Founder Update

News
1

Hi Denis,

As one of your early adopters (certainly here in England) I was curious as to how business is going and whether there have been significant hardware updates since I bought the Kickstarter original.

I reckon your support to users and the general reliability of the hardware deserves success.

All the best,

Rob.

2

I love and support Garadget and it’s still what I’m using, but if you’re looking for fancier hardware the OpenSprinkler guy did one with an ultrasound car detector, btw. I like my OpenSprinkler, but no clue if this product is as effective as Garadget. https://opengarage.io/

3

Rob,
Thank you for your early support of Garadget!
There were multiple improvements to the hardware, firmware, apps and integrations.

Here are some of the changes to the hardware inspired by the user feedback:

  • In early hardware the USB connector would snap off the PCB when excessive force is applied. The current revision uses reinforced USB connector with multiple mechanical anchor points which is also supported by the enclosure. Since the modification, we’ve yet to receive any reports of same issue.
  • USB cable currently supplied with Garadget is now longer and uses molded connectors. Some customers reported that old cord was too short for their setup and connectors would crack open under excessive force.
  • There was a small number of reports of control relay getting stuck when used with old garage door openers. Current revision uses the mechanical relay rated for 4x the current and with contacts protected by a self recoverable fuse.
  • For improved WiFi connectivity, the current version ships with an external antenna as a standard feature. This may or may not be the case in future revisions depending on how good we get the PCB antenna to perform.
  • Current revision ships with an additional set of larger retro-reflective tags offering even better reflectivity.
4

Thanks Denis.

Mine is still running very well and is used multiple times daily. I’m about to test it’s resolve by changing to a new router in a few weeks but hopefully all will go well.

I’ve recently added a few amazon devices and it’s interesting that the echo dot interacts with the Garadget skill seamlessly whereas the echo show insists on an extra step whereby I have to accept it’s offer to open the app before issuing a command. Amazon’s implementation of consistency !

Any plans for an Apple CarPlay compatible app/skill or is it prohibitively difficult/expensive to get approval ?

5

Rob,
Thanks for the update. I don’t expect any issues with switching the router.
CarPlay is squarely on the radar, but there are several other tasks that are more pressing at this time.