Got one the last time it was offered. Compared to a chain drive opener, it's practically silent. The kit comes with light sensors that must be installed for the door to function, but they supply wire and nail-clips for the wire. It has two light bulbs so the garage is brightly lit when opened and as a bonus, the wall mounted buttons include a switch for operating just the lights. The only (minor) bad thing about the kit is that the wireless panel for outside use, it is *not at all* intuitive to program.

*edit* Also, it was relatively easy to convert my existing opener to this one. It took less than 4 hours, start to finish.

I bought two last time but have yet to install them... Still figuring out how to prevent my wife from closing the Door on the trunk of our new car... Yikes!!!

I bought 2 last time also and they are much quieter than the Craftsman screw drive door openers I had. Very happy with the purchase and install went quick since I reused the old sensors, I'm only upset that they are $8 cheaper now.

How hard is it to install one of these with an existing system in place? A couple people said 4-5 hours I think, but wondering how difficult.

Two things I find disturbing about this.
1st. The manual shows a chain drive. They are not quite! I've had both, Genie old tape drive (truly silent) and several chain dives. Not too quite.

2nd. Someone said to lubricate the rails.NO NO NO NO. You never oil or lubricate the rails. Using silicone spray all hinge points on the door. Using a light weight oil lubricate each wheel that rides in the rails.

Doors must be well balanced. That means that without the opener attached the door will remain stationary at the mid-point of travel.

daisyhill wrote:Is this a good deal?

A GREAT DEAL

I bought one during the last woot offering and could not be happier. It is super quiet and runs very smoothly. It even slows down about 3 inches from the floor to not bang down (maybe all openers do this, I don't know). I did not install myself, I paid $100 for someone else to do it. It took a professional roughly 90 minutes, but I am sure it would have taken me 5+ hours and I would have needed to purchase tools.

I am sure you would be happy with the quality of the opener, but I cannot comment on the ease of installation and programming, because I did not mess with it.

Only "bad" thing has been mentioned before: it is kinda slow. Does not bother me, but is worth mentioning. I just timed it and for my 7' door it takes approximately 13.6 seconds to go from pushing button to settled at the other side.

dlevasseur wrote:How hard is it to install one of these with an existing system in place? A couple people said 4-5 hours I think, but wondering how difficult.

I bought one last time and installed it in about 3 hours, but i have installed other garage openers. If you are not good with tools it may be quite difficult to mount. It depends on your situation how much modification you have to do to mount the thing. I was lucky I could mount it directly to the joists but it still took some work to get it the right height and level.

I've had two Genies in my garage since we built our house 10 years ago. (The super fast opening excelerator model)
They're very quiet and have been trouble free since instaling them.

rjpear wrote:I bought two last time but have yet to install them... Still figuring out how to prevent my wife from closing the Door on the trunk of our new car... Yikes!!!

Put the sensors at bumper level...

daisyhill wrote:Is this a good deal?

I don't think so. It only has 1/2 hp. 3/4 is recommended. Now if you are using it for a single garage door than it will work work fine, but not good for a double. Not enough power.

the writeup says, "Uses two 60W/130V bulbs", which implies incandescent bulbs. but, can fluorescent light bulbs be used?

I have a Genie chain drive opener on one of my garage doors. There's a reason why I didn't buy another when the other opener failed. The Genie works, but the batteries in the remote last no more than 2-3 months on average. Why a lithium battery in a remote for my garage door opener lasts only 2-3 months when a similar battery in my remote entry for my old Ford lasted more than 14 years (sold it with the original battery still working) is beyond me.

Genie customer service could care less.

twowootthree wrote:the writeup says, "Uses two 60W/130V bulbs", which implies incandescent bulbs. but, can fluorescent light bulbs be used?

Not likely - our Genie (and our Chamberlain) opener specifically say not to use CFLs because they can't take the vibration. And that is a BIG problem with the Genie.

dlevasseur wrote:How hard is it to install one of these with an existing system in place? A couple people said 4-5 hours I think, but wondering how difficult.

