The Best Place to get Your Garage Door Opener

Some people think a garage door opener is just a garage door opener. The truth is when you start to look into the details like the models, features and brands, it can become a bit confusing and intimidating.

If you are looking for the best garage door opener but you are not sure which one to get, don’t worry, you’ve reached the right place. We’ll tell you all the important details you need to know to get the best garage door opener and make a safe investment.

Detailed Reviews of the Best Garage Door Openers in the market

The best garage door opener

There are several garage door openers to choose from, yet our research shows this is the top rated residential garage door opener.

The top 10 garage door openers – Comparison table

The top 10 Garage openers reviews

How to buy your new garage door opener

There are some key features you have to look when buying one of these. As I said, the more you look into it the more confusing it can become, but we are here to guide you in the right direction and help you make and educated purchase right from the start.

To begin with, don’t go with the brands and their promises, not because they are not true, but because the right place to start is at your garage. The first thing you have to find out is what you need. Once you have that information you can scan the offers and decide which one is the most convenient.

There are two things you need to know about your garage door: Height and weight.

Most garage doors are 7, 8, or 10 ft tall and if this is your case, pretty much every garage door opener out there will work for you. The only thing is that with an 8 or 10 feet tall garage door you’ll need and extension kit for an overhead garage door opener.

In case you want a wall mounted garage door opener, there is no need to have an extension kit. We’ll see more details about this next.

What is best? – Overhead or wall mount door opener

The truth is that both overhead and wall mounted door openers work pretty good. This is not a question of what is best, but what is best for you.

A wall mounted garage door opener is more convenient when there is not much space available on the ceiling because of your lighting or the size of your vehicle. These need less maintenance because don’t have a chain, and don’t need any extension kits in case you have an 8 feet or taller door.

On the other hand, they tend to be more expensive than overhead systems, so you may pay more money upfront.

Overhead garage door openers are pretty reliable as well and are perfect if you have enough space on the ceiling of your garage. They may need a bit more maintenance because of the chain they have and will also need extension kits for doors taller than 7 feet.

Extension kits are not expensive and if you want to save money then probably an overhead door opener is what you need.

Continuing with the exploration of your garage, you need to determine if there is enough space available on the ceiling to install an overhead door opener.

Both systems are safe and secure, reliable, quiet while operating and offer smart system connectivity through WiFi, bluetooth and apps.

If budget is a concern and space is available, then an overhead system may be the best option.

If budget is not a concern but there is little space, go with a wall mounted garage door opener then.

Horsepower – What garage door motor do I need?

Depending on the weight of your garage door you may need more or less horsepower. If you have standard aluminum doors, then a 1/2 hp motor is perfect.

In case you have oversized or solid doors these will be heavier and therefore 3/4, 1 or 1.25 hp may be needed.

It doesn’t hurt to have a very powerful garage door opener with a standard aluminum garage door since these will use less effort to operate and the life of the motor will be extended as it won’t wear and tear that fast.

Horsepower is another key factor when it comes to garage door openers. Look into ½ horsepower garage openers if you have standard aluminum doors. Oversized doors and one-piece doors may require 3/4, 1 or 1¼ horsepower garage door openers.

You want to remember this if your garage is the main entrance to your house since you’ll be using a lot the garage door opener.

All the garage door motors on this list have enough horsepower to suit most needs. Just make sure to check the specs of each model in case you need a heavy duty garage door opener.

Backup battery for your electric garage door opener

As the name implies, electric garage door openers need electricity to operate. When installed, these are connected to the electric power of your house. But what happens in case of a blackout or power outage?

Yes! You’ll be unable to enter/exit your house using your garage door. Unless of course your garage door opener comes with a backup battery for these situations.

Not all systems include a backup battery as some use a manual release mechanism that can be used from the inside, but for the most part, a backup battery is desired.

When talking about electric wall mounted garage doors, these have a deadbolt lock system that is activated when the door closes. In case of a blackout and even if the backup battery fails, the deadbolt mechanism is released and thus you can get your car out of your garage.

Smart garage door openers – WiFi and other connectivity options

As technology advances it is more common to see smart devices all over the place, and garage door openers are not the exception.

In this case you can get a garage door opener that connects to your house WiFi and be accessible through the internet. This way you can operate it remotely and even receive notifications when you are not home.

Bluetooth is another popular choice to have access to your automatic door opener. This way you can activate the motor from your phone as well.

The difference between bluetooth and WiFi operation is the distance. With bluetooth access you have to be close to the garage door opener to activate it, while a WiFi makes your device accessible through the internet and thus the distance is not a problem.

Both Bluetooth and WiFi will be accessed through an app on your mobile device.

