Anyone have a Sommer garage door opener?

One of our original Chamberlain/Liftmaster units failed last Saturday after an 11 year life. Not horrible but the unit was a chain drive and noisy as hell. Also, when I looked at the unit, it became apparent that the whole gear and chain design was not the most elegant engineering solution from a noise, vibration, or ruggedness standpoint. So, after basically never having paid any attention at all to these devices, I was forced to pick a replacement solution.

To add to the fun after Saturday night / Sunday morning we have 44 trees down in my neighborhood from a freak October Nor'easter snow storm. We only lost 16 trees in hurricane Irene. And we've got one of our SUV's in for pads and rotors all the way round. Then yesterday, I got a call from my 86 year old mother's neighbors and the cops in her town letting me know that she took a fall in the middle of the night and was transported to the hospital. 30 stitches to her face.

So, too much stuff going on. I just scrapped the whole research thing and made some decisions. The SUV will sit at the dealer until I have time to go pick it up. In the brief research I did Sunday, it appears there are three types of openers, chain, belt, and screw.

Chains seem to be noisy and inexpensive but proven technology.

Screw drives seem to be quieter, and simpler but apparently have some problems in cold weather.

Belt drives are basically identical to a chain drive with the chain replaced by a metal reinforced rubber/fabric belt as used in cars. They are supposed to be very quiet and aren't much more expensive than chain drive units.

And then I found this Sommer unit from Germany.
Videos

A bit pricey at $500 installed but it looked to be about the simplest design I could find with precisely one moving part. The motor driveshaft walks along a fixed chain that's held under tension by springs. And supposedly the quietest unit on the market with acceleration/deceleration on the start/stop but a bit slower than competing belt designs. And it comes with a lifetime warranty. I went with it. I chose a dedicated local overhead door company and Sommer dealer to do the install. I didn't want to deal with Home Depot/Lowes/Sears outsourced contractors. Hence the $500 price. Figuring I didn't want to be doing this again any time soon, and knowing all the units were 11 years old, I had them replace both our single bay openers that get the most use. And here I sit on Wednesday morning waiting for the installer to finish. Oh well, now our German cars will have German openers.

Anyway, has anyone used one of these Sommer units? Good? Bad? OK?

 

$500?

Wow. Do you have **** pile or Berber in the garage?

I should have asked: how heavy is your garage door?

This one?

http://www.lowes.com/webapp/wcs/stor...AID=1023975196

http://www.youtube.com/v/tHdik1qGRpg

I think the unit is reasonably priced, but more than the unit cost for install?

Wow.

 

The difference is who you have installing it. I think the unit is basically the same but the Lowes unit is labeled a "500" whereas if you buy from a dealer it's labeled a "550". Not sure if there are any feature differences but both are 3/4 hp and rated for a 500 lb door. I also had an external keypad installed.

I actually stopped by Lowes Monday night on the way home from work. They didn't have the Sommer units in stock, special order only. So, I was going to buy two a Chamberlain belt drive units with battery backup for slightly less money ($198 on sale) and have Lowes install them. They have a $97 flat rate for installation. Sounds good right? Well, not so much.

The guy in the aisle where the product was located didn't know anything about installation so I was told to wait at the contractor scheduling desk for Ken, the manager to show up. Twenty minutes later, a guy walks up. I ask if he's Ken. Nope, but he says he can help. I tell him I'm going to buy two units if I can get them installed in the next couple of days. He proceeds to schedule a service appointment. Twenty minutes later, he was unable to call up a calender to see what dates were available, he couldn't enter the service request in their computer. Einstein said that stupidity was someone doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. Well, this guy sat there for twenty minutes doing exactly that with the Lowes scheduling system. I couldn't watch it any longer. I thanked him for his efforts and told him that he'd just helped me make up my mind. I walked out.

I've found Lowes and Depot to both suck at service that involves a 3rd party contractor. After watching this guy operate, I wondered if the service appointment would actually be recorded in their system. Then I started to wonder if their 3rd party installer would show up on time. Then I started to wonder what sort of skills the installer would have. Then I started to wonder if he would have any experience with an oddball German door opener. Finally, I found myself wondering what the hell I was doing at Lowes.

I called a local owner operated company who is a Sommer dealer Tuesday morning. I know these small guys can't discount the hardware to compete with Lowes and Depot. And I know they aren't going to install for $97 lowball flat fee. But, they had the units in stock. They committed to show up at 8:00AM on Wed to do the install. And they have been around since 1973 and know my neighborhood and the builders who created it. Overhead doors are their sole business. They also threw in a physical reinforcement at the top of the door to increase rigidity and the external keypad.