The first opener I ever installed took me about 2 hours.

The second one took about 1 hour.

The third took just under an hour, but I also had to redo some wiring for that one.

I used to work at Overhead/Genie. Trust me - your money will be better spent on a Chamberlain Liftmaster. Much better quality.

theherbshack wrote:Put the sensors at bumper level...

A pretty bad suggestion considering the sensors are there to prevent children from being crushed. I'd say that your car is a lot more expendable than say a baby's head.

cvetanma wrote:Can you read? Says plain as day in the description, it's a 1/2 HP.

No, the description does NOT say that; it says it is 1/2 HPc, or horsepower "comparable". That is probably why it is slow; it has a smaller motor that is geared down to lift the same weight door as a real 1/2 hp motor.

I purchased two of these last time they were offered and finished the install recently.

It will take a couple of hours to do the install - but the instructions are really good. A helper might be handy, but I did them myself.

They are quiet, but I would not say they are whisper quiet. To me they are fine.

I have two doors and each opener comes with two remotes. Luckily each remote can be programmed for up to three doors, so I only need to carry one remote in each car. The other two remotes are spares.

Help! Will those open up a 2-car garage?

This is late info, but...

1) These ARE quiet.
2) They are EASY to install (especially a replacement
3) Spend some extra dough and get the battery backup model. Just one lightning storm induced power outage will make it worth it.
4) Belt vs Chain = Elevator music vs AC/DC concert

jdevenberg wrote:I'm buying a house. 1500 sq. Ft. on .57 acre lot for $55,000

Oceanview in New Orleans??

StarKnightGoku wrote:Paid 28500 for similar in Pittsburgh last year.

In san Francisco we are now paying $1500 - 2000 per sq ft. No one here can even afford to live in a garage....no less open it's door!

I got this Genie QuietLift unit from a previous Woot.

Yes, it is very, very quiet.

The opener switch is a little curious in that the open/close button is not the biggest button on the panel. It is not even the first button on the panel.

Tip No. 1: The garage door has to be in near perfect tune, with equal tension on both springs. If it is not, there is not enough umph with this unit to push the door back down. Lifting did not seem to be an issue if there was a little unequal tension in the door springs.

Tip No. 2: The track is a little short even for the door size specified, so mounting it a an inch or two back off the front of the inside wall may be worth considering if your door is at size or even minutely over size.

Tip No 3: If this is for a second bay, make sure and follow the placement directions for the "eyes" or else the beam will conflict with the other opener's set of eyes. I wish this tidbit was listed at the front in the directions.

dsscheibe wrote:Closing on an 1850 SQF HUD home for $65K in the next week. Has a large garage that was converted from a car port. I'd hop on this but the garage has a large support beam that runs across the garage a few feet from the door and I'm not sure a standard door opener will clear it..

Take a look at the Liftmaster 3800 RJO (Residential Jackshaft Opener). I found one on Amazon (for about twice the price of this one) but it is super quiet and would solve your problem since it does not have a track dangling from the garage ceiling. Plus, it is way cool -- Jay Leno installed the 3800 in his "Garage Mahal"!!!

einspahr wrote:Help! Will those open up a 2-car garage?

If the door is properly balanced, just about any opener will operate it since there's very little force required. It's probably not a good idea to try to compensate for a door problem with an oversized opener. Get the door fixed -- and don't even think about messing with a torsion spring yourself. Call someone with the proper tools and experience.

showcaller wrote:This seems like a great deal and I am looking forward to reading what people who know what they are talking about with these things weigh in. We have a small two car garage we use for storage only so if I get this, it will see less use than your average garage. Our garage door is brand new, a cheap aluminum piece Home Depot had on sale. This might very well be the ticket for us.

