SureFlap Microchip Pet Door

This door can be a bit confusing as to what exactly it does when you read the description or the reviews. So hopefully this review will help someone. Please note that I am NOT using this door the way it is intended to be used. So I do not recommend using it the same way I'm using it. This said, it works the way I'm using it and I'm delighted with it. How this door works: The most important thing to understand is that this door is meant to restrict which pet can come *in*. With this door, all pets can get out (but read on!). The default setting is that only allowed pets can come in and everyone can go out. The way it works is that there is a 'tunnel' facing the outside. When a pet sticks her head in the tunnel, sensors in the tunnel attempts to read the pet's chip or pendant. If it can, it unlocks the door so that the pet can come in. There are other modes for this door (like locking it completely or putting it on a timer), but none of these modes change the basic behavior of the door. The controls for the door are meant to be on the inside (and the tunnel on the outside). If you are looking for a door to not let some of your pets go out, then this is not your door OR you will need to use the door in a way it was not intended to be used (like I'm doing). Concretely, that means that you will have to install the door the 'wrong' way'. That is with the tunnel facing inside and the controls on the outside. To be as clear as I can be: regardless of how you install it, the door can filter only one way through, it cannot filter both ways. You can lock one way completely (or both ways completely) but you can filter only one way. How I am using it: I have a cat enclosure in my backyard. All of my cats are allowed in the enclosure (through an non-restrictive pet door in my house). Now some of my cats are senior cats and they are allowed outside of the enclosure. So I wanted a cat door that would let only my senior cats out. So I am using this door completely outside of its intended use. I installed it in the frame of the enclosure (so the whole door is outside) with the tunnel facing inside the enclosure and the controls on the outside of the enclosure (see picture). This way, only allowed cats can get out of the enclosure. I was really worried about rain messing up the electronics so I protected the control side of the door with a little roof (see picture). I also taped over the battery compartments on each side as well as tape some heavy duty plastic over the controls. It has rained a lot this winter and the door still works great. But the enclosure is somewhat protected as it stands partly under an upper deck. I'm not sure how well the door would work if it was fully exposed to the elements. How it performs: I'm really impressed with it. Setting it up is a breeze. It does a great job at recognizing my pets' chips. It also comes with one pendant that I use to make sure the door still works. It looks to be really sturdy too. I've been using it for 3 months and it has been working flawlessly. My senior cats love it and the kittens can't get out. Even my 'Houdini' kitten has not figured out how to defeat it to get out. And if the kittens ever make it out then I have the peace of mind that they can come back in easily. This door was worth every penny! ————— 5 year update: Quick update after 5 years. The door finally started acting a little funky. I only changed the batteries once in 5 years but lately it has started acting like the batteries are low even when i put new ones in. I have not tried yet to call the manufacturer about it but i will and will post an update afterwards. I had another one of these doors on an inside door (to stop an overweight cat from getting into my other cats’ food) but i was not using it anymore. So i swapped the 2 doors and the working one is now outside in the enclosure. A few interesting facts: * the door that has been outside for 5 yearS and went through hurricane Harvey and kept on ticking for over 2 years after that * the protection that i describe in my originally review was pretty much useless and i got rid of the tape and the little roof after a year or so * the door i was using inside is also about 5 years old but seems to be working great * it is easy to reset the memory but you will have to reprogram the pendant that came with the door if you do that.

