As a garage door technician who has repaired and replaced literally thousands of garage door openers, I have some pretty strong opinions on the topic. Paying to have unreliable and poorly installed openers repaired is one of the top ways consumers waste their money on garage doors.
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Traditional vs Side Mount Garage Door Openers
Most people are familiar with the traditional (a.k.a “trolley”) garage door opener that pulls the door by way of an arm sliding along a rail. This type of opener is available in belt, chain, or screw drive, and can have an A/C or D/C electric motor. The current trend is that A/C motors are disappearing, as D/C motors are much quieter, can have variable speed for a soft start and stop, and are compatible with backup batteries. In my opinion there is no longer a reason to go with an A/C motor unless you want the cheapest possible options (and the savings isn’t much anyway).
Traditional Garage Door Opener Pros:
- Less expensive than Side Mount
- Works with all of the common residential track configurations
- The arm firmly presses the top section against the header while pushing down to compress the bottom seal — a big benefit in windy locations
- More reliable when used on a door that has worn parts or otherwise doesn’t run perfectly
- D/C motor chain openers are pretty darn quiet, belts are even better
- A good choice for DIY installation
- Takes up overhead space when the door is closed
- Motor noise may be directly under bedrooms or living space
- Cannot be used with doors that are on “High Lift” track
- A little bit less secure than side mount openers
- Most are not available with a solenoid dead bolt lock
Side Mount opener Pros:
- Very quiet (only available with D/C motors for residential applications)
- Can be used with “High Lift” track configurations
- Frees up overhead space in the garage
- Sleek, modern design
- All models use a solenoid activated deadbolt lock for extra security
Cons:
- Expensive
- Relies on a perfectly adjusted door to seal at the top
- Can be unreliable when used with garage doors that were not installed well or are not operating smoothly
- Prone to reversing on contact with the ground when used with heavy doors, “carriage” style doors with large windows in the top panel, or doors with springs that are not properly adjusted
- Not compatible with the common Wayne Dalton TorqueMaster spring system
- Not recommended for Low Headroom track
- Not a great choice for DIY unless the garage door is working perfectly
Traditional Opener Drives: Chain, Belt, or Screw?
The type of “drive” a traditional opener uses refers to the mechanism that pulls the trolley and arm along the opener rail. They are available in chain, belt, and screw drives.
If you are doing a DIY installation I don’t see much reason to go with anything other than a belt drive. They are the quietest of the three and, except for being marginally more expensive than a chain, don’t really have a downside. They are just as durable as a chain (and the major manufacturers back their belts with a Lifetime Warranty), and are easier to deal during installation — if you accidentally drop the belt it won’t turn into a tangled mess the way a chain can.
Chain drives are usually sold as a budget friendly option, but from a practical standpoint this has little to do with basic function or reliability. They are usually packaged with fewer remotes and accessories and may lack some high end features.
LiftMaster is a good example of this: they offer a budget chain drive with a D/C motor that is nearly as quiet as their high end belt options. But, it only comes out of the box with one remote and uses a single standard light bulb. By comparison, LiftMaster’s more expensive belt drives have built in LED lights that are extremely bright, built in security camera, battery backup, two remotes, a keypad for outside, and a digital wall control with a diagnostic display. The additional features and accessories are what really account for the price difference.
As far as I know, the only screwdrive openers on the market are Genie models that are sold for DIY installation. Because they need to be broken down to fit inside a box, the screw shaft will need to be spliced together with a bunch of little clips — if you loose one during the installation you are…screwed. The joint between screw shaft sections is also a potential failure point. Unless you find one at an extremely attractive price, don’t bother.
How Strong of an Opener Do I Need?
Most residential garage doors will work just fine with a 1/2 or 3/4 horsepower motor. This includes insulated doors as big as 16′ x 8′. Most of the time, the actually strength of the opener motor is a non-issue. The biggest problem that REALLY heavy doors cause is that they make the opener rail flex as the door lifts off of the ground. This leads to a very “bouncy” action that isn’t good for the opener or door. More important than the horsepower is the ability to attach an extra support to the opener rail.
Unfortunately, most DIY openers are designed in such a way the the trolley (the part that the arm attaches to) wraps around the top of the rail, making it impossible to add an additional support.
From my experience, homeowners get way too hung up on the horsepower of their garage door opener. It is very rare that a heavy duty model is required. If your door passes the garage door balance test, it should be fine with a standard duty garage door opener. Decorative wood doors and steel “carriage” style doors with large windows are pretty much the only ones that require heavy duty.
Garage Door Opener Brands
Two manufacturers dominate the U.S. residential garage door opener market: Chamberlain and Genie.
Chamberlain sells openers under their own name as well as Craftsman, both for purchase and installation by the general public. They are also the parent company of the excellent LiftMaster brand, which is only available through professional garage door contractors.
Genie makes a line of products for purchase by homeowners, as well as the Genie Pro line of openers which are only available from, you guessed it, the pros. Furthermore, most Overhead Door Company branded garage door openers are Genie Pro models with a different label. They use the same parts and can be worked on by anybody who knows a thing or two about Genie (which is to say, any competent garage door technician).
After the big two there are some smaller brands such as Linear, Marantec, Sommer, Hormann, etc. They are only available for professional installation. I wouldn’t bother with any of these if I were you, and I won’t be reviewing them.
If you already own a Linear, don’t fret! Linear used to make good openers and may again in the future, but they have had all kinds of problems in recent years. I will say that the Linear sales rep in my region is a really good guy who knows his stuff and does everything he can to make up for the defective circuit boards and supply chain issues his company has created recently. And also on the positive side, Linear openers are the easiest to add the previously discussed rail support to.
Marantec, Sommer, and Hormann are German brands that are over engineered and have weird remote controls. Almost nobody can get parts or has any experience servicing these brands. As you will find out (depending how deeply you dig into this website), every brand has its own quirks and common problems, and even I wouldn’t know where to start with one of these were it to malfunction.
So in summary, if I were advising someone on what brand garage door opener to purchase, I would say stick with LiftMaster, Chamberlain, or Genie. My personal preference is LiftMaster all the way, but I recognize that is from the perspective of a technician/installer. There are some valid reasons for homeowners to pick Genie or Chamberlain depending on their situation.
Read my reviews of LiftMaster, Genie, and Chamberlain garage door openers.