LiftMaster8500 Wall Mount Garage Door Opener Package

I just finished installing this opener this afternoon, and so far, I am very pleased with it.It wasn't entirely a perfect experience, but the vendor did a great job making things right. The box arrived in good shape, and appeared to be factory-sealed. When I opened it, however, I found that the 3-button remote and wall control were missing. I sent an email via Amazon's messaging late on a Sunday and got a response first thing Monday morning. They shipped the missing items via Priority Mail and I had them in my hand by Wednesday afternoon.My garage has a support beam that runs the width of the garage which prevents installing a conventional opener. I only have about 2 inches of clearance between the beam and the door when it is open.This opener drives the jackshaft from the end, which avoids my clearance problems.The installation was very straightforward. I found it to be far simpler than any of the chain/belt drive styles. Working alone, the installation took about 3 hours.One thing to be aware of - you need something solid behind the opener to bolt it to. This isn't load bearing, it just serves to stabilize the unit and keep it from moving back and forth as it drives the shaft. I initially tried to install the opener on the left side of my door, but found that I only had drywall behind it. I was able to solve this by moving it to the right side of the door, where I could bolt it to a stud.The unit is incredibly quiet in operation, all you really hear is the door itself.I installed it with the optional Internet Gateway, which allows you to check whether the door is open or closed (and how long it has been that way) from a web site or smartphone app. You can open or close the door remotely, though I am not sure why you would want to.I am looking forward to using it for a while, and I will update if anything changes.***Update*** 2/9/14Have had this opener installed a little over 2 months now, and I *love* it!It works perfectly and is amazingly quiet. I literally cannot hear the garage door operating from anywhere within the house.I thought that the Internet Gateway option would have pretty limited utility, but I find that I use it fairly frequently. It allows me to open or close the garage door from my smart phone, as well as checking the status of the door - is it currently open or closed, and how long has it been that way? What good is that? I often work late on Thursdays, which is the night before garbage day at our house. I can check the door as my teenage son's bedtime is approaching. If the gateway shows that the door has been closed for 2 days, I should probably call home and remind him.I have also set up the MyLiftmaster web portal so that it sends me an email if the garage door stays open for more than 1 hour. There have been at least a couple of occasions where I have finished working outside, cleaned up, and gotten an email reminding that I had left the door open.All in all, I am still very happy with this purchase.

This is the first garage door opener I have installed myself. The instructions were straight forward and the installation was easy. I don’t understand the difficulty with the tension sensor. It simply checks to make sure the cable is taught. As long as it is spaced properly and mounted securely you shouldn’t have any problems.The door operates quickly and quietly. The force sensor and light beam sensors work flawlessly. I also have the opener paired with the 823lm Remote Light Switch, 829LM Garage Door Monitor, and several 895MAX 3-Button Remotes.The only installation problem was with the automatic deadbolt. The provided screws are presumably intended to be low profile and hard to remove. I had issues with the door rollers hanging up on them and issues with the heads striping (the Phillips head cams out to easily and the metal is soft). I also had one of the captive nuts inside the housing break loose preventing me from tightening down or removing the deadbolt assembly. I eventually plan to drill out the screws and replace them with rivets or low profile carriage bolts.One other precaution is to ensure the tension spring properly torqued and your door is balanced. If you don’t do this you will significantly shorten the lifespan of the opener. I performed the balance myself using winding bars purchased from Amazon and a youtube video. However there is a significant amount of energy stored in the torsion spring and you should consult a professional if you don’t understand the risk and proper technique. Serious injury and damage could result if the process isn’t performed correctly.

These are well built, quiet operating units. The instructions are detailed and clear and installation is pretty easy. This is the second one I have purchased. I do have one complaint however. A year before I purchased the 8500, it was called the 3800; which is the first one I purchased. That one has an LCD backlit display with temp, time and programming instructions. It looks high tech and was easy to use. I also had a bunch of extra remotes for it. The 8500 comes with what I think is a step back as far as a wall controller and now I have two different looking controllers on the wall. I was really disappointed that my old remotes did not work with the 8500 either. It also doesn't work with our vehicles homelink, while the old one did. We would have to buy an additional accessory to regain this function. While I understand that the 8500 has enhanced security, it would have been nice if it was better communicated in the product description. After the fact, I did my research and found that if you dig into the details, the manufacturer does indicate it's not cross-compatible with other units. I then thought I could just buy the old style wall controller and solve my problems but the radio communications are in the operator, not the wall controller, so no deal. If this is your first purchase, none of this really applies to you and let me just clarify that these LiftMaster operators are the best money can buy and there are a ton of cool accessories you can get for them. My incident was an isolated one.