OKAY so I've done A LOT of research on doggy doors that will fit my needs for my two chihuahua mixes. My boyfriend is totally paranoid about critters coming in through a doggy door, so the only way he would agree to let me install one was on the condition that I get a totally high-tech one that eases his paranoia. This is definitely the best pet door technology on the market, and despite the steep cost of the product and the installation, I think it is well worth the money for all the things it can do. Please note that this version of the pet door **ONLY** scans microchips from one side (the tunnel side, intended for the outside. If you want it to scan both ways, you will have to look into the dual scanner version). General settings allow for single-side locking, double-side locking, and timed lock/unlock functions. After a couple days with the door, here are my thoughts. (Note: I hired a professional to install it, since I have a metal door and lacked the appropriate tools to install it myself, so I can't speak for ease of installation. The contractor did not seem to have any issues, however. The job was done in an hour.) PROS: - Door operation is fairly simple and the company provides lots of information in the manual and in their website videos on installation and operation. I like that the control panel is hidden, so there's no accidental button-pushing that can happen to mess with operation. - The door is aesthetically pleasing, small, and clean-looking enough so that it isn't an eyesore on the back door. - The door has a LOT more settings available than it advertises, which is amazing. For example, there are custom modes where you can turn off the microchip sensor (making it more like a regular pet door), lock it from the outside at certain times, and more. Instructions for these custom modes are in the manual, which comes in like 8 languages. - Training has been going well for my dogs with some adjustments. Though initially fearful of the door, consistent practice and prompting has gotten them more accustomed to the noise and feel of it in a few days. I HIGHLY recommend either disabling the microchip function or taping the plastic flap open while your pets are learning to use the door. It took my dogs some time to understand that they can pass through an apparently solid object, and it confused them a lot if the sensor didn't pick up on their microchips at times. Now that I've disabled the chip function, training is going much easier. - The manual provides helpful troubleshooting tips if you run into problems. CONS: - Though the door seals fairly well, I can still feel a little cold air from outside the house, which is to be expected. You can't expect plastic to insulate as well as a metal door, so the temperature change is natural. No gusting wind or anything, though, so that's not too bad. - I worry a little bit about the durability of the locks. They are little plastic nubs, and plastic could break, of course. However, I have not had any issues with breakage yet, and there is a 3-year warranty on the product, which I'm sure would cover problems like these. - After a few days, the sensor suddenly wasn't picking up my dogs' microchips. There many be two reasons for this: my stepson might have messed with the unit and erased the chips from the unit's memory, in which case it's fixable OR there may be intermittent signal interference due to the fact that the unit is installed in a metal door. If this is the case, the manual provides some troubleshooting options, but as all of them involved cutting the door some more, I don't think I will do this. BUT I was able to compromise nicely by disabling the chip reader and setting outside/reader side lock and unlock times for overnight periods with the custom mode options. I may re-investigate troubleshooting the chip reader issue later when my dogs have learned to use the door with confidence, but even if the reader never works right, the custom modes can provide the work-arounds I need for my purposes. If you are considering installing this in a metal door, read ALL the information in the troubleshooting section about how to deal with this before cutting into your door. This was my mistake.

I purchased this door specifically to keep unwanted animals out while still allowing my small dog to come and go. Unfortunately, it failed at that basic purpose. A raccoon figured out how to pull the flap inward and enter through the door. I then enabled Custom Mode C05, which is supposed to provide added protection against persistent intruder animals, but it did not solve the problem. The raccoon defeated it again with no apparent difficulty. I am attaching a video showing the raccoon entering. This was not a one-time fluke or a training issue with my dog. My dog uses the door properly. The issue is that the locking mechanism does not prevent a clever raccoon from manipulating the flap. I had high hopes for this product, but based on my experience, it does not reliably keep unwanted animals out. I am still within the return window, so I am packing it up and returning it today.

Update - after doing some searching online, we were able to adjust the settings so the door stayed unlocked for ten seconds after reading the cat’s chip. We still found that the reader didn’t always read the chip. Finally, we tried putting an extender between the door and the section with the chip reader. The door has been working normally ever since we did this. We aren’t sure how adding an extra inch or so to the tunnel length solved the problem but we’re happy we found a solution. I gave four stars because the website and instruction book contained no troubleshooting or instructions on how to adjust settings. Customers shouldn’t have to search the web for this kind of information! Original review - We had a smaller SureFlap door for many years that worked perfectly and it was great knowing no other animals could get in, only a cat whose chip had been programmed into the door. However, one of our cats is very big and struggled to get through it, so we bought the larger door. This door worked sporadically - sometimes it would read the larger cat’s chip and sometimes it wouldn’t. After speaking with SureFlap’s customer service and trying various ways to get it working, the rep couldn’t figure out why this was happening and had a new door sent. Unfortunately, this door is doing the same thing. This is extremely frustrating for the cat and for us! We no longer feel confident that our cats will be able to get into the house on their own. Very disappointed.

