbage product. Does it work? Yeah, I guess so. Sorta. Which is why I gave it two stars in stead of one. But I would provide this feedback to anyone who was considering buying one. It's expensive and it won't work as advertised. Caveat emptor.If you've read this far, thanks! You're a trooper. Think twice about this purchase. Maybe just resign yourself to the fact that you'll have to take little Winston or Pepper or Spot out twice a day instead of cutting a giant hole in your back door for a dog door of marginal quality.

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.

I was really worried about spending so much money on this door with so many bad reviews. But I have a middle-age dog that has never needed a doggie door before (who now really needs one) and a cat who is only indoor. I am out of the house at work for most of the day and my dog needs to go out during the day and it seemed like my only solution for keeping the cat in, was trying out this electronic doggie door.I just installed the door yesterday. I will update this review after both my cat and dog have time to get familiar with the door. My cat absolutely has to be indoors and my dog is the only one who should be getting out.Other reviewer concerns:Keeping the doggie door level so it doesn't jam: My instructions said to mark the door at my dogs shoulder height while the door is still hanging. Once I marked her shoulder height I made a horizontal line across the door with a level. You have to do this while the door is still hanging on it's hinges. Once I took the door down I lined up the shoulder markings on my door with the outline that came with the doggie door. This is the only way you will ensure that the doggie door is level and will not jam. After I cut the hole in the door and put the doggie door in place I used the level again for minor adjustments before fully tightening the screws. The door is perfectly level now and we have not had any issues with jamming!Other reviews mentioned the door locking their pet in or out: My door seems to stay open as long as the sensor is in range. Once my dog is out of range it seems to lock after about 15 seconds. This is very helpful for training. My dog was a little unsure about the door her first few times through it and I was worried about it cycling and locking - making training harder. But it stays open when she is near and does not lock until she is out of range (2.5 feet). It's only been 24 hours and my dog seems to have learned that the clicking sound the door makes when it unlocks, let's her know it's ok to go outside. My only concern about the door staying open while she is in range is that she normally likes to lie down by this door - so if the door stays unlocked, my cat may have a chance to slip out. I will let you know how this works out when I updated this post...hopefully I can train her to not lie down by the door anymore. As for my cat, I plan to keep her in my room while I am away for the next few weeks while my dog gets used to the door.Noise: The unlocking sound the door makes is a little loud. It's just about as loud as the sound of closing a washing machine door - maybe a little quieter. The door "pops" loose when the dogs sensor is near and lets the dog pass through. The noise does not bother me - I figure at 3:00 in the morning I can either have my dog bothering me to go outside or I can just hear the popping noise when she let's herself out...I'll take the popping noise.In all, I am very excited about this door. I really hope it works. I'm tired of coming home and finding my dog's stinky little "surprises" around the house. :-) I have only given the door 4 stars at this point because I am still skeptical at this point with all the bad reviews. If things continue to go good and my cat stays indoors, I will upgrade to a 5. Follow the instructions precisely and absolutely make sure the door is level - this will make your installation go right the first time.Good luck!PS - Have caulk handy after installation to fill any gaps in the door (my door has some beveling that I had to fill in). This will help against water damage and bugs.--------------------3 MONTH UPDATE---------------After 3 months of having this door and what seemed like forever in getting my dog trained to use it - I love this door! She goes in and out all of the time and seems to love that freedom. She goes out just to sniff around and comes right back in! I am so happy for my dog to have that type of leisure. She lets herself out at 3:00 in the morning, she let's herself out while I am at work or when I run errands. And no more accidents!! I could not be happier! And I know my poor pup did not like having accidents either - I don't have to see her guilty little face anymore!!...and my kitty runs freely through the house and has not made it out once!! The doors locks when it should, like a charm. On New Year's Eve we were away at a friends house for a VERY long time, so much that I worried that I had to run home to let the dog out - but then I remembered I did not have to. I came home when the night was over and my house was clean and my doggy was happy. What a relief!

I would give this a 5 but this is a replacement. The initial door only lasted about 2 years. For the price I would expect it to last longer. I do love the convenience of the door and the security which is why I bought another one. Hopefully it lasts longer.