PetSafe SmartDoor

Product Description

Let your furry friends come and go with the PetSafe Electronic SmartDoor. Never worry about uninvited guests sneaking in because the flap only locks and unlocks when it senses the SmartKey on your pet’s ID collar. Easily program your pet’s entry and exit with the automatic setting. You can also set the door to be fully locked or fully unlocked. The SmartDoor is great for multi-pet households because it works with up to 5 different SmartKeys that you can customize for each pet (one programmed SmartKey is included). Installation is a simple do-it-yourself project. The door fits into standard-size paneled, wood, metal and PVC doors 1 ½ in - 2 in thick. Once installed you can program the electronic door in minutes. PetSafe brand is here to help you and your pet live happy together.

Features

• CUSTOMIZE YOUR PET’S ACCESS: The SmartDoor features programmable selective entry, exit and auto-locking options
• PEACE OF MIND: The SmartDoor works with the waterproof SmartKey worn on your pet's collar; only the pets wearing the SmartKey can go in and out
• MULTIPLE PETS: Great for households with multiple pets; programmable for up to 5 SmartKeys
• BATTERY OPERATED: The SmartDoor is battery operated (4 D-Cell Batteries, not included)
• DOOR INSTALLATION: Designed for installation in interior/exterior doors; wall installation option available with purchase of Wall Install Kit. Caution: Small children can pass through door
• EXPERIENCE: PetSafe brand has been an industry leading U.S. manufacturer of pet behavior, containment and lifestyle products since 1991, helping millions of people and pets each year

Top Reviews

This Is The Best Pet Door Made To Date
by Joseph Q. Hughes (5 out of 5 stars)
March 19, 2015

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.
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Don't waste your money and time
by Napster1970 (1 out of 5 stars)
November 8, 2017

Do not waste your money buying this pet door as it is an absolute piece of junk. I bought the first one of amazon and had to return it. I have had to buy 3 of these very same pet doors within the past 10 months because they start malfunctioning after approximately 3 months to the point where they are useless. The motor starts acting up and/ burning out. Most recently, the pet door would just open up and stay up even while set to automatic. The door simply wouldn't lock once it opened. I have had no choice but to keep buying the very same pet door because it is the only one that will fit the hole that had to be cut in my back door. The concept of the electric dog door is awesome, however this pet door rarely works like is advertised and is supposed to. Attempting to " learn" the smart key so the dog can exit and enter is beyond frustrating due to how extremely sensitive it can be or not be and with how inconsistent it performs. It is absolutely ridiculous with the numerous times in which my dog would be 15 feet away from the door and yet we would hear it unlock and open. It also is absolutely ridiculous how many times my dog would be standing right in front of the door for several minutes and the door wouldn't unlock and open. Customer service attempts to help you troubleshoot but when all is said and done the only thing accomplished is both your money and time being wasted.
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Not suitable for Greyhounds!
by Jodi T (1 out of 5 stars)
June 2, 2019

This product is not suitable for greyhounds, whippets, or other breeds with long tails. The door is very rigid plastic and as the dog goes through, the door snaps shut on the tail. This resulted in serious injury and a $100 vet bill (see photo). I reached out to the company but there is no way to modify the door to make it safe for use. The company refuses to refund. The door was ordered on April 30 but it wasn't installed until just recently, and the return window for Amazon on this product is only 30 days so I am SOL.
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This is probably the worst purchase we have ever made for our home in ...
by JulieW (2 out of 5 stars)
March 22, 2018

This is probably the worst purchase we have ever made for our home in a long time. Out of the two years we have owned this door, it has worked for a total of 6 months. Here are my pros and cons:

PROS:

Large

Sturdy

CONS:

Eats batteries (4x D-Cell) like crazy. I have never had to purchase so many batteries, and when the batteries die, you're SOL, whether the door is open or closed, you better get new batteries quick if you want this door to function at all

Constantly "faults". We contacted customer service about this multiple times, and although they tried to be helpful, nothing could solve this issue. The door frequently (at least once a day when it was working) would fall out of alignment and default open because the motor was causing the door to close at an odd angle. Even when attempting to manually close the door, I had to run through it's cycles multiple times before it would close compeletly

The sensor is flaky and proprietary. If it runs out of battery, you have to replace the whole unit. Our dog was able to get it off and break it in half. Since it is a proprietary battery, you cannot just replace the battery, you have to buy a whole new unit.

Basically, when the door was working, it was "faulting" and staying open, totally negating the whole purpose. Now I have a massive whole in my door with a broken doggie door stuck in it. This feels like a life sentence, as there is no other regular door that will fit in the space.