After owning this pet door for nearly two years now, I can confirm it is by far the best on the market (and I tried and returned two other brands before buying this sureflap model). (PLEASE GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS REVIEW FOR A PRO TIP ON HOW TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU PET TO USE) I originally bought it for a cat that adopted us (showed up one day in our garden begging for food). He was not an indoor cat and seeing as he came to us, we couldn't just lock him in so the hunt for a cat flap began. Unfortunately, we have seriously cheeky and aggressive racoons where we live and the existing open swing cat flap let those little b@stards raid our kitchen while we were away one weekend. First I tried the Catmate models - useless. The first one they sent me only worked with special even though it said RFID on the packaging. They meant RFID tags, RFID microchips tags You literally had to wipe your cats face vigorously against the door to get it to sense the chip. Back it went. Their customer service was excellent, but their catflap just did not work. So on to the Sureflap. I can imagine installation in a regular door being a breeze - I actually was installing in a thin metal security door, the outside of which has 2 small downward steps immediately outside and unfortunately, it's really not designed to do this. I managed to find a away around it by buying this hard pink foam insulation board from home depot that was about 1.5" thick and using the supplied tracing outline (good move sureflap) cut a spacer. this went on the inside of the door. Now there's still a bit of a "tunnel" on the outside but that extra 1.5" made the difference for it not to protrude too far out in front of those little steps. Why did I get the Pet Flap and not the Cat Door for my cat? Because he was a big boy, a Ginger tabby at a lean 15lbs. He was just about able to fit through the Pet Door, I can't imagine him trying to get through the cat door, so unless you have a petite cat, don't get the Cat Door, get the larger Pet Door. All in all installation was easy but I did have a tiny problem in that the long supplied screws, given my thin door and homemade spacer are just a fraction too long so I had to find a careful balance of tightening them to hold it in place, and not so tight that the plastic casing warps as they press on the inside (you'll see what I mean if you ever have my predicament, but I managed to make it all work). Function: the thing works flawlessly. I mean every single time the cat gets about a foot away from the outer tunnel, you hear the signature click of the locks popping down to release the door. I actually think over time the cat gets to understand this sound as part of the accessing ritual.If you have a really skittish cat then it may take a little while for them to get used to the click but it's really quite minimal and if you're cat is that skittish, it probably shouldn't be outside. Programming is easy, just press the button, get the cat to go in to the tunnel and it licks and displays that he's registered. That's it. there's all sorts of curfew functions and only allowing certain chips to have access certain ways etc (like if you want you cat to be allowed in at night but not go out until morning etc) but my cat was too free a spirit for any of that.The videos by sureflap are great so be sure to watch them for installation and programming. I think the first time I wanted him to go though I taped the thing open and put his dinner on the other side. No issue.Then the next time, had it closed and after a few timid attempts the want for food was too great and he bullied his way trhough. After that, plain sailing. PRO TIP: The only issue (and I'll also add this as a tip) is that there are two magnets, on on each side of the lowest part of the door, that help gravity to "snap" the door in to the resting "down" position. They were a little too strong for even my beefy cat to muscle past and even though he would still get in, he would struggle with the door sometimes. I saw that when he wanted to push open the door, he would always go for the bottom right corner. So thinking about how to make it easier, I found that if you manually open the door to the horizontal position, you can use one of the pick tools (or similar) on a standard Swiss Army knife to pull out one of those two magnets, and I did it on the side that he usually pushed on as that would give just a tiny bit of flex and made it about 50% easier for the act to open the door! I strongly suggest doing this if you have a small dog or cat that doesn't like having to press their face on the door. It's been two year of constant operation and the Duracell batteries are still showing full on the LED. I can honestly say, a person with a background in engineering, this is one of the best working and design electromechanical devices I've ever seen. Unless for some reason this doesn't fit your door or animal, you'd be a fool to buy anything else.

