A DIY gate opener solution is not for everyone, but Ghost's was perfect for me.
When I bought my home four years ago, it came with a nice looking gate but a horribly unreliable and expensive gate opener from another company. When the old opener stopped working the first time, making using a car a major inconvenience, I called around and found a few companies who could troubleshoot and fix. They were all priced about the same, and my out of pocket cost wound up shockingly high: over $2000 in parts and labor. When it broke the second time, I tried fixing it myself but the documentation I had was borderline useless, and the company refused to help me over the phone because I wasn't a "licensed repair technician." Worse, I learned the parts were discontinued meaning if a part was toast, I'd have to replace most or all of the operators and controls!
That's when I did some Googling and Amazon searches for a DIY solution, and found Ghost, which was the opposite in pretty much every way. My whole purchase for a full system with bells and whistles (operators, controls, double battery and box, keypad, pushbutton exit, extra remotes) was only about $900. Not only is their documentation easy to read, but they make it available online so you can read it before you buy - which is awesomely transparent. And they actually help you over the phone: I called them a few times to ask a bunch of installation questions - before I even purchased - and they readily answered everything, which took over an hour in total. (Keith was especially knowledgeable - thank you!) This also gave me the confidence to purchase the correct system, in my case the "heavy duty" series double opener system using AC power. It turns out the "architectural series" probably would've been too large for my gate.
I'm saving most installation details for my Amazon product review, but I'll give a quick summary here. Ghost says you can have this thing installed in an afternoon, and I'd say that's probably optimistic... but achievable IF you are handy, and already have the ideal existing gate setup, which is: a tube gate correctly installed with 6x6" wooden posts set in concrete, an adjacent wood fence for mounting control and power boxes, a line voltage A/C power outlet within 1000 feet (indoors or in a protected outdoor outlet), and low voltage (or better) conduit run underneath the driveway - plus sufficient lengths of low voltage wire and correct installation tools.
Having said that, my installation was nothing like that and took a number of weekends. I had a wood panel steel frame privacy gate which is NOT compatible with the Ghost system, so I had to convert it to a narrow picket style gate first, and install an aluminum cross bar for the operator to connect to. My gate had 1/4" thick 4x4 rectangular steel posts already installed which are nice looking but a nightmare to drill, which you have to do to install the operators. I had to improvise a solution which required more MacGuyvering than I care to share. I practically earned a master's degree in the various wall anchor types needed to support various aspects of the installation.
But was it worth it? Heck yes! I now have a much easier to use (and, if necessary, fix) gate operator that cost a fraction what the old one did, and frankly looks better too. I'm aware that there are a few DIY gate operator options out there now, and that Ghost is not the cheapest among them (though it is close). If I had to do it all over, I would absolutely choose Ghost again. read more