Garage Door Openers Reviews

Few professional reviewers report on garage-door openers. The best is James Dulley, a syndicated columnist, engineer and home improvement expert who provides recommendations, as well as notes on product features, installation tips and a troubleshooting guide at his website. He does, however, charge a small fee for his expertise. Consumer Reports used to have the most comprehensive coverage, but has not revisited garage-door openers in over six years. The last report is now nearly completely out of date and is no longer available online.

Instead, our recommendations are largely based on the opinions of owners of garage-door openers posting at home-improvement forums as well as owner-written ratings posted at Sears.com, Epinions, Amazon.com and HomeDepot.com. While consumers don't typically have experience with many different types of garage-door openers, many user-written reviews reflect months and sometimes years of experience with a particular model, providing an insight that professional reviewers can't match.

Once seen as a luxury, a garage-door opener is now a standard convenience. Although you'll see a variety of brand names on the shelves, three companies make virtually all of the models on the market (which explains why they tend to look similar). Chamberlain makes openers under its own label, as well as Craftsman and LiftMaster models (LiftMaster garage-door openers are available only through professional installers). The Overhead Door Company also has a house brand, in addition to making units under the Genie moniker. Wayne-Dalton makes openers under its own brand.

Reviews for most garage-door openers usually include reports of some defective units, which never work well to begin with or stop working within a few years. The chain-drive Craftsman 53985 (*est. $160) has a high proportion of defective units, as reported by reviewers on Sears.com. Many of the problems arise from the circuit board, which can be replaced but at considerable expense. In addition, many owners find that the unit stops working within a year or two. As one reviewer points out, most of the positive reviews seem based on use of just a few months.
 ... Continued

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

# of Picks	Model (with Retailer Links)	Details from Amazon.com
2	Chamberlain PD752D (*est. $170)	details
2	Chamberlain Whisper Drive WD822KD (*est. $250)	details
2	Chamberlain PD210D 1/2-HP Chain Drive (*est. $135)	details
1 each	Wayne-Dalton iDrive for Torsion , Genie Excelerator , Genie H6000A-2K , Craftsman 53990

Of the three basic types of garage-door openers, chain drives are the least expensive and offer all of the standard features, but are significantly louder than other available technologies. The Chamberlain 1/2 HP Chain Drive model is among the least expensive garage-door openers, and it receives positive reviews. If you have a larger, heavier garage door, consider one of the few models with a 3/4-hp motor like the Chamberlain PD752D or similar Craftsman 53990. Screw-driven garage-door openers are significantly quieter than chain-driven models. In this category, we found good reviews for the Genie H6000A-2K. Belt-driven garage-door openers are the quietest technology, but are also more expensive. Reviews say that Chamberlain's Whisper Drive is quiet, reliable and easy to install.