Looking for new garage door opener

In My Humble Opinion
1

My opener is 17 years old and works fine, but it’s lacking a few features common on today’s models.

A battery backup system. I live in the country and power outages are not an everyday occurrence, but seem to occur as I’m trying to get home and into the garage. Not essential, but would be nice to have.

Compatibility with my android phone and Amazon Echo. Again, a convenience when mowing or using my tractor around the property. Also when riding with someone else in their vehicle.

My door is 18’ by 8’ which can be handled by any good brand opener. Probably need the extension kit to go from 7’ to 8’.

There are units now that mount on the wall and drive the shaft that holds the cable drums. They seem higher priced than the horizontal track units though. I don’t need to free up room over the door, so I’m not sure if there’s an advantage to that kind. I’m guessing that the door needs to be adjusted to drop on it’s own as they can’t push the door as the trolley type can.

Tell me about your openers.

2

I’ve self-installed 3 Chamberlain C450 Smartphone controlled Garage Door openers. They’ve worked well and assembly was pretty easy.

The B970T & C870 are pretty much the same unit but with the Battery Backup.

You do need WiFi near your garage. So if it is a detached garage, read the PDF for the opener and test the WiFi signal before you buy.

The phone app is free of course.

3

I just had a new Chamberlain B1381 installed.

The Chamberlain models are exactly the same as Liftmaster, made by the same company. Identical Liftmaster models are supplied only direct through professional installers, who will charge you a huge markup for exactly the same thing in a different color. I did a fair bit of research on this, and I think the best procedure is to buy from Home Depot or Lowes and include their installation fee, which is a reasonable ~$100. Of course, they just contract the work out to local installers, but I think they screen them to some degree. My installer was really excellent. I get the sense that his company treated working with Home Depot as a “loss leader” to gain new customers, because he was clearly an experienced pro, and he did 2 hours work and went above and beyond for no extra charge. You could buy the opener from Home Depot or Amazon and negotiate installation separately, but I felt having the whole thing arranged through Home Depot meant if something went wrong there could not be a dispute about who had to make it right.

Buying the Chamberlain B1381 through Home Depot with installation cost me $400. For the IDENTICAL “Liftmaster WLED” going direct to installation companies I got quotes in the range $850-$1100.

I think this model has all the features you’re looking for. It has battery backup. You will, as you realize, need to get the extension for an 8’ door. The motor is reasonably powerful, one step up from the most basic models. Very bright LEDs, with a motion sensor integrated into the wall-mounted control pad. It comes with an outdoor PIN-operated keypad and two conventional remotes. It’s compatible with HomeLink if you have that in your car - that’s a device that learns your RF that’s integrated into your rear view mirror, this is far easier than messing with my phone, and it’s what I invariably use to open the door when I pull into my driveway.

I too have an Android phone and I use Alexa. Primary phone/WiFi integration is via their proprietary “MyQ” phone app. Basic functionality using their app is all I’ve played around with so far - you can obviously check the status of your door and open/close from anywhere.

There’s a weird saga about Alexa integration. Their own MyQ app is free, but they seem determined to push a business model where they don’t support simple direct integration with Alexa, they want to charge a (small) ongoing subscription fee for it, and the only way they can gatekeep that is for the integration to be clunky via IFTTT. I don’t know what will become of that. They do have integration with Ring, and with Google Assistant. I haven’t played around with these yet, but I plan to in the next few days, and I will also play around with some of the other functionality on the app. I will report back.

In any event, since I do use Alexa I was a bit put off by this, but my research led me to believe that in all other respects this was the best opener, with the features I needed, and their MyQ phone app does give me the remote remote control for when I need it. Voice control via Alexa wasn’t make or break for me, and I already had experience of the main competition - the Genie/Overhead Door brand. Their phone/WiFi app does connect to Alexa, but in other respects their app is clunky with limited functionality.

4

We have a Chamberlain and we’re very happy with it. The guy who installed it for us (because at this stage of our life, the best tool for the job is VISA) said if we’d bought a Genie, he would not have installed it because he thinks they’re junk. FWIW.

5

Just for clarification here - Genie & Overhead Door are exactly the same device, a similar branding thing to Chamberlain / Liftmaster. It’s Genie if you buy the device yourself, if you buy from an installer you get the same device branded Overhead Door for a huge markup.

I too have heard that Genie / Overhead Door have a poor rep, and my anecdotal experience confirms that: my own recent new installation was subsequent to my Genie opener circuit board blowing. About 8 years old, light usage.

6

I thank you for all the information so far.Unless I missed it, no one has the wall mount units like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Chamberlain-Wall-Mount-Direct-Drive-Ultra-Quiet-Garage-Door-Opener-with-Battery-Backup-RJO70/312647614

7

Not only don’t have one, I didn’t know they existed. That would have been a good choice for my wife’s door that I just did with the C450 I mentioned above.

I purchased all 3 through Amazon. 2 about 3 years in the last house and one I installed in April this year in the new house.

