I upgraded to this belt drive from a very old (at least 20-year-old) chain drive, and the difference is amazing. While it is not whisper-quiet, compared to my old opener, it is almost whisper-quiet. My bedroom is directly over my garage and when the door would open before it sounded like a freight train going through the room and this barely makes any noise. Here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
1. The noise level. As I said it is much quieter than chain drives, especially older chain drives.
2. It has a motion sensor on it, so when you open the door to the garage going into your house, the lights will turn on and stay on for a couple of minutes, so you do not need to fumble with a light switch if you are just bringing something to or from the car and/or the garage.
3. The ability to use an app to see if the door is open or closed is great. I know I get that feeling in the middle of the night of wondering if the door is closed, or after I have driven off, wondering if the door closed if I did not watch it the entire time. Now I can just check the app and do not have to run downstairs in the middle of the night or turn around and go back to the house.
Cons:
1. There are no written instructions. There are virtual instructions that you have to access through an app that you download, and you have to dig a bit in the documents that do come with the unit to figure that out. The virtual instructions are handy at times, but it would be nice to use them in conjunction with printed instructions.
2. Once you have it wired you have to calibrate it through the app in order to get the door to go up or down, and at first it may seem like you wired something wrong or the unit is defective. Basically, the app walks you through what buttons on the side of the unit you have to push to calibrate where the door should stop both in the open and closed positions and make sure the safety sensors are working correctly.
3. The learn button, which you need to push to program the keypad, is not labeled. It is the yellow button on the side of the unit, but that is not clear in the instructions.
Overall, it is a very good, reasonably-priced Wi-Fi-enabled opener. It does not have all of the bells and whistles that the more expensive openers have, like built-in webcams, but if you are not interested in those extra features this is a good one. It definitely takes a couple of able-bodied people to get it installed, and it may require you to move existing brackets around (if you are replacing an old unit). It took two people about 3 hours to get it installed. I absolutely recommend this if you are in the market for a new garage door opener.
