Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Todd Vesci photo
1 Level
738 Review
57 Karma

Review on Mighty Mule Wireless Driveway FM231 by Todd Vesci

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Works, a bit cheeky. Replacement parts are not available if only one part has been damaged by animals or weather.

I bought a house that was way out in the woods with a long driveway and what's worse it's hard to see the driveway from the house. I soon got tired of being surprised by delivery men and other guests showing up at my door because I never saw or heard them walking down the driveway. It was also a bit of a concern that people could easily sneak into my territory undetected. I bought this traffic alarm and it did a great job - I needed something that would selectively respond to only vehicles and not numerous woodland animals and it does exactly that. Unfortunately, about 10% of the time, it doesn't respond to a passing car. My solution was to get a second identical alarm and install both in slightly different locations in the driveway so that at least one of them always went off even if the other didn't hit the car. It worked, but it meant I had to buy and install two alarm clocks to get the reliability I needed. The battery life is surprisingly excellent. Living in New England, I assumed lithium batteries would be necessary for winter operation when temperatures can drop below 0F. But it turns out that the old plain alkaline batteries work well and last so long that I only change them once a year and never saw the low battery warning! Years. I quickly determined that the cause of the failure was damage to the sensor, either from weather or wildlife activity. When I called tech support and asked if I could buy a replacement sensor, they said no, they don't just sell the sensor and I would have to buy a whole new alarm. For real? Do you sell an electronic product that is constantly on the street and partly buried in the ground, but you don't have spare parts for it?

Pros
  • Nice package
Cons
  • Everything ok