Customer Reviews

Genie IS550-1 1/2-Horsepower AC Screw Drive Garage Door Opener

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm not sure if this is the same unit I purchased, but I did purchase a 1/2 HP screw drive Genie garage door at Home Depot... H4000A-2.

I'm not going to talk about de-installing the old motor because a review of a new unit should not include that.

The Genie garage door opener was one of the best things I've ever bought. Why? Because the instructions were clear and easy to follow for a "semi-handyman" like myself. The parts bags were color-coded. There were no missing parts, and everything worked. I've bought so many things with missing parts lately I began to think it was just expected. It was SO nice to have everything there.

I've never installed a garage door opener before but the instructions and bags made it alot easier than it could have been. Don't get me wrong... installing a garage door opener is tricky and takes a lot of work, no matter which brand you buy. That's why having EASY TO FOLLOW instructions is the most important part.

I hereby certify that I am not an employee of Genie nor is anyone I know. In fact I was really nervous about buying this until I got it home.

The unit is not ultra-quiet but certainly TONS quieter than our old chain drive opener. You used to be able to hear the old drive from anywhere in the house, it was so loud. This unit you can only hear if you're sitting at the table next to the door.

I'm not saying you will have as much luck with this as I did. But for me, it was great.

I installed this unit myself, and have been generally pleased with it. The instructions were generally very good, and it took me most of a day.

It can be a little noisy -- our garage is located directly below our master bedroom -- but generally a solid unit.

One design concern I have is with the part that interfaces to the actual screw drive. It's apparently plastic and over time (several years) the grooves seem to grind down and then the door slips and eventually won't move. I've been able to get replacement parts pretty easily on the web, though and the actual fix was about 10 minutes. I would have liked to have seen a sturdier part at that point.

But overall, I think this is a good solid unit. It's the third one I've owned over the years and the second I've installed myself and it's easily the best one I've owned.

I bought two Genie's ISD990-2x openers [the 2x mean 2 remotes]from Lowes' and had them install both. My wife's unit works fine but mine worked for two weeks and then the door would not close because the sensors stopped working. Sensors determine if the door's closing pathway is obstructed. This gave me an error message. Five blinks from the LEDs located on the "head" where the motor is confirmed a safety beam system error was the trouble. Genie sent me new sensor units used shine an infrared beam to sense an obstruction. I replaced them, but that didn't work.Despite this unit being installed professionally, a Genie senior support person and myself were able to figure out that the wiring was improperly installed. Once we used new wire to replace the wiring of the installer, it works flawlessly. The installer used a staple gun to affix the wiring and drove the staples into the insulation. Genie recommends that wiring be installed using the insulated tacks they supply to avoid crushing the wires and causing voltage issues. Apparently, the combination of the DC low voltage that Genie uses and the thin gauge (door bell) wiring can cause the problems that I had if the insulated tacks are not used.
Hats off to Genie who have spent hours on the phone with me and sent parts that as it turns out, were not needed.

I bought the Genie IS550/A opener in 2001. In the first year I had to replace the mounting struts between the rafters and the unit. After that it worked fine until two days ago(Mar 11, 2009) when it would start then stop and reverse for no reason. The Genie tech support was easy to contact but they said since the door would not hold steady at 5 feet, it would drop to 4 feet and stay there, it was unbalanced and the opener would not work that way. I think this is bs because it has been working fine for 8 years. Also there is no mechanical adjustment for force only the electronic adjustment and its set for max force. There's what I think is a ballast resistor under the cover, I wonder if this is bad? The sequencer board with the force controls on it is about $50 from Genie. Does anyone know if Chamberlain has force problems?

I purchased a Genie Excellerator (1/2 HP) about two years ago and have had problems with it off and on since the beginning. Installation was a little difficult; the screw and metal beam that houses it come in several pieces and are very flimsy. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't --A common problem is that the motor is very weak and requires great effort to raise my garage door. At this point, the motor is simply dying a slow and miserable death so I am going to replace it with a 3/4 HP LiftMaster.

We purchased a Genie screw drive model IMS/1000A in 2000 and have had repeated problems with the carriage drive. It has been replaced twice, and now it's broken again. When it happened the first time, they told us it was caused by our old, wooden garage door being too heavy. They said the newer doors were lighter. (Of course, when we bought it, we were told nothing about it only being good for lightweight doors.) About a year ago, we had to purchase a new garage door (for unrelated reasons). Guess what? It didn't make any difference as far as the opener was concerned. Not only am I frustrated about its apparent poor quality, I'm also frustrated by the fact that even though this is covered under warranty, we still have to wait for Genie to MAIL us a replacement carriage. I asked why they couldn't just arrange for us to pick it up at a local dealer, and they said they didn't do that. So now we have to wait--and of course, they said it could be longer than usual because of an upcoming holiday. They also said they wouldn't even come out and check the problem unless we did our own "balance test" requiring you to manually pull up the door a few feet and see if it stays there. What if you're not physically able to do that? Is the Genie only for the young and strong? I can see my 84-year-old mother trying this, or someone in a wheelchair. The customer service folks said I could call out a repair company to come do the "balance test," but of course, I would have to pay them for the service call. So much for a lifetime warranty.