New garage door opener.

[Dave Lehnert]

My 30 year old garage door opener is acting up and going to replace it this time.

Tell me what I want in an opener.
Old one is a screw drive. What about a belt drive? are they any good?
Garage is detached so noise is not a problem.
Kinda like the idea of using with my Amazon Alexia, Looks like a Genie is the only brand to work with Alexia???

[Malcolm McLeod]

Budget becomes a big factor, as does other uses of the space. I believe nearly all major brands will offer some form of IOT 'smart' interface - even if as an add-on.

In last house I put in jack shaft openers. There is nothing in the middle of the ceiling getting whacked by long boards. Nice!

[Dave Mills]

Ditto Dave on the door jack lifts. Mine are Liftmaster brand, and have them pull the door all the way up to the ceiling. So not only do you not have that center track and motor, but the door and rails are up as high as they can be.

[Rick Potter]

I just put a sidemount on my new garage addition. It is a heavy steel, insulated door, and works very well. It was about $300 more than a regular lift.

I did it because I will probably put a lift in the garage for one of my cars, and using the sidemount allows me freedom to place the lift.

On the other hand, I recently replaced a screw drive on the old garage with a belt drive Genie. The installer said it will last longer and not drip oil like the screw drive. It was 12 years old, and seals failed, allowing grease/oil to spread on the screw, and it dripped on the car. The belt drive is very quiet compared to the screw drive.

PS: It has a battery backup, which I absolutely do not need. They made it a State Law in CA, after the last round of wildfires when some people died because the power was out and they could not get the car out. (per the installer)

[Jeff Body]

Belt drive works nice and smooth for me. It's also really quite.
I would suggest a built in battery backup. When you can still open your garage door during a power outage it really makes the neighbors jealous.

[Chris Fairbanks]

Jack shaft here. I would not go any other way. Super super quiet and I get all that room back for woodworking purposes 🤣

[Doug Dawson]

My 30 year old garage door opener is acting up and going to replace it this time.

Tell me what I want in an opener.
Old one is a screw drive. What about a belt drive? are they any good?
Garage is detached so noise is not a problem.
Kinda like the idea of using with my Amazon Alexia, Looks like a Genie is the only brand to work with Alexia???

Because my garage doors connect directly to my shop, I don't want them to be controlled by "the Internet of Things" until somebody can _guarantee_ to me that that is unhackable. So back off, Alexa! :^) In fact, I only ever open the garage door from inside. I've already had one of my cars broken into, looking for the garage door opener (that wasn't there.) All they got was a West Side Story Original Broadway Cast Recording CD. Haha. It should have been a CDR of recorded Bible verses, that would have been even better.

[Myk Rian]

I had an insulated door installed last year. Bought a Chamberlain belt drive. It handles that heavy door very well.

[Jerome Stanek]

I had an insulated door installed last year. Bought a Chamberlain belt drive. It handles that heavy door very well.

Any opener should handle any size doors if the door is adjusted correctly.

[Myk Rian]

You don't need a $450 Liftmaster when a $200 unit will do.

[Dave Cav]

I've had the Liftmaster jackshaft openers in my garage (3 doors) for a couple of years now. Love them.