I am in need of feedback on the various O gauge RR crossing gates that are available. I have ordered and tried one brand, and could not get it to work properly right out of the box and even help from the manufacturer could not solve the issue. (I will not disclose whose system this is) I would like reliability, realism, and ease of installation. Any advice is appreciated as to personal experience. (videos would be great as well) Thank you in advance.
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I use the Z-Stuff ones and am satisfied with their operation. I embedded them into the layout with an access hole in the bottom to make adjustments, if needed.
Pre-installation operating movie and pic as installed.
I have Lionel 6-14098 gates installed using a relay (old Scott's Odds n Ends) triggered by an insulated rail:
The original Lionel huge crossing gate is probably the most durable but grossly oversized. I used them years ago and certainly energized a thousand times. I’m now more of a scale guy and really like the ZStuff unit. I don’t own one but like what I see.
I had a set of the Lionel fastrack gates which are identical to the 14098 gates posted above. they lasted a few years and then the gears failed.
At that point I decided, with the gates going up and down so many times during an operating session I'd switch to a signal only crossing. Less moving parts means less to go wrong. I went with MTHs crossing signal with bell 30-11014.
I used 2 pairs of I.R. detectors from AZATRAX (the D2T-DS) that sense across the track so trains on either track in either direction could be sensed. These are far more affordable than I.R. detectors from the major train manufacturers. Hookup was easy and operation is flawless:
The best trigger is likely going to be Infra red. That to a relay coil and a constant voltage to the relay points to run a post war style crossing gate would be robust.
I liked the modern Lionels IR triggers that look like crossing control boxes 
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