I got the "Pro Solar" door opener kit to use with my DIY coop door. The door opener itself is good. It seems very well built and has no problems opening and closing. The user Interface is easy to figure out and has many customizable features. It does exactly what I wanted and I am very happy with the product. BUT. .. .. The four rechargeable batteries and a small solar panel that come with the kit for an extra $20 is absolutely not worth it in my opinion. The batteries were completely dead, not even a little charge. I connected the solar panel and left it in DIRECT SUMMER SUNLIGHT for a full day. After that the screen would barely turn on then went black after trying to push buttons. Customer support said it requires two full days in the sun to charge, which was never mentioned anywhere. I left the solar panel in direct sunlight for a whole week and they still would not charge. It would only turn on momentarily and then go completely dead again. Customer support didn't want to help me unless I could prove the batteries weren't charged. They wanted pictures and videos of the entire setup with and without solar panel, with rechargeable batteries, with regular AA batteries, all the wire runs, the screen turned on, the door opener taken apart with all of the internal electronics shown, videos of door going up and down, etc. .. they wanted a whole Spielberg production for them to admit they sent me a junk product. They refused to help me any further until I sent all of that. I don't even know how I was supposed to do that because you cant send that much data and files over email. At that point I said forget about it and put them in the trash where they belong. I'm very disappointed with that part. I would not recommend getting the solar kit. Save yourself some money and just buy the door opener by itself. It works just fine with regular AA batteries.

I tried several other doors, but Chicken Guard just does it better. Unlike a lot of brands where the door fails to open or close, the "winch" design is basically error-proof. I used my first one for years and never had an issue. Just bought another (more coops). It's a total "set it and forget it" system.

I’ve had a chicken gaurd for over 15 years. Fabulous product Expanding my operation so I ordered another. Top of the line (pro solar with a door) It arrived without a solar panel charger. I sent an email, talked to the BOT (pointless!), left a voicemail. All three contacts I left a telephone number requesting I speak to a human. Again, pointless I received a nice email asking me to send a photo of the box as I opened it, and received a nice email telling me that I’d be shipped what I reported as missing Really? What was the point of the frustration trying to use the “contact us” function? Sad. Another great product/company becoming average vs actual response to a loyal customer

I have several doors and they are all excellent

Easy to install. Works well. Highly recommended

I have it hooked up now, but I did have problem. The motor would not turn to open or close. I had to free it up by turning it with my fingers several times. But now it works great.

Only thing that could be improved is that the door tracks. Kind of disappointing that they are made of plastic and not metal. Overall tho, everything is perfect. We've got no complaints as of right now.

unit works well A few problem areas that need to be addressed- the blue background light makes it very hard to see in sunlight. I had to put a tarp over it to see. the manual needs to include the instructions need to include how to get into the programing just to adjust the time as the day change, nothing about using the down arrow in the book.