best garage door opener

[tymbo]

My 15 y.o. sears opener got fried during our latest power outage and its time to replace it. Has anyone had any experience with belt drive or screw drive? What brand should I avoid or seek out? BTW my door is 9' tall, so a standard 7' opener wont do. My sears needed an extension kit for the taller door. Any advice from the collective? Thanks in advance.

Tim

 

[LennyTheLizard]

I have Liftmaster 3800. They are awesome and easy to install. Only catch is you have to have a torsional spring installed above the door so that it can mount right on the shaft that turns to open the door. These mount right on the wall by the door - no opener in the middle of your ceiling.

 

[OldTC]

I couldn't agree more,......my buddy who owns a huge garage door company says the jack-shaft openers are getting very popular!

I love mine!!

 

[tymbo]

Those certainly look like well designed units. I like the simplicity of the design, and the ease of installation. They are expensive, but quality is rarely cheap. Does anyone sell them retail? I was looking to finish this project today, but I can wait if necessary.

Tim

 

[AndyL]

The 3800s are fine units, however like all jackshafts, they suffer the same inherent ability to dump cables... in commercial applications, we always default to a trolley unit unless there is high lift or vertical lift in use... as trolleys are inherently more reliable (pushing on the door itself rather than turning the shaft)

That'll piss off the 3800 fan boys, but it is simple truth...

The 3800 is awesome, when its needed, its much quieter, its reliable, but its still a jackshaft... the door needs to be near perfect, or it'll cause issues...

Lowes had some smoking pricing on chamberlain estate series belt drives this weekend.

The 3800 was never intended for retail sale, its supposed to be sold/installed through dealers only... but yes you can find them online...

 

[Armstrongsmith]

best garage door openers reviews can be different and they actually are. But the majority of people try to opt for the quiet ones. But no everybody knows that quiet door openers have much more features to offer apart from being not loud.so i would suggest check for the quite ones first

 

[kbs2244]

I agree with Andy.

Belt drive conventual style.
It is the latest refinement in a mature, proven, design.

 

[MrBalll]

Really? Surely he's picked out an opener over the course of the last five years...

 

[johninct]

Overhead Brand. One piece track.

 

[ct03911]

I also have the liftmaster 3800's in one garage. They were installed by the builder who was prone to screwing stuff up and on one the cable did come off.

I had a pro company come out and adjust them properly and no issues since last summer now.

That garage has highlift rails to clean up the free overhead space for my lift.

In my other garage attached to my house I have the liftmaster belt drive suspended from the ceiling. Nice units too.

 

[ddawg16]

This is the way to go....

 

[mike93lx]

Really? Surely he's picked out an opener over the course of the last five years...

Sometimes people can benefit from threads besides the OP... Or do you just like being the guy that points out threads are old?

 

[ghnl]

 

[garage guy1of38]

I'm reserving this space for new comments to be posted on 01-28-2023

 

[tymbo]

*UPDATE* I ended up getting a used control board off ebay, and was back in business! Still working fine 5 years later!

P.S. I will be building a new house (and garage) in about 5 years(bought the lot next door) so I will check back in to keep this thread alive.