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Any reviews/thoughts? I have two very old Chamberlain/Liftmaster units I want to replace.
Thoughts welcome.
Thoughts welcome.
Chamberlain or Genie - Best Belt Drive Garage Door Opener?
- Thread starter CarbonSteel
- Start date
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
I put in a Chamberlain belt drive 5-6 years ago. Has the battery backup, I haven't tested the battery in a year or so, probably still works.
The app works great. No issues there either, I get all the notifications I have setup as well.
The app works great. No issues there either, I get all the notifications I have setup as well.
I’ve bought 2 Genie 1.25Hp battery back up openers… one for my old house and one for my current house. It had no problem lifting the 2 car garage door at the old house even with a broken spring, lived with it like that for 3 years. Current house have 2 1 car garage doors and it’s been great, battery backup is wonderful for my wife.
Chamberlain. Genie isn’t what they used to be.
I'll jump on the Chamberlain wagon but if you do stay away from the new design, they seem to have some issues with interference. Someone posted here a while back about the remotes not working very well.
I had a Craftsman that lasted 15 years and just installed a Chamberlain a few months ago that looked just like the Craftsman. The Chamberlain may look old but it has all the newer features, DC motor and WiFi with app for your phone. I have a LED shop light and LED Genie bulbs in the opener with no issues, if fact the new remotes work better as far as distance. With the Craftsman it seemed I had to be in the line of site for it to work or that distance was as far as it would go which was 120 ft, the new one I can be half way down the block and it works.
I had a Craftsman that lasted 15 years and just installed a Chamberlain a few months ago that looked just like the Craftsman. The Chamberlain may look old but it has all the newer features, DC motor and WiFi with app for your phone. I have a LED shop light and LED Genie bulbs in the opener with no issues, if fact the new remotes work better as far as distance. With the Craftsman it seemed I had to be in the line of site for it to work or that distance was as far as it would go which was 120 ft, the new one I can be half way down the block and it works.
The biggest issue you have with most ALL of these newer units, is they are effected by interference from CFL and LED bulbs. They give off some type of interference that conflicts with many of the newer units and their remotes.
I had a new Liftmaster installed a few years back in my old house. It was the nicest, smoothest, quietest garage door opener I ever had. I changed out the bulbs in it with LED's, and the remotes would not work. Only the hard wired switch on the wall would operate the unit if the light was on. Then the remotes were useless. Until the light cycled off. (Usually within 2 minutes). Then the remote would work.
I put the incandescent bulbs back in, and the remotes worked just fine.
I could care less about noise myself. I like fast. Genie makes a few screw drives that are fast. My old house has a Genie Excelerator. I really liked how fast it opened up the door so when I had a custom home built, I had Genies fastest residential door openers installed.
This shows how fast they are:
This shows how fast they are:
Chamberlain for me since their awesome customer service promptly sent us a brand new unit to replace our 1993 model (27 years old at the time) when it was incompatible with the new keypad we bought and randomly opened itself.... clearly they were more worried it would randomly close on someone. 1993 was apparently the last year before they had proximity sensors to keep them from closing on something. Maybe a silent recall or something but i was shocked when we got a brand new one with WiFi for free, arrived in about 2-3 days and I didn't even have to return the old one.
No issues with the new one or the similar chamberlain at our new place.
One thing I loved, and really miss with the new Liftmaster I had installed, was it started out slow, then accelerated really fast until it came close to the set limit. Then it would slow down and close or open the last couple of inches slowly. It didn't go like hell, then hit the high or low limit at full speed. Or jerk the door up when it started opening. That is the hardest thing on your springs.
I had to replace a door spring at my last house. Of course it was a very cold winter day when it broke.
Mine is going on 20 years and still works great...It is a chain drive...
You can say that about just about everything...
lol..We have a screw drive and I can feel the vibrations on the second floor when it's operating.
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I had a belt drive Chamberlain in my house in Houston (which replaced a screw drive Genie) and it was great. Given the responses thus far, I will be going with Chamberlain. When we bought the house, we only had 1 remote for it the large door which is a chain drive Liftmaster built circa 2001 and none for the small door which is a belt drive Chamberlain circa 2010.
I added new remotes and keypads and now the large door now randomly opens--I am assuming that a neighbor's door is on the same frequency. There are no options for geek with the frequency on the Liftmaster so I will replace it with a Chamberlain.
Thanks all for the responses!
I added new remotes and keypads and now the large door now randomly opens--I am assuming that a neighbor's door is on the same frequency. There are no options for geek with the frequency on the Liftmaster so I will replace it with a Chamberlain.
Thanks all for the responses!
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I had a Genie screw drive and though it worked well, you could hear the noise everywhere and it was "jerky" in the way it lifted and closed the door. Belt drive or direct drive is the way to go, but the direct drives are just too expensive.
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
I have six of these from say 8-11 years and never an issue
They are slower but ideal if your bedroom is over a garage. Super quiet.
They are slower but ideal if your bedroom is over a garage. Super quiet.
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
Yep, a well-known issue with most
I have 2 Craftsman (Chamberlain) belt drive openers less than a year old. I use LEDs, no issues with interference although they aren't the newest models with the integrated LEDs that others have had issues with. I didn't want battery backup myself...attached garage IMO it's not necessary since I can always walk in the front door and manually pop the garage if needed.
My biggest emphasis: buy a DC motor model and not AC...that is where the real difference in noise and vibration comes from. Not all Chamberlain belt drives are DC.
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If you need extra remotes like I did (both cars to old and don't have Home Link) I bought a couple cheap ones from Amazon and they work really well, the only difference I can see it they don't say Chamberlain on them.
ASONPAO 893LM 953ESTD Remote only for a Yellow Learn Button of Liftmaster Chamberlain Sears Craftsman Garage Door Openers Security+ 2.0 myQ(2Pack) - - Amazon.com
ASONPAO 893LM 953ESTD Remote only for a Yellow Learn Button of Liftmaster Chamberlain Sears Craftsman Garage Door Openers Security+ 2.0 myQ(2Pack) - - Amazon.com
smile.amazon.com
