Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I needed two screens and, based on the reviews, could not decide between the Sentry and the Magzo, so I bought one of each. I have just finished installing them and so can’t give a durability assessment, but i do have some purchase and installation suggestions, as well as some comparisons. PRODUCt COMPARISON I bought what was advertsed as the 36” x 80” in each brand, but they are not the same size. Out of the box the two screens look like they could have been made in the same factory, and perhaps they were, but to different specications. The screen material serms identical, as do the magbets along the closure. However, the exterior dimensions of the Sentry are 79” x 37” while the Magzo is actually 36” x 80” as advertised. The only other difference i noticed between them was that the Sentry had a couple of weights on the bottom edge, which presumably makes it less likely to be affected by wind. The tacks included are even the same, although the Sentry ones come in a nice little plastic box while the Magzo is in cardboard. In general the Sentry people put more effort into the packaging than Magzo. INTALLATION The two brands give different installation instructions. Sentry advises putting the velcro tape on the door framre and then attaching the screen to it. Magzo recommends putting the tape on the screen and then peeling off the backing to expose the sticky part as you install it. I used the Magzo method because it looked easier to install with one person. In retrospect I would advise use the Magzo approach for another reason, at least in an installation where the screen is not going to have excess material inthe width. If you are going to have a screen that does not have excess width, you need to be able to see as you stick the tape on how taught the screen is. In my case I changed where i put the tape to make the screen flat. If i had installed the tape first I would have put it in a different position and there would have been a couple of eaxtra inches of material in the width. PURCHSE CONSiDERATIONS First of all, i would suggest buying a screen like these two, which have a lot of magnets on the closure and vervro all the way around. A few months ago I bought from a “local” merchant — OSH — on the theory that Amazon is taking over the world, destroying local businesses, etc. The screens from OSH were very easy to intall as the screen hung from a spring tension rod and had only a few velcro tabs to stick to the sides, and a lerge magnet holding an overlapping enclosure. The big magnet was so strong it made the screen hard to open, the rod kept falling down, and the w velcro tabs pulled away from the sides. I gave them away on Nextdoor. Second, some screens talk about being adjustable for different door sizes, but i’m not sure how that would work. Maybe you could cut the velcro strip off the sides or top and then glue it back onto the screen, but that would, at a minimum, increase your installation effort significantly. I would suggest trying to buy a screen that can be installed without such alterations. There are a lot of different screensizes abailable, so getting one that fits is best. That raises the question of what size to get for yor door. My doors were 80” x 34” and 79” x 33 inches where i wanted to install them. The sill sloped down, so the doors were nominally the same height, but i planned to install one higher on the sill than the other. So there are two things to keep in mind. The first is where you are planning to stick the velcro and the second is the size of the screen. There is a 1” boarder around the top and sides of the screen. The Sentry screen will cover,then, a 35” door opening and the Magzo a opening of 34”, with the screens flat. If the door height is 80”, neither screen is going to touch the bottom of the door, because of the velcro strip across the top. I had planned to install the screens so that the velcro strips would have been facing each other with the screen at right angles to the strips. This does not allow the width to be adjusted except by cutting the screen. I ended up attaching the velcro to the outside of the from, which let me adjust the width so the screen was flat. Unless you want to cut the screen or it fits perfectly attaching the velcro to the inside of the frame, I would recommend planning to install it on the outside, so that the screen and the velcro are in the same plane. One last point. The pins that come with these doors only work in a wooden from. My frame is metal, so I bought some 3/4” pan head black sheet metal screws to secure the top and sides. I only put them on one of the doors— im going to see how the velcro holds up on the other one for now. If you do this, br careful the screen does get wrapped up in your drill bit and be sure to drill a hole nearly as big as the screw, as metal is much less forgiving than wood. I didn’t get washers, but I would recommend using them, as the holes in the screen borders may end up being bigger than the screw head.