I purchased one of these last time. I am using it to raise a two car door. A little slower than the 3/4 HP craftsman but not as much noise. All in all a good deal so far

einspahr wrote:Help! Will those open up a 2-car garage?

Yes I am currently using this on a 2 car door. Slower but no issue.

klein103 wrote:Big Fan of belt drives, however at this price the Craftsman with the battery back up and 3/4 HP motor is worth a look.

The only 3/4hp Craftsman belt drive with battery back-up I see on the Sears site is $361, ON SALE!! So how is something almost 3x the money worth considering??? That's an absurd statement.

I currently do not have a garage door opener. Is it hard to install this system without an original opener in place?

Krumlov wrote:Can multiple of these be hooked up to onegarage door opener?

It comes with 2 controllers that can each control 3 doors - the same 3 or whatever. I bought 2 of these for my garage last month on woot. They installed easily, work great right out of the box, and are pretty quiet. Very pleased with this woot.

prosperouscheat wrote:This one for $135 shipped or the Craftsman for $220 + taxes + shipping? Or do you have some secret source to get the craftsman for about the same price?

Actually, that 3/4hp Craftsman is $180 on sale BUT it is chain drive. Clearly not the same thing.

80% of garage door openers are chain drive 3/4 hp. So this cannot be use as a replacement for a broken chain drive. 1/2hp might lift a plastic door but not a steel door like my 2.

I have 2 car garage with 1 door.
I see comments this is Slow for 2 car garage. But how slow it is compared to 3/4HP.

sixdolla wrote:If I can find a review that confirms this as being really quiet I might be in for one. Cause it's easier to come home drunk through a quiet garage door than trying to make a loud drunken entry through a locked front door fiddle with keys. Well I mean it'll make my life easier with the wifey. I just want to pass out and not argue if you know what I mean.

I bought one of these when they were on during a Woot Off and paid about $10 more. This took about 2 hours to install, including the time it took to remove the old one. It is quiet and works great. It was nice that it came with the keypad and two remotes. Pretty happy with it.

Will the remotes work for other brands of openers? I'd like to get 4-5 doors on the same remotes. Two of the doors already have openers installed. They are Hormann brand.

Audioman1 wrote:80% of garage door openers are chain drive 3/4 hp. So this cannot be use as a replacement for a broken chain drive. 1/2hp might lift a plastic door but not a steel door like my 2.

if you have your door torsion springs adjusted correctly, such that you can open the door by hand and leave it halfway open and it does not fall back down or continues to open because the springs are too tight or too lose, then a 1/2hp opener will work fine. On the other hand if your springs are set on the weak side even a 3/4 hp opener can struggle to open a heavy door.

twowootthree wrote:the writeup says, "Uses two 60W/130V bulbs", which implies incandescent bulbs. but, can fluorescent light bulbs be used?

I contrapted myself up a fancy system where the garage door opener will fire all 4 banks of 4-foot fluorescents. Lights up half the neighborhood when I get home. It's overridden by the actual light switch for the garage. All the garage door opener is doing is firing a relay that does all the work. But then I like playing with electricity, too.

boaterholic wrote:if you have your door torsion springs adjusted correctly, such that you can open the door by hand and leave it halfway open and it does not fall back down or continues to open because the springs are too tight or too lose, then a 1/2hp opener will work fine. On the other hand if your springs are set on the weak side even a 3/4 hp opener can struggle to open a heavy door.

My spring is adjusted so that the door is heavy to open AND heavy to close, but just right in the middle. I've settled on using the diesel engine out of a Mercedes to do the work.

jercomfort wrote:I don't think so. It only has 1/2 hp. 3/4 is recommended. Now if you are using it for a single garage door than it will work work fine, but not good for a double. Not enough power.

Actually the work isn't done by the motor but by the torsion spring. If it is properly balanced then power isn't important at all because the door should feel weightless. You should have no trouble opening/closing the door by hand through its entire range, and it should always stay where it is mid-range if properly balanced.