Garage Door Opener Review: LiftMaster (residential)
First of all, I should
introduce myself. My name is Dean Lacy, president of Expert Door Company, Inc. I have, what I
would consider to be, an extensive background in the garage door and opener repair business. I was a service man for a very large garage door company in the Twin Cities, MN where I gained nearly a
decade of experience. During which time, I performed around 10,000 service calls.
Since that time, I started my own garage door company, (Expert Door Company, Inc.) where I've gained close to another
decade of experience and almost 10,000 more service calls! I am very proud to say that after nearly
2 decades and almost 20,000 service calls I have never had a customer complaint
and I'm "A" rated with the BBB!
I should begin this review by stating
clearly... LiftMaster brand residential openers are among my favorites, although they, like all brands, have both good and not so good
qualities.
When doing a review, I like to start with what I consider weak links. The general
consensus of the door men I know, myself included, is that the weak link in the common residential LiftMaster opener
is the non-metal gears (I refer to as plastic.)
I have done many, gear replacements
over the years. Which by the way, is the bread and butter opener repair for most garage door companies. I would
also like to point out that all openers have their weak links, and this is probably the only weak link in the LiftMaster
residential line (keeping in mind I am referring to professionally installed openers with a one piece rail system, not the
store bought multi-piece rail models that I would not recommend).
Interestingly enough though, nearly
all of the gear changes I have done have been on chain driven models. That's hundreds of gear changes, and less
than a handful on belt driven openers. I believe the reason for this is simple. The chain has no give and
is very jarring on the gears when you start and stop the opener. The belt on the other hand has the slightest amount of give,
as well as a spring loaded connector to the carriage assembly, which absorbs the jarring effect on the gears, extending
their life dramatically.
One of the problems, for me, as a door man, with the belt driven
opener, has always been the convincing of the customer, that this is the one to go with. A lot of people are
convinced that the chain is stronger than the belt and they are afraid that the belt will break. Granted, I have never
seen a broken chain and I have seen a couple of broken belts, for me, the trade off between that, and hundreds of stripped
gears I think speaks for itself. Also, many of the belt driven models of today have a lifetime warranty on the belt,
which tells me that they have come a long way with the technology of the design of the belt. I am also a huge fan of how quietly
they run!
All in all, I give a very high rating to the LiftMaster line of residential openers and my highest rating to the belt drive models.
Dean Lacy, President
Expert Door Company, Inc.
UPDATE...(11/01/2007)
Well, I wrote this review about a year ago, and some new, and really great things seem to have happened at LiftMaster. It
seems the new 3/4 h.p. models (#3575 Chain, & #3585 Belt) not only have a bigger, better motor, they now have
a sealed, perminantly lubricated gear box! I've been installing these openers for about a year now and haven't had
a lick of trouble with them yet! I guess like everything else, time will be the best judge, but if I had to guess, I think
it looks like a change for the better!
UPDATE...(10/01/2009) Now I've installed hundreds of these 3/4 h.p. models
and still haven't had a single warranty call! In my opinion, they have a couple of bullet proof models in the line up!!!
UPDATE...(11/01/2010)
WOW! Still, not a single warranty call!
UPDATE...(02/05/2012) These guy's never stop! The new "DC"
motor units are so quiet you can hardly hear them run, and are getting rave reviews all over the country!
