USAutomatic 020320 Sentry 300 Commercial Grade Automatic Gate Opener

I was a little apprehensive about taking this DIY project on, especially since the existing gates were badly installed and I really did not want to have to rip out the gate posts and install new ones. However, I was able to replace the two 5' chain link gates with a single 10' meshed farm gate and shimmed it so that the gate itself was completely level (the post was a bit off kilter). Yes, it would have been better to set a new gate post, but I figured that was going to be a huge amount of effort (the old gate post was set at the end of a concrete kneewall.Installation of the gate opener went without a hitch (I did view the CD and read the installation instructions twice before proceeding). The manual was good and in less than 2hrs it was all up and running. Adjustment was easy. The gate opens very consistently (within an inch) and the remotes have a long range (I can click the opener at the start of the driveway which is some 250' from the inner driveway gate. It has been operating flawlessly for a week and given the quality of construction I expect it should run for some time. I did get a silicon sealant to ensure the control panel was well sealed (I have had issues before with ants getting into control units like that). I am glad I opted for a neighbor's advice to avoid an inexpensive unit and thereby avoid the problems he had (he gave up trying to install it and finally paid a gate company to fix it). Assuming it continues to operate well into the future, I will rate this as a very fine purchase.UPDATE: the range of the remote is quite surprising: I can consistently open and close the gate from the corner of my property which lies over 600' away from the Control box on the gate. And this is not direct line of sight either - at least 200' of the property is covered with oak trees and small shrubs! I especially like the fact that I can sit at my desk inside the house, some 150' from the control box (again going through trees and three walls of the house) and still reliably open and close the gate (which is useful since this is an inside gate, and I have a driveway sensor at the outer entrance which gives me plenty of time to see who is coming and open the gate for them). The driveway gate itself continues to operate flawlessly without a single hiccough - in fact I purchased another remote and also got the wireless keypad and plan to tie in a remote relay so that I can open and close the gate over the internet.2nd update: has worked flawlessly now for 4+ years.3rd update: worked flawlessly for 5+ years now. When AC power failed during recent ICEmageddon, the gate was one of the few things that continued to work on battery power.4th update: 8 years, still working flawlessly, did have to clean corrosion on battery terminals, but original battery still seems ok (probably need to replace it soon though).

We replaced an older gate opener with this model after years of replacing blown fuses and circuit boards. We live in the Pacific NW and the slugs were constantly getting into the circuitry and shorting out the boards. I tried everything humanly possible to try and block their entry points but had no luck. Service on the unit was horrendous and over the last 10 years we poured hundreds of dollars into the that unit to keep it operating. The last time it shorted out I had had enough. That Miracle 1 unit is a piece of crap and it took a security company certified electrician to work on it and believe me, they weren't cheap! We researched many options and settled on the Sentry 300 unit. I installed it a couple of weeks ago and it is preforming perfectly. It took me less than two hours to install the entire system. Mind you, I already had mounting brackets that I could easily modify to accept the connections to the post and gate plus 110 power for the battery charging was already there.The unit came with a good dvd that summarized the installation process. Good thing, the manual that came with it was missing many pages and had duplicates of the others! A manual is available on their website but with the information provided on the dvd I didn't need to access that.In choosing this unit I saw several good reviews and also was glad to see that the circuit board on this model is completely sealed to keep out the "bugs". What a concept! That in itself was enough to convince me that these guys new what they were doing when they designed this thing.The opener works great! My only issue is that I drive a 12 year old Suburban and the onboard programmable opener button will not accept this new 9 pin remote signal into it's memory. I am using one of the remotes provided until I get to a Chevy dealer and see if they can help me out. Perhaps it's just my older vehicle technology because my wife's new Subaru easily accepted the code and she doesn't need to carry the remote.Lastly, I am NOT a mechanical genius or electrician......just a normal knucklehead woodworker and installing the unit was quite simple. I would recommend this unit to you.......especially if you are suffering the indignity of possessing a Miracle 1 (what an oxymoron....it's a Miracle they are still in business!).