GeekDad Review: Niro Garage Door Controller with Camera

Once again, here we are talking about a new DIY smart home product.

Lately, my focus has been on the garage. This “room” is one of the most left out in the realm of smart home advancements but it is making huge gains. In my past reviews, I have discussed smart garage door motors and smart locks for external doors.

In today’s post, I am going to cover the Niro Wi-Fi Garage Door Controller with Camera. This gadget has the ability to make a non-smart garage door motor into a smart one and add the security of a motion and sound activated camera.

The Niro Garage Door Controller will attach to your current garage door motor unit and adds the ability to control and monitor it via wi-fi. It is a wired connection to the motor unit, just like the garage door opener button that is typically mounted on the wall of the garage. Once connected, it gives the owner a virtual button on their mobile device that does the same thing. It also has the same functionality as a camera that can be used to actually see if the garage door is closed and monitor the garage in general. It also has a two-way talk feature to act as an intercom – pretty cool, right!

Here are the bullet points from the manufacturer, Momentum:

• Camera with 720p HD resolution (720×1280)
• 110-degree viewing angle with 360-degree pivot hinge
• Built-in infrared LED to see clearly during day or night
• Motion and noise detection alerts to your mobile device
• Dual band Wi-Fi support (2.4GHz and 5.0GHz)
• Two-way talk ability
• Compatible with other home-based consumer electronics from NEST

The Niro Garage Door Controller has probably been one of the quickest and easiest smart home products that I have had the pleasure to install.

I went from opening the box to using the product in under 15 minutes – easy. It would have been even faster if my current garage door motor had a metal housing on it. Since it didn’t, I had to mount a metal plate onto a rafter for the unit to magnetically attach to. Once hooked up, it was a matter of installing an app and connecting to wi-fi, like almost all other smart products.

With my actual usage of the product, I am pretty satisfied. Yes, it opens and closes the garage door remotely from anywhere in the world, that is a given to be successful. The added features, such as the camera and talk functions, make it outstanding.

The app is very simple and functional also. Some of the smart gadgets that I use have too many screens to go through to make the “function” happen – not the Momentum app. The features are right there. Push this to see the camera, push this to open or close…

As you can see in my app image, it took a picture of the ceiling because the camera was not aimed when first turned on. Here is the view as it looks when properly set up:

I highly recommend the Niro Wi-Fi Garage Door Controller with Camera to anyone with a garage.

It brings that overlooked part of the house up to par with the rest of your smart home and practically anyone can install it themselves – making it a great under $100 gift for the tech lovers in your life!

Find one yourself at Walmart.com or find out more at Momentumcam.com.