So Lowes $228 H/W + $97 Install = $325

Or dealer H/W + Install + Extras = $500

I said fruck it. I have too much going on. For an extra $175 each, $350 total it's done and done right. If I have problems, I know exactly who to choke.

 

UPDATE:

The installer showed up on time a few minutes after 8AM. He was knowledgeable and had the two doors done by noon. He also lubed the door hinges, track wheels, and pulley wheels. He set up the remotes and the keypad for both doors. Then he walked me through the remotes, the keypads, and the wall switch features before he left with all the old stuff he took down.

The Sommer units are indeed quiet. They have a soft start/stop feature where they accelerate up to full speed and then decelerate to a stop rather than jerking the door up to speed instantaneously. It no doubt reduces stress on the door and opener while making the whole thing quieter. Once underway, all you hear is a slight hum from the DC motor. No more chain slap, no more jerking door. Smooooth.

The remotes are tiny and slickly designed. They look like a USB flash drive with buttons to control up to four doors. Perfect for us.

To disengage, there's no physical disconnect from the door. When you pull the lanyard, the motor simply disengages from the track and you can move the door manually. Pull the lanyard a second time and the motor re-engages the track. No more slamming the door to try and get the trolley to lock into place.

The keypad is wireless and can control multiple doors (up to 20). Again, a convenience if you have multiple bays.

The head units can take two 60W bulbs apiece. With CFL's in them you can get the equivalent of 100W incandescents. Plenty of light for me.

All in all, I like the Sommer unit. Time will tell how it holds up but I give it 5 stars so far.

And oh yeah.....
No **** or berber....just epoxy.
Doors are pretty light. Both the single bay doors are 7'H X 9'W aluminum and steel construction. I'm guessing maybe 300 lbs.

 

I was going to purchase a belt drive last time my wife backed into the garage door, but never got around to it.. I fixed the the bent door to get me thru the winter, fixed the bent track, same reason. This past summer, I finally got around to installing a new garage door, and picked up a cheap door opener and installed it myself. I have the big single two car garage door...had installed $800...my opener was $98. I only cursed a few times, installation was free...it opens...it closes, I'm happy. I don't let my wife park in the garage anymore, it has two XF's in it....lol...problem solved..

 

I feel your pain. My wife was driving an SUV in 2007 when we bought our current house. She wanted side load garages because she thinks it looks better than a bunch of big doors facing the street. I agree with the aesthetics but, I told her to be careful what she wished for as a side load garage is more of a pain to get in or out of. Well, over the course of the first year in the house, she swapped paint with the house on both of our SUV's. She was an equal opportunity driver and managed to include both the driver and passenger side of both front bumpers. No major damage, just scratches from rubbing really. The solution was to get her a smaller sedan (G35x) that fits in the garage bay with more clearance. She's much happier now and our house seems more relaxed too.

 

I thought having the big door would solve the sideswide issue, but forgot about the door not being all the way up issue...lol... I looked for a rapid door opener, but didn't find one....lol

 

My wife took off the side mirror on a Caprice we had and lowered the door on the bumper of a car that was still a 1/4" outside the garage putting permanent vertical scratches on it.

A few years later she scraped the side of our LHS and left me to get it off the door jamb, being clever I gave it more clearance backing out and scraped the other side. Boy, did she laugh at that. But I had the last laugh , as my scrape buffed out and she was left to look at her scrape on the driver side every day.

I had an installer put in our garage doors some years ago, but I might as well have done it myself as the expert (?) knew nothing and I suggested a better way to put up the second one. He said he had been instructed to do it that way, obviously by another idiot. I grudgingly managed to get him to admit my way was safer and faster. He was putting the sections together overhead in the horizontal track, taking out a clamp stop and lowering it by hand when assembled, I said why not build it up from the bottom in the vertical tracks. I'm still not convinced he saw the merit of my method. Maybe he's killed or maimed himself by now.

Looks like the Sommer 550 goes for $289.00 in Canada. They look like a good product.

 

Reading thru this thread gave me the ******* , My Wife has managed to hit both doors both sides of each door , I have buffed the right front fender several times to remove scuffs from her truck ,and one time she comes up stairs and says to me , go down stairs and check your tool box thingy I think I moved it , the sheetrock and a electrical plug , punched back into the wall , and tool box was sideways but no damage ,,, she know parks under the carport ,,, Wooden Garage Doors are damned expensive....