8

Update on the MyQ app.

Integration with Google Assistant - clunky. You have to prefix every voice command with “Hey Google, ask MyQ…”. And it won’t OPEN the door at all, gives an error message about security permissioning.

However…the MyQ app has nice alerting features. I just set it up to notify me if I have left the garage door open for 10m, 30m, 2h. And to automatically close it every day at 9pm if left open. For some reason you cannot auto-close after a period of being left open, only alert; you can only auto-close on a schedule. Overall these are great features though.

9

I have an older chain drive Liftmaster that I retrofitted with a MyQ interface. Works like a charm and the only maintenance I’ve had to do is lubing the pivots and chain, tension same, and re-adjust the spring tension. This last one is pretty dangerous so if you have any doubts have a pro do it. I’ve never heard about a wall mounted version until this thread.
The belt drive versions are considerably quieter FWIW, I helped my buddy put one in this Spring although doing the above maintenance has helped a lot.

I’d seriously consider that wall mount as a replacement though.

10

I have one of the wall mounted units; specifically the Liftmaster 8500. I did need it, because there is no overhead clearance in my garage. Prior to that I had a screw drive unit mounted vertically on the wall (but that’s a thread for the pit).

It’s fine. Much quieter than the old screwdrive unit. It has a battery, but I’ve never had need to use it. I guess I could unplug the opener and try it just to see what happens. It is connects to wifi with the MyQ app.

Connecting to wifi was a bit clunky, but then it worked. Mostly because you connect your phone to the opener, but then the phone is too smart by half, can tell it doesn’t have internet, and so disconnects from the opener and back to the normal wifi, or mobile. Enough messing with it got it connected, but I’m very good with technology, and it was a pain. My guess is all of the Liftmaster models will be similar.

Once it connected to wifi, I’ve never had an issue, or had to reconnect it.

The MyQ app is fine. I haven’t bothered to put an outdoor panel to open the door, because I just use my phone. Open the app, it shows if the door is open or closed, then press the button to change state.

The wall mount comes with a remote controlled LED light. That’s nice, because I could put the light in a convenient place in the garage, and then the opener turns it on and off as needed. That light is an option on other controllers, but comes with the 8500.

The 8500 also comes with a dead bolt that locks the door closed. I’m not sure if that is needed either, as I couldn’t lift the door without releasing it from the motor anyway, but it’s there, and it works.

The 8500 also comes with the nice wall controller that has the time and temperature on it, plus a motion sensor to turn the LED light on. That is nicer than a simple button.

Bottom line, if you really want quiet, the wall mount is even quieter than a modern chain drive, but probably not by enough to matter. Otherwise, it is a nice compact install. It is big, just big in a place that is out of the way.

I’m not recommending against it, but I can’t think of a good reason to spend extra for one over a chain drive. I think the wall mount is maintenance free, but I don’t know if you have to do anything to a chain. A screw drive, on the other hand…

One more thing. Using the new openers with the builtin garage door controller on an older car requires a special box. I got it to use with my old truck, and it works perfectly. It only works with in-car Homelink controllers, not with old standalone remotes.

11

There’s a reason for the deadbolt. There are cases of burglaries where they snake a coat hanger over the top of the door and snag the release rope. The trolley disengages and they just lift the door to get in. The deadbolt prevents that. Not too comon, but it does happen. Nice feature anyway.

12

I was told about the wire over the door to pull the manual release kit. I just put two padlocks in the door tracks; one on each track just above the uppermost roller. Two separate locks where each one has a different key.

Just for extended absences.

13

I just zip-tied the release. If I need it, 2 seconds with a side cutter and I’m good to 6.

14

Interesting, I hadn’t heard about that, but it makes sense. The difference with the side mount is that the pull cord takes a much stronger pull than the typical chain trolley. I’m sure sure it could be done, but would take more than hooking with a coat hanger.

15

I just looked at mine and decided what’s even easier is to detach the release rope and hang it on the wall. It would take a few seconds to rethread & tie the rope if I need it, and impossible to snag the release with a coat hanger without the rope attached.

16

That would work as long as you, or whoever needs to hook it up can reach it, and remembers to do so if there’s an emergency such as a fire and they are trying to get the car out.

So far as my OP, I’ve found a solution to at least part of my desire.

Chamberlain sells a device to add MyQ operation to my existing door. It’s basically a WiFi connected receiver that then activates the door just as a remote would. It’s about $30 and will enable remote operation via my phone.

When I replace the opener I can move this to my second operator, or my outbuilding.

17

I had a LiftMaster 8550W (Chamberlain product) installed 4 years ago. I am very happy with it. MyQ enabled, very quiet, remotes work at a good distance…

I was somewhat interested in the Ryobi garage door opener, but my garage guy talked me out of it since it was fairly new on the market at the time and LiftMaster was tried and true.

18

I think the Ryobi uses the same battery as their tools, which is nice if that what you have on hand. I’ll have to see if there’s a Milwaukee door opener.