The drive type used to open the garage door

This is a bit more technical but I think it is good to mention it here.

There are basically 4 ways in which commercial garage door openers operate:

Chain-driven: These garage door openers are among the most common you can find. You’ll recognize them because there is a chain mechanism that pulls and pushes the garage door. These are very durable and have extra strength for standard aluminum doors that require periodic maintenance.

Screw-driven: Pretty easy to recognize as well thanks to the screw that is used to drive the garage door. These are low maintenance and are best for heavy and wide garage doors.

Belt-driven: These units have a belt in the same way that the chain-driven use the chain. Thanks to that belt, they don’t need that much maintenance, and are also very quiet and smooth in operation.

Wall-mount: These are perfect for small spaces or when there is not enough space on the ceiling for an overhead unit. These don’t require much maintenance and are very silent as well during operation.

Safety Sensors

It is important to have a way to interrupt the operation of the garage door opener motor in case any obstruction is present.

This is why the safety sensors are so important. Most garage door openers these days come with these to interrupt operation in case something crosses the beam.

When installed these sensors align to each other. One is sending a signal and the other is receiving it. As long as the signal is never interrupted, the motor can continue to operate. But if something crosses the line and the signal is interrupted, then the motor stops and reverses operation, meaning the garage door opens again

Don’t forget to check the rail segments size

This only applies to overhead garage door openers, if you have a wall mounted system then you would not have a rail.

If you have an overhead unit, then the rail segments size is important because this determines if your door opens completely or not. Obviously you need to be able to open your door completely or you risk to damage your car.

To make sure this doesn’t happen you need to check your garage door height, and ensure that whatever this height is, the rail of your garage door opener is long enough to completely open your door.

Most standard garage doors are 7 ft tall. In this case the overhead garage door openers will work perfect as they come out of the box.

In case you have an 8 ft garage door or taller then an extension kit will be needed. The good news is these are not expensive at all.

Extension kits availability

This is related to the last one.

If you know your garage door is taller than 7 feet and you want to get an overhead unit because they are cheaper, you’ll need for sure an extension kit to completely open your garage door.

When choosing your garage door opener make sure an extension kit is available to open your door. Otherwise you’ll be wasting your money.

Do you need a manual release for your garage door opener?

Yes and no.

A manual release is a mechanism that is intended to work during power outages or blackouts. Since you have an electric garage door opener, it is important to be able to open it in case power is gone.

Most modern systems come with a backup battery that works for this. It allows you to operate automatically your garage door opener in case the main power is gone.

But if your garage door opener does not come with a backup battery, then you need a way to open your garage door when power is gone. In this case your system should have a manual release to open the garage door.

Check the comments and reviews from current owners for the specific model you are interested in

It is always a good idea to check the comments and reviews from people who already bought a product. In this case, go to places like Amazon and see if the model you are looking is available. If so, check the comments and reviews to give you an idea of what to expect.

I’d also like to recommend to choose a model with hundreds if not thousands of high rating comments. You’ll soon see that a product with bad reviews does not have much of these because sellers and Amazon itself removes these from their listings, so do a search and filter those garage door openers with lots of reviews.

There is another section on Amazon where people asks questions and get them answered. In case you have a specific doubt about a product don’t be shy and ask to the community, and you’ll get your answer in very little time.

Budget – What is best garage door opener price?

Having a planned budget for any purchase is a very healthy habit. In this case, you may think garage door openers are expensive, but you’ll be surprised to know there are very cheap garage door opener options available in the market.

The cheapest garage door opener you’ll will be in the range of 100 to 150 USD. This was a surprise for me because I thought you couldn’t get one of these for less than 600 USD.

Yet most prices of garage door openers go from 150 to 500 USD. So that is the range you should consider when planning your budget to buy a garage door opener.

You may be tempted to look for the price of parts separately and DIY your own garage door opener. If you have the skills and the abilities to go this way, it may be a fun project, but if you are doing this to cut your budget, just the garage door motor price is 70% or more of what a decent, certified and guaranteed unit would cost.

To this you have to add the costs of assembly, testing and debugging in order to ensure a proper operation. Also, since we are talking about what would be an entry to your house, I think it is a good idea to invest in something that is safe, reliable, and secure.

If you ask about a type of garage door opener best price, I would say the average point is 260 USD. In fact, this number fits with the list of the top 10 garage door openers on this page.

If you are wondering where to buy your garage door opener I have only one suggestion: Amazon. Here you’ll some great garage door opener models with great deals.

There are plenty of places where you can find garage door openers for sale, but not all of them guarantee the product and provide support in case you need it.