Product Review: Chamberlain 1HP Smart Belt Drive Garage Door Opener with Battery Backup, Camera, and Motion Sensing Wall Control

 

A few years ago, I installed a Chamberlain smart garage door opener with a belt drive at my old house. When I moved, my new place had an old chain drive opener, which was loud and had the small remotes that were the size of key fobs and either had to be put on a keychain or in the center console, making them difficult to deal with, and you basically had to be right at the garage door to open it. So, I decided to get the upgraded version of the opener I had before. 

This is a belt drive, so it is very quiet. I have it on my two-car garage door, and although the door is not heavy or oversized, because I live in a region that can have harsh winters, I decided to go with the 1 HP version over the 1/2 or 3/4 HP versions. It can be controlled via the MyQ app or with the remotes (which are the kind that can be clipped onto your car's sun visor, which is much more convenient than the keyfob remotes, and they have great range as I can open the garage door when I am still down the block before pulling into my driveway. The remotes are pre-programmed, so you do not have to pair them with the opener. If you have multiple garage doors, the remotes can also be paired with another opener so you can open two doors from the same remote. 

This version has a camera and a battery backup, so if the power goes out, you can still use the opener for about 24 hours without having to pull the cord to open and close the garage door manually. And, when the power comes back on, the battery automatically starts recharging. You also get a 30-day trial of the MyQ monitoring service, which alerts you to activity detected by the camera. The app automatically alerts whenever the garage door opens and closes, which is part of the base features, and does not require an upgraded subscription. You can link it to an Amazon account for the "key" in-garage delivery service, which allows Amazon drivers to open and close the garage when delivering packages. 

I purchased the opener through Home Depot and paid for professional installation, which is handled by a local garage door service. If you can afford it, I highly recommend using that, as a pro can install it in a couple of hours, and they recycle your old garage door opener (if you already have one installed). Ultimately, this is a great garage door opener and absolutely worth the price.

Product Review: Chamberlain B2405 Quiet Wi-Fi Garage Door Opener

 

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.