YoLink LoRa Smart Outdoor Contact Sensor & Hub Starter Kit, Gate & Shed Door Sensor, Universal Contact-Closure Sensor, Email/SMS/Push Alerts, 1/4 Mile Open Air Range, Alexa, IFTTT, Home Assistant

My mailbox is about 154 feet away from my house. My mail delivery times vary, it can be anywhere from 3 pm -10 pm. I used to check it when I got home from work and found nothing, but I know I have mail due to the USPS Informed Delivery I signed up for. So I would need to keep checking the mailbox until either I got the mail or just went to bed and I would get the mail the following day.So I wanted something that would alert us when the mail was delivered. I did an internet search and I found this YoLink LoRa Smart Outdoor Contact Sensor. I read reviews and watched YouTube video reviews of it. As I was reading a review and saw that someone decided to go a slightly different route and went with the YoLink LoRa 1/4 Mile Wireless Range Smart Motion Detector. They placed the motion detector inside and on the back of the mailbox. I was going to follow because I liked the idea of the lack of any wires but then discovered the motion sensor does not work in cold weather (32 degrees is the lowest operating temperature and I live where it is colder during the winter months). So I went back to the idea of this, YoLink LoRa Smart Outdoor Contact Sensor.I bought the YoLink LoRa Smart Outdoor Contact Sensor with Hub. It was easy to set up. I downloaded the app first and created an account. Then I plugged in the hub and connected it to my router (via ethernet cable, it can be connected wirelessly but I like the wired connection, less chance of any issues), and then I added the contact sensor to the app. I tested the sensor first before installing it on the mailbox.When I was planning my installation on the mailbox, I saw that some installed the sensor inside the mailbox, but I did not want the sensor to get bumped by any mail or packages, so I decided to place the sensor on the outside. I also wanted to have easy access to the battery box. I wanted to easily remove the battery box from the mailbox, so I did not want to tape the box to the mailbox (underneath the mailbox). So I used the double-sided tape that came with the sensor and taped the battery box to an 11 lb round magnet (it takes 11 lbs of force to remove the magnet, the magnet does not weigh 11 lbs). With the magnet on the battery box, I can place the battery box anywhere on my metal mailbox and it is secure enough that it will not fall or detach itself. It is a solid connection. I placed the battery box underneath the mailbox where it is not too noticeable. I installed the sensors in the door area of the mailbox with double-sided tape after I wiped the area with rubbing alcohol for a clean surface.Once the sensor and box were installed, I then went into the app setting and set up the alerts. I wanted app alerts when the mailbox sensor was opened. At first, I did not get alerts, but then I realized I had to go into my phone app settings and give permission for the YoLink app to give me alerts. Once I did that, it was working great. I work in a different city and I will get notified via app alert that my mailbox has been opened.This system was easy to install and use. It is easy to add more sensors and devices. A hub can have more than 200+ devices connected to it, plenty if you want to add more devices for home security.The only critical thing I can say about this is this has an option to get text alerts if the the sensor is opened, but you only get so many texts a month and you will need to pay to subscribe to get more text alerts. But with the app alerts, it is limitless and it alerts me. What else can you ask for? You can get email alerts as well, but the app alerts work great for my needs.

This product was super easy to set up. The app and notifications are free. Notifications are nearly instant.I have a metal mailbox so I placed this under the mailbox. For my mailbox there was room between the wood mailbox mounting pole in the mailbox itself. The double stick tape on the magnet did not work well and I ended up gluing that with epoxy. The installation is nearly invisible unless you're looking for it. Been working flawlessly for over a month.

Ii was using a Ring mailbox sensor which goes through lithium batteries every week, has very poor range and is unreliable. Not anymore. Thank God for this YoLink outdoor sensor. Easy to setup, can cut off the included magnetic reed sensor and use any normally closed switch such as a momentary pin switch, mercury switch, tilt switch, etc.I love that it integrates with Alexa so it announces mail arrival. Plus I have it integrated with a YoLink pan and tilt camera so it records video when the mailbox door is opened. In short, this, as well as all YoLink devices are first class and work reliably and have tremendous range. Wish I had known about this company sooner.

For those of you looking at getting into LoRa this device, especially the hub, comes up quite a bit.Pros:-One of the most user friendly LoRa devices I've been able to find that integrates super easily into Home Assistant.-Products are very rugged, definitely would survive the outdoorsCons:-I tested the range vs a Z wave sensor (the Zooz one in particular) and the ranges were almost identical. This LoRa one got about 3 ft further but that's not significant in my opinion. For it being LoRa and getting 20 km is definitely nowhere close-Cloud based. It can and should not require a cloud. From the HA forums it appears like this has been discussed for over 2 years but still requires a cloud service (although free). I believe when it detects an open or close it must report the status to the server first, then the result is pushed to the local app. This results in a delay at times.If they actually make it not require the cloud, I'd choose this over a Z wave sensor but for the time being I'll stick with Z wave for almost identical performance.

With previous contact sensors I've had signal problems. This sensor works great and I have super strong signal to both my gates. Better yet it uses regular batteries instead of those tiny batteries and it's made to last.

Just installed a hub and gate sensor for the back gate on our privacy fence and it was super easy. We want to get notifications sent to our phones that will alert us when the gate is opened, partly to be notified when our child comes home from school, but also in case of unauthorized entry. It will also alert us if our child does not close the gate, which is handy because we have a dog that will escape the yard if the gate is left open. I see that other reviewers say that to get long term text and email alerts you have to sign up for monthly subscription, which we have no interest in doing. The app alerts are fine for us and work within a second or two of the gate being opened. By looking at the time in the history record of the app I can review our security cameras at that time to see what the gate activity was. We like it so much that I just ordered 2 more gate sensors for our side gates and 6 door sensors for the house, shed and workshop doors. I'm hoping they will eventually have a way to integrate camera triggering and power outage sensing into the modules.