Selecting a new garage door opener can be easy, if you know what you need to search for. Of course this is not different from choosing any other entity like a house or a car. Collecting the brands, types and models is not the only process involved but you should know what makes them superior or awful in comparison. Below I will tell you what you need to look at to find your opener.

Look for the correct factors:

1. Garage door type

You have to take into account the sort of your garage door. Is your garage door a tilt-up, roll-up or a sectional sort? Not all garage door openers may suit all door types. While the sectional variety appears to have been a common selection before, nowadays the sectional variety is the most common.

2. Garage door weight

Not all garage doors are compatible with all garage door openers. Heavy doors demand a strong motor and having a too powerful motor on light doors may be overkill. Of course countless strong motors can deal with any weight without problems, so if a more powerful model fits you better then take that model.

3. Ceiling height

If your garage has a low ceiling, you may have a difficult time fitting common garage door openers, but you have the option of a wall mounted unit that operates directly on the torsion bar like the LiftMaster 3800. Having a very high ceiling may present trouble when you buy a traditional garage door opener, either you have to buy more to mount the opener and/or you will have trouble using the space above the opener. The wall mounted models like the LiftMaster 3800 are good in these types of circumstances.

4. Security

With the growing break-ins into personal houses and the garage door introducing the weakest link, security becomes a main concern when selecting garage doors and openers. Manual dead bolts are great but automatic dead bolts are astonishing. There are openers that include or have optional automatic dead bolts connected to the opener, making your home safer. Thieves make use of a trick known as the coat-hanger trick to unfasten garage openers from their track, creating an easy way into homes. I know of two things that can keep this from occurring, disassemble the release mechanism or installing your opener straight on the wall. That way muggers are not able to unlock the door by using a metal wire.

5. Safety

You must make sure that your garage door opener has some safety mechanisms. When children or pets are near, the best thing you can do is make sure that your garage door opener safeguards against pinning them down. There are safe garage door openers that are at all times monitoring the pressure being applied and sometimes even reverse the door when an anomaly is present. Some openers have infrared eyes that create an invisible safety beam. If someone crosses the beam while closing the door then the door will stop or reverse instantly. Garage door openers generally support infrared beams and include them in the base package or as an accessory.

6. Warranty

Low quality products most frequently only have the legal bare minimum warranty length on their products so you need to go for a longer warranty rather than a shorter one. Leading manufacturers put a lifetime warranty on their motors in series like the LiftMaster Professional series. Other parts are normally with shorter warranties ranging from 5 to 15 years.

7. Operating Noise

Noises in a garage door openers can be very annoying for residents living close. Most garage door openers are rather noisy, but there are a couple out there that operate at a minimum noise levels or even near-silent.

8. Do you want a specific function provided only by an accessory?

If you require only the basic functionality of a remote garage door opener then most common packages include all you need (the opener, 1-2 remotes, possibly a remote light), but you may want to have further options in the future. That's why I'd recommend to purchase an opener with a future expansion option.

I personally especially like the silent LiftMaster 3800 because it does everything that I require and it is relatively inexpensive, so if you're searching for a good opener, you can buy that model or a one that is comparable. It fulfills all my requirements as a garage door opener with all the security and safety bells and whistles.