We waited to write a review, so we could see how this pet door worked out for our pet's and for us as their pet guardian's. And we are happy to report that we are totally thrilled to own this product. The installation was super easy, and quick with the proper tools at hand, and it was not that hard to train the animals to use it. Yes, it takes the animals a little time to train them to use the door, and to get them used to the clicking noise the door makes, but that is the key... YOU have to train them. All animals are trainable. Some may be more difficult than others and may take longer, but with consistent and positive training it can be done. The door will make a soft clicking noise when the RFID tag comes within range of the sensor in the door, it then lets the animal know, "Oh, okay now I can push the door open and go thru", when they do not hear the clicking, they quickly learn it is locked. It only took our Cock-a-poo 1 day to realize all she had to do was wait for the little click and then she could push the door with her head and walk thru. Our calico cat took 2 days to learn this. Now our tabby cat Loki is taking much longer to figure it out. It's been a couple weeks and when I see her go to the door, pause and then walk away I will grab her and take her back to the door and with positive sweet talk will help her by pushing her till the door clicks and her head is forced to open the door. Once it starts opening she realizes that all she has to do is continue on thru. There is another wonderful feature to this door, you can set the programming to allow the animals to come and go at a schedule. Like we have ours set to open and allow our pets to all go out onto the porch at sun up, and they can come inside at will. At night, we have it set so that the animals can no longer go outside if they are in the house after dark, but if by chance there is a cat out on the porch, they can still come inside.. only thing is once they come in they cannot go back out until morning. We loved this feature because then you do not accidentally lock a pet outside. Also, Loki is micro chipped and her chip is read by the door sensor so she will not need an RFID tag to use the door. We have nothing negative to say about this door at all. It is a really nice feature to have,to give our animals a little more freedom to go onto the pet porch we built for them to enjoy. I would be sure that you buy the correct size door for your pet. We bought the SureFlap Microchip Pet Door, and it is a great size for cats and small dogs. Our dog is a Cock-a-poo and my granddog is a Malti-Poo and they all fit very well. I know that there was another SureFlap door smaller than this particular one we bought and it would have been way to small for our dog. So the key is to buy the right sized one. If you are not sure just buy the biggest one.

Not for smart, determined cats. While this is a well made product that works well for some cats, it will not keep the determined cat locked inside as you can see in the video. I have 3 cats and just these two can defeat it - and perhaps only the one. The second may have just followed the hacker through. At any rate, it is not secure. I had to make a cover for the door to keep them in - which sort of defeats the whole purpose of a programmable cat door. For the most part, setting it up is easy but the instructions are lacking in examples of how to do the various setting. And there is no guidance regarding combining features. There is a lot of trial and error in setting up the more complicated modes. When installing be careful to match the hole to the unit as the screw holes are very close to the edge of the opening. Battery life is very good. BTW - the cat hacker also defeated the first door cover I fabricated. He likes his freedom.

