My old garage door opener was dying and had to be replaced. I spent a lot of time looking at all the different openers. One feature I was interested in was the lift rate, or how fast the thing would open the door.

Then I happened across a youtube video from some guy that had installed the LiftMaster 8500. The LiftMaster is in a class of its own. It is internet capable, has units that can control lights in the house, and who knows what. I'm not interested in that stuff, though. Just open the door and I'll be happy.

What interested me was that it did not sit in the center of the ceiling. It attaches to the end of the torsion spring rod and turns the rod instead of pulling on the door itself. The company goes out of their way to tell you that you have to measure all kinds of dimensions to make sure you can mount it on the wall and connect it to the torsion spring rod. You would have to have some kind of unique garage door for this unit to not be usable.

So I bought the liftMaster and installed it. The lift rate is about the same as my old one, not as fast as some of the other brands. What I really like about this opener is how quiet it is. The old one was fairly noisy; With the garage door itself made out of metal, it was just one big noise amplifier. I could be in the house watching TV and hear the door open when the wife came home.

With the new opener, all I heard was just slight rattling of the door as it rolled in the tracks. Doing a little more research, I discovered if I replaced the rollers on the door with ones that had nylon wheels, it would be quieter. I replaced the rollers and now the door is so quiet, it's even more amazing. About all you can hear is the hum of the garage door opener, which is 24 volts dc. This also means you can have a battery backup for the opener, which I don't.

 

You forgot some of the best features of the Liftmaster. The automatic security deadbolt, the fact that the light will come on automatically via the motion sensor on the wall mounted button etc etc. I've been using jackshaft Liftmaster openers for about 5 years now and will never use conventional openers again.

 

I actually am using those features. The deadbolt and the automatic light on keypad came with the unit and I installed and use them.

I also turned on the automatic door closing feature and it has locked me out of the house only once so far.

 

Oh, I know. I can see your automatic deadbolt thingy mounted. Just figured these features were worth mentioning for the masses.

 

Never even knew about this.

Thanks for sharing Dennis!

 

That IS awesome.

I also had no idea this side mount design existed.

 

Here is a link to a video I watched about the garage door opener.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x182dcv_review-liftmaster-8500-elite-series-jackshaft-garage-door-opener-geekbeat-tv_tech