Mailbox Alert with Text Message and Email Notifications (Extended Range)

Sometimes in life, there's a place for one-trick ponies. And this mailbox sensor is one of those. It performs its job flawlessly and eliminates one of the pet peeves in our lives.Our mailbox is curbside at the bottom of a 150 ft driveway. There's nothing more frustrating than making the trip down to the curb in the pouring rain, only to discover that the postman has not yet delivered. His schedule is unpredictable. It could be anytime from 11 am to 6 pm. Now, we always know when the mail has been delivered!We got the extended-range version. I've never been so happy to see a text/email alert in my life!

For years I've been trying to figure out a way to get a message on my home-office computer when the mail is delivered. I considered all kinds of fancy schemes. I have a ball-on-a-spring thing that pops up when the mailbox is opened, but I have to get up and walk 20 feet to see it - very unmodern! Then finally I saw that someone has a product that does what I had in mind. I was a little apprehensive, because my house is lath & plaster and stucco from the 1920s, which tends to block wifi signals, and the unit is slightly expensive. My wifi router is in the living room, mounted on the wall six feet above the floor. The mailbox is about 50 feet from the router and down some stairs, nowhere near the 300 feet they advertise, so I can't speak to the distance issue. I'm quite computer-savvy and wifi-savvy and medium-level handy. I was careful to order the correct version of the product for my metal mailbox, and watched the excellent installation video and carefully read the instructions, and downloaded the app to my iPhone. I had to attach the sending unit to the bottom of the mailbox because the mailbox is attached to the garage wall, not on a post as they anticipate. To do this, I went to the hardware store and got tiny machine screws that fit through the holes in the sending unit, with nuts to match. I drilled little holes in the bottom of the mailbox for the sending unit screws, bolted the sending unit to the bottom of the mailbox, drilled another little hole in the bottom of the mailbox for the wire, cut the wire, put the wire through the hole, used the supplied wire nuts to reattach the wire, and caulked the holes with bathtub caulk. I attached the sensors to the mailbox and the mailbox door with the supplied double-sided tape like they say to do. I set up the app and got it talking to the sending unit and sending me email and sending my cell phone messages with no trouble. I think I did have to wait a few minutes - maybe 20 minutes - before everything registered and settled, but after that it worked on the first try. The thing works perfectly. I get a text message on my cell phone, and the messaging app on my Mac displays it on the computer screen, just as I wanted. In sum, I had absolutely no problems and everything works as expected. I was pleased and a little bit astounded that I didn't have to redo anything or struggle with anything and it worked perfectly as advertised. Note that you have to set up an account with the vendor; I imagine they could figure out when your mailbox is opened, but I don't care about that. I did not need to use the Pushbullet feature, because my phone and my computer are linked so that a message on the phone shows up on the computer without using this feature. I did not contact technical support.Three months on: Still working perfectly. I put duct tape over the screws inside the mailbox to keep envelopes (and my hand) from hanging up on the screws.Nine months on: Still no problem, still great. Batteries now at 80%.One year on: batteries at 70%. The unit lost contact with my router. I called the excellent tech support line, they called me back, I was instructed to hold down the tiny Clear button inside the unit while triggering it (opening and closing the mailbox), as outlined in the FAQ for moving the unit. It reset and I reconnected it to wifi and all is well. I think what happened was that the router manufacturer updated their firmware, or something. This is a simple, great little device.

Edit 2018-11-07: Well, I finally heard back from MySpool. After begging for an answer for a week, I sent a final message telling them I was returning the unit and posting feedback. They responded in 7 minutes with "We spent the time, helped you set it up and made sure the device works. Do you seriously expect us to debug your network? You should be ashamed of badmouthing our product and support!"My response was:"Are you serious? The product doesn’t work at 140’ with a -60 signal at 2.4G, despite your claims to the contrary. My network is fine. Yet you couldn’t even respond to three emails. Your product is great except the range isn’t as promised. Your support is required to set up the product and thereafter you just ignore multiple requests. I really wanted this worked, and if you could have made some suggestions as to how it could work as advertised, I would have been singing your praises."I have added photos showing my installation which followed all the rules. Again, if you want to use this product from about 75' away, or closer, no problem. As long as you don't mind being on your own if there's an issue...Original Review:I really wanted this product to work. When I got it, Iit took a call to MySpool to get it working - there are no instructions and this is non intuitive. Once I got it working on the bench, I installed it at 142', well below the range specifications. I installed a separate Ubiquiti wifi access point and tested the signal which read at -60 in the 2.4G range which is 10db higher than specified. Access point was line of sight, signal was good, magnetic switch tested fine, but no luck. I sent the support address three (3) emails over a week, including photos and detailed information, and they never responded. Since it flat out does not work, I boxed it up and shipped it back. It really is a shame, as I wanted it to work and liked it when tested on the bench.Bummer.

I just received this and set it up per the (brief) instructions provided. Very easy install and configuration on their website. Will be testing over the next few days and do a more permanent install if all is well.My mailbox is quite far away so I was a bit skeptical about the Wi-Fi signal reaching the remote unit. Another pleasant surprise, no problem whatsoever. I did connect, configure, and tested it indoors, then moved the unit to its final location. Again, it was very simple and worked the first time. I think I am just under 400' from the router inside my home.I have it configured with multiple email addresses. I do wish it also had multiple SMS message capability, it would make it a more complete application. I did use two of the emails to send to the carriers SMS gateway/portal, which is working fine.On balance, I was surprised by this little gem of a product and highly recommend it.UPDATE:Well, it's been installed for almost two months now and I'm still very satisfied with the unit's performance. I especially like that the unit gives you the battery life in each text message and email that you receive. Right now, it hasn't budged from the original power level of the batteries I installed. Note: I didn't use the cheapie foreign label brand and put in a new set of Duracell, which I preferred.Again, well pleased with the unit and its operation.