In my opinion, this is a very good product... to stay away from! We moved into our present home over a year ago, and "inherited" a GTO PRO 3000 gate opener. It started acting up a couple of days ago. There is as good as no tech support for this product. I called the help line and they referred me to several "authorized dealers" in my area. I called all of them and guess what, none of them services these things! Although they'll be glad to sell you parts. If you are knowledgeable about electronics and are mechanically minded, that may be OK, but for people who are not, that's as good as useless. If you don't know exactly what the problem is, you could spend a fortune on buying replacement parts in a hit or miss fashion. I finally found a local electrical contractor who seems very knowledgeable about them and is pretty sure that he can fix it, but he warned me that it could either be something simple or that it might be better to get a new system. I'm not sure yet what we'll do, we may just abandon it entirely. I will NEVER buy a GTO PRO or Mighty Mule product, and I would definitely tell anyone considering buying one to think carefully before doing so. Unless you are an engineer or a good do it yourselfer, this is a good product to steer clear of!
GTO PRO and Mighty Mule gate openers
- Thread starter jspeese
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december45
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2009
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- 1,580
Ive got the Mighty Mule gto gate opener have had it for about 5 years i guess, has been pretty good actually. It gets used tons and works pretty darn good. Every thing that has gone wrong has been worked out with the instruction book.
I seems to me that you can have a mighty mule at a very reasonable price or you can have a very expensive opener. When I went looking these were priced way way below any of the other openers.
I seems to me that you can have a mighty mule at a very reasonable price or you can have a very expensive opener. When I went looking these were priced way way below any of the other openers.
Chaz
Well-known member
I'm looking for a gate opener, and the Mighty Mule gets a LOT of bad reviews--- But there seems to be no options in a similar price range. Anybody have any ideas?
december45
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- Joined
- Apr 13, 2009
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- 1,580
I think that ours has worked relatively well, because i keep the gate itself plumb and straight, not letting it sag.
Another thing that helps the gate is that I make sure the gate does not flop/move around on windy days, we got the gate latch/lock so that when it closes it is secure. I also have a secure stop for it in the wide open position.All the little things help to keep it working.
General maintenance goes along way keeping it working and trouble free.
Another thing that helps the gate is that I make sure the gate does not flop/move around on windy days, we got the gate latch/lock so that when it closes it is secure. I also have a secure stop for it in the wide open position.All the little things help to keep it working.
General maintenance goes along way keeping it working and trouble free.
Strouty
Well-known member
I always get a kick from guys whose first post if a gripe. Keep spreading the word OP and good luck on getting it fixed.
Like you have never joined a forum just to sound off about something!
Like you have never joined a forum just to sound off about something!
I'm thinking, I'm thinking........
Ah ****, I got nothing.
We are on our second in 12+ years. Not sure what technical help you need to figure you what's wrong, but it isn't rocket science - especially if you have a dual gate opener.
I've had a couple of issues with ours - had to replace one of the little controller boards in the arms due to corrosion. Our gate is in a wet climate and a wet area of the property, and I think moisture may have gotten in via the vent hole or otherwise, eventually leading to the corrosion.
This past year we had an arm go out complete as the drive gear(s) were stripped on one of the arms. I decided to get a complete new setup and use the remaining arm and control box as spares moving foward, as I can't imagine NOT having a automatic gate at this point.
I've had a couple of issues with ours - had to replace one of the little controller boards in the arms due to corrosion. Our gate is in a wet climate and a wet area of the property, and I think moisture may have gotten in via the vent hole or otherwise, eventually leading to the corrosion.
This past year we had an arm go out complete as the drive gear(s) were stripped on one of the arms. I decided to get a complete new setup and use the remaining arm and control box as spares moving foward, as I can't imagine NOT having a automatic gate at this point.
lakeroadster
Well-known member
We had a Mighty Mule at our last home. Worked for 10 years without any issues whatsoever.
What jspeese doesn't know is how the original owner & installer maintained the unit. They have a circuit board and over a period of time dust and dirt accumulates. Therefore it needs to be cleaned occasionally.
I simply removed the cover on an annual basis and used an air tank to blow all the filth out.
It's like every other mechanical thing in life you buy 2nd hand. If you don't know it's history.. maybe a good idea to not ***** too much about it's quality?
Ours was a 12 volt system with a backup battery. I ran an underground dedicated 12 volt power source from the home, and didn't use a solar panel (mostly due to aesthetics... and neighborhood kids messing with stuff)
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Here's my experience. I bought the SL1000 sliding gate opener about 12 years ago and installed it myself. I live on the beach in Central Florida in a very salt corrosive environment and that thing has worked like a champ! I've replaced the batteries a few times and the chain once. The few times I've called technical support (battery issue), they literally walked me through trouble shooting with my volt meter. They're not that difficult to work on but you need to educate yourself a little bit on the system you have....the manual is pretty darn good for troubleshooting.
Regards
Regards
gipraw
Well-known member
I look at my Mighty Mule as a disposable product. I replace it every 6 to 7 years with a new one, and have no problems with it. I had one issue about 6 months after I bought my second one. Spent 30 minutes on the phone with tech support walking me through checking the board. He decided the board was faulty. They sent me a new one FedEx 2 day at no cost and that was it. I run mine on 110v with two battery backups.
I’ve spent less than half on my two mighty mules than what my neighbor has on his one chamberlain and the service on his.
I’ve spent less than half on my two mighty mules than what my neighbor has on his one chamberlain and the service on his.
Dave Cav
Member
I had a Mighty Mule for a year or so and had nothing but trouble with it, and couldn't find a local vendor to do any repairs or provide parts. I finally threw it away and got a US Automatic Patriot. It worked very well for nearly ten years, and when ever I had a problem or question I could call the factory in Texas and there was always someone there to walk me through the problem. After about ten years one of the internal plastic parts wore out and I eventually bought another power head, and it was still working fine when I sold the house last year. I ran it off a deep cycle 12 volt battery and swapped the battery out every four weeks. I tried a solar charger, but where we were located in the Pacific Northwest, and with all the tree cover the solar option didn't work very well, then tweakers stole the solar panel.