Updated Review - I had a raccoon get in the pet door by gripping and pulling out towards the outside. Got no help from the A.2.Z. Store which is the Seller on Amazon, Hence, my original review expressed my dissatisfaction with them. However, after hearing from my inquiry to SureFlap UK, they informed me of Custom Mode "C05." This mode will lock the exterior locks when the scan sensor senses a non-chip programmed animal in the tunnel trying to get in. This looks like it will solve my problem with the "persistent and very dextrous intruder." Brilliant and very well thought out custom modes for various situations. SureFlap has also designed in other Custom Mode operations that are found in Section 14 of the Pet Door Instruction Manual. My cat was scared of the clicking noises for the first month or so. There are a couple Custom Modes that might have helped me get him acclimated The door is very good quality, the procedure for scanning and saving my cat's chip could not have been easier. If Custom Mode 5 works as I anticipate it will, then this is a 5 star pet door for me, keeping raccoons out and allowing my cat to enter and exit as he pleases. The Seller, A.2.Z Store still gets a ZERO for customer service. They could at least point a customer to the SureFlap website that has a customer support inquiry form to contact them. ----- First review after discovering a raccoon could open the door ---- I was quite happy with this door as it appeared to solve the raccoon problem. But this raccoon figured out out to grab the outside of the door (at the bottom of the clear window there is a seam that I could get my finger nail in) and pull it open. When I contacted the Seller, A 2 Z Store, they offered ZERO customer support, but copped out by referring me to Amazon because it was “FBA” - Fulfilled By Amazon. When I told Amazon that the product is defective since it DID NOT “prevent intruder animals from entering your home” with “RESTRICTED ENTRY ONLY,” quoting the advertised listing, the response was this item is not eligible for return because it is past the 30 day return window. It took me about 50 days to discover the defect between the advertisement and the actual performance. It is a very good product, the chip sensor works perfectly, it appears to be well made, except for the seam that raccoons can get a grip on. I wasn’t sure I wanted to return this. I was more interested in figuring out what to do about the seam, if is something that could improve the door and perhaps make it “raccoon proof.” But obviously the seller is not interested in customer service or customer satisfaction. So they get a 1 star review. If you need a door that is raccoon proof, this is not it. AND DON’T EXPECT ANY CUSTOMER SUPPORT FROM THE SELLER. It is tough when you pay for a premium product and get treated like this. Sure Flap needs to find a better US distributor.

Chatière de très bonne qualité. L’installation est simple, même sur un vitrage. Le système de reconnaissance par puce RFID a motivé mon achat, tout comme la fiabilité de la marque. Idéal pour permettre à un chat d’explorer l’extérieur en toute autonomie 😻 À noter : – Côté porte intérieur, j’ai ajouté deux petites pièces de mousse au niveau des loquets pour atténuer les bruits de fermeture. – J’ai remplacé les aimants d’origine par des modèles plus petits afin de réduire la résistance (mon chat n’arrivait pas à pousser correctement 😅). – Installation sur vitrage réalisée avec un adaptateur pour vitrage de la même marque et disponible sur Amazon. – Pour l’étanchéité entre l’adaptateur et la vitre, j’ai utilisé le Soudal Fix All Crystal (vendu sur Amazon) – En bonus, j’ai également réalisé un joint entre le tunnel extérieur de la chatière et l’adaptateur pour une parfaite étanchéité à l’eau et à l’air. Mon chat, très peureux, a mis environ trois semaines pour être totalement à l’aise avec la chatière.

Dirty old used product. Parts missing. Terrible.

This cat door is well made, easy to program, reads my cat’s microchip without fail and was easy to install. Our older cat is very hesitant to use it. She has never used a cat door before. The clicking sound it makes when her microchip is being read (and the latches open) makes her nervous and causes her to back away. It’s only been a week though. I suspect she will become more comfortable with it. Unfortunately what we need it for is to keep our kitten indoors while allowing our older cat to go in and out as she pleases. The side with the tunnel is the only side that reads the microchip. Our only option at this point is to install the product backwards but I’m not sure we should because the buttons probably shouldn’t be exposed to rain etc. Awesome product, I just wish I had read the description better. In a few months when our kitten is old enough to go outside it will work like a dream.

NÃO COMPREM! Se der problema vc não vai ter suporte para acionar a garantia nem mesmo assistência técnica para reparar. O meu deu problema com pouco mais de 3 meses( não lê mais o chip) e não tenho suporte nem do fabricante nem da Amazon.

Svolge egregiamente il suo lavoro! Costa qualche soldo in più rispetto ad altri modelli, ma è bella solida e la porticina bella ampia. Offre tutte le combinazioni di ingresso/uscita possibili con anche la modalità di blocco a seconda dell'ora. La registrazione dei microchip è molto semplice. Sul canale youtube del produttore si trovano anche ulteriori tutorial per qualche funzione un po' più avanzata. Ce l'ho da due mesi e per ora funziona alla grande, la qualità costruttiva fa ben sperare per una lungo impiego!