Buy at your own risk, and be prepared to be constantly dealing with this door.
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Perfect dog door for keeping out raccoons...
by C. Sheely (5 out of 5 stars)
March 20, 2016

Works great. We had a problem with raccoons getting through the dog door. So far this door has worked out great. It took a little time for our dog to figure out the procedure of getting through the door but had it down by the first day.
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Junk if you live in cold weather
by mariao (1 out of 5 stars)
December 18, 2016

It was ok to install (god forbid things are't 100% lined up) and dog was 90% trained to use it... then winter came. Door is a waste of money.. As soon as it got cold (we are in midwest) door malfunctioned. locked unlocked on its own. We changed batteries, did ALL the troubleshooting, only to find that the hinge on the door has frost on it. Keeps resetting and needing to relearn. Very slow and sluggish. This product does NOT do well with cold and has been rendered useless. It would be nice for company to respond with some options, as we have not even had it installed for 4 months.
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The smartkey is too big for small dogs.
by A. Crowe (1 out of 5 stars)
November 5, 2017

The door itself is fine but the smartkey, which was my purpose for buying an expensive door, is driving me and my dog nuts. I have a cat I do not want to get outside. At first I just clipped it on my dog's collar. Then I saw him chewing on it while it was on him. By the time I got to him to look at it the battery part was gone and the smartkey was chewed badly. I found the battery and thought I would glue and duct tape it back together. Even though the battery was seated, it would no longer open the door. I had another smartkey sent next day shipping. The first thing I tried was duct taping it directly to his neck collar (didn't get a picture of that). It was like a unicorn horn sticking out his neck. And of course gravity takes it to bottom center of his neck and he was uncomfortable trying to sleep. The harness idea was born. Look at the picture to see how ridiculous this is. He felt like he is in trouble. And he kept getting stuck in the door, because the smartkey is sticking up off his back and hanging up on the door. I had to help him through. Ruining the point of a dog door. Now I am trying clipping it to his collar again but it is covered with duct tape and then flexible vet bandage that tastes really bad so hopefully he won't try chewing it again. He still feels like he is in trouble (see picture). If only the smartkey was smaller, I would be happy with the setup. Also my dog is 15lbs. I can't imagine a 6 lb yorkie, poodle, or chihuahua wearing this smartkey. Why make the small dog door at all?

Several years ago when my sons still lived at home we had 3 large dogs, and had the large door. The smartkey was fine for a German Shepherd, Golden retriever, and lab mix. But to put the same size smartkey on a small dog is ridiculous. Manufacturer - please fix this. Anyone else with a great idea on how their small dog wears the smartkey - please share! Thanks.

Update 10 minutes later. He's chewing on it even with the terrible tasting vet flex bandage wrap. I don't know what to try next.
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bought two of these as my dog needs to go ...
by Steve (1 out of 5 stars)
February 8, 2018

bought two of these as my dog needs to go through the garage door, through the garage, then through a side door in order to access his dog run during the day and relieve himself. Worked ok for awhile, but a few times they didnt unlock, and trapped my dog outside/in the garage. Eventually their functionality dwindled to the point where my dog would just run face-first into the plastic door and he became too afraid of them to try on his own. We had to completely retrain him to use the dog doors. Eventually we just disabled the locking feature so these just became $300 ($150x2) regular dog doors. Wish i had saved my money and just bought a couple of rubber flaps.
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Great idea, but can't get it to work.
by Miguel (1 out of 5 stars)
February 18, 2016

First the good news. It was easy to install in a wooden door, and it was easy to program.

Then the bad. The door makes a loud clicking sound every time it unlocks and opens. That's fine for two of our dogs, but our biggest pit/lab mix is afraid of everything and she won't go near it. It would be nice if the company could engineer a quieter version.

Then the ugly. I could live with 2 out of our 3 dogs getting through it, BUT IT DOESN'T WORK! I've called the company three times and very nice people answered the phone, but none of them offered me any advice that works. What happens is that the door opens properly, but it doesn't close properly. The instructions suggest that this could occur because of wind or because of a pressure difference between the inside of the garage and the outside. But even on the calmest of days, with the garage door wide open, so there could be no pressure difference, the door won't close properly more than two or three times in a row. I've called the company and they've suggested loosening screws. They've suggested adjusting the sensitivity. They suggested checking to make sure it's level. They suggested replacing the batteries. They suggested holding down the "mode" button to reset it. We've done it all. Nothing has worked. The company's customer support is very friendly. I've spent a couple of hours on the phone with them. Nice folks. But in the end, the product doesn't work. I'd take it out, and reinstall my old doggie door, but the hole for this is twice as large and I love my house too much to nail a large piece of plywood onto the door. So I keep the door locked closed so my cats don't get out and the raccoons don't get in.

Bottom line: don't buy this product and expect it to work. This door is a great idea, whose time has yet to come!
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she is NOT an intelligent dog. For a week or so
by Debra M. Benge (5 out of 5 stars)
August 7, 2017

We needed a door that would keep the cats in while letting the dogs come and go as they always have. It took one of our dogs just a couple of minutes to figure out she needed to wait for the click before going on about her business. The other one, while she is an absolute sweetheart, she is NOT an intelligent dog. For a week or so, she would simply wait for the other one to open the door for her and follow close behind. We worked with her for a while, and she's finally using it on her own, though she still doesn't particularly care for it. Our 2 year old cat is NOT happy that she can no longer come and go as she pleases. The kittens hadn't learned to use the free-flow dog door, so they don't care.

I'm quite pleased with this dog door! It was very easy to install, and in fact it fit perfectly into the existing dog door hole we already had in the back door. It took a bit of work to get both SmartKey's keyed right for our dogs, but all in all, it was simple.

And because the flap doesn't just swing away in the wind, our laundry room no longer floods when it rains!

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