Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm a happy customer! The FCC limits the transmission power the unit can use, and I had a number of potentially negative placement factors that caused me to doubt whether the unit would work for me, namely 1. It's about 250 feet from the transmitter in the mailbox to the receiver in the house. 2. The land rises between the box and the house so that the line of sight between them (if there *were* a line of sight - see #3) skims the ground. 3. The intervening land is heavily wooded with both trees and low bushes. 4. The mailbox is steel rather than plastic. 5. The box is on the far side of the road so that the mail truck interferes with the signal 6. There's no house or other structure behind the box to reflect the signal back towards our house. In fact the land behind the box drops away and any signal transmitted in that direction is gone forever. I emailed the manufacturer, Hanna Products, with my concerns and got a friendly reply from the president within the hour. He concurred that all those factors were real concerns and there was a good chance that the unit might not work in my situation. I purchased it anyway, and after I inserted the battery and mounted the transmitter in the box the unit worked perfectly, first with me standing in front of the box, then operating it from my vehicle, and finally with actual postal deliveries from the post-office truck. This product does exactly what it's supposed to do and I couldn't be happier with it. My plethora of negative factors may require me to change the battery earlier than others with more-ideal situations but that's a small price to pay to get instant notification of a delivery to my distant and invisible mailbox. A couple of comments about negatives other reviewers have reported: 1. It's hard to believe that people have complained about having to take out four small screws to insert the battery. They're just smallish Phillips screws! You don't need a special jeweler's screwdriver - any small Phillips screwdriver will work. I had two in my kitchen drawer. If you're complaining about this you may as well complain about having to unscrew a light bulb to change it! 2. I suspect that people who have reported problems may have just a few more negative factors than I do. I'm sure the manufacturer would love to triple the transmission power so that it would work in all the currently marginal situations but the FCC won't allow that. If you're considering this unit my situation as described above may be a useful data point for comparing with your own distance and geographical conditions. EDITED 7/19/2013 We're coming up on two years now, we're still on the original battery, and my favorable opinion is unchanged. Low temperatures in winter, intervening leaves in other seasons - the unit has continued to work like a champ. Our life is SO much easier not having to wonder if the mail has come and taking a long walk to check. I wish I'd explored an option like this years ago. EDITED 6/23/2015 I installed a new battery later in 2013. Last month (May, 2015) I noticed that we sometimes weren't getting alerts when the mail was delivered. I pulled the battery and found it was only putting out 10.7 volts. I installed a new battery (12.5 volts) and the unit returned to perfect operation. If your unit is acting erratically my numbers may give you a scale for judging the health of your battery.