Craftsman  Garage Door Opener 1/2 hp Belt Drive, Motion-Detecting Control

It was purchased to replace an old chain driven door opener. It is much quieter and is dependable.

It was purchased to replace an old chain driven door opener. It is much quieter and is dependable.

Bought this to replace an aging and broken chain drive Craftsman unit. The belt drive is very quiet and I am planning to replace the old steel wheel rollers with nylon wheel rollers with heavy duty ball bearings. The unit is fairly easy to assemble, but remember to read through the directions and also any additional directions. This model came with an improved spring-loaded trolley bolt, so the assembly of this one part differed from that in the instruction manual--needed to refer to the additional instruction sheet that was enclosed and gave good directions for the improved unit. I was able to use my existing mounts on the garage door and on the ceiling, but had to install the new header bracket that came with the unit as it is a different width than the older one I was replacing. I also installed all the newer switches for the wall and safety eye units that mount on the bottoms of the door tracks to replace the older parts. Automatic light feature is adjustable to 4 options.

Replaced an old Sears chain drive. Could have reused old main rail - but didn't. Did reuse old safety eyes and kept the new ones for spares. Install was quick and easy. (probably my 5th over 30 years) What I really like is how smooth and quietly it operates and the sensor that turns on the dual lights anytime I step into the garage. The outside remote is handy if I get locked out and my old operators and wife's car's built-in operator easily retrained to open the door. Did what I expected - but even better. Will change out my other old chain drive opener soon!

Bought a pair during an unbelieveable inexpensive one day on-line sale January 2012. I installed both on doors that would soon be replaced and let the door company attach and properly align on new doors. This is a very quiet operation when using with (new or old) wood or new insulated doors. If you install on new uninsulated doors it will reverberate any vibration and sounds cheap. Using uninsulated doors with chain drive openers can be heard around the neighborhood! Lastly, if installing yourself, you might splice in wiring from old openers to make new wire long enough and run wires to perimeter of garage versus down the middle. Looks neater and does not interfere with access to overhead space should you have a larger garage.

My old Craftsman 1/2 HP chain driven opener lasted 17 years. I replaced it with this belt drive opener after spending way too much time thinking about it. This opener was easy to put together and connected to my old motor hangers off my ceiling. I had to use the new hanger provided in the box for the connection above the garage door. The instructions were clear and easy until there was some confusion on the proper way to install the spring loaded nut to provide tension to the belt. The instructions for this nut were provided in an additional instruction sheet. This belt opener is very quiet and smooth. My wife and I really like the motion detecting control that flips on the lights.

I only gave this 1 star because I couldn?t give 0. About 6 weeks after it was installed, none of the remotes or the keypad would open the door, but they would all close the door. The wall button always worked. It would not let me reprogram the remotes. I replaced a tired, but working 12-year-old garage door opener with this unit to avoid a situation where I am without a garage door opener for a few days. Less than two months later, I was without a working garage door opener for over two weeks of troubleshooting, waiting for parts and waiting for scheduling the repair. Thankfully, since I had not owned this piece of junk for 90 days, the repair labor was free. I still had the original box in the garage. If it wasn?t for the effort to take the thing down, it?d would have been boxed up and returned to the store long before it was repaired.