Why do we love the LiftMaster Model 8160?
I’ve been in the garage door business for over eight years. For seven of those, I’ve been the owner of a garage door service.
On any given day, we have multiple technicians either installing, replacing or repairing garage door openers. We’ve installed and repaired a number of different makes and models. Within all the different garage door opener manufacturers,
LiftMaster has a superior product. Within LiftMaster’s product line, we have chosen a few different models to offer to our customers. The model 8160 has become a go-to opener for a number of reasons that I’ll describe.
The 8160 is a 1/2 hp equivalent chain drive opener. It’s a basic model that does not have some of the bells and whistles that other openers have. That keeps this opener at a lower price point and gives most customers what they want in an opener. Press the button and the door goes up or down. That’s it.
The 8160 also has a DC motor as opposed to an AC motor. The DC motor is what you would typically find in a quiet belt drive opener. The DC motor has a soft start and stop which means it’s easier on the door and also easier on itself. The 8160 is almost as quiet as a belt-driven opener.
We have tested them side-by-side and the difference in noise is minimal. AC motor openers, however, are much noisier and lack the soft start and stop which makes for a jerky ride. So the 8160 gives us a price point of a less expensive chain drive and also gives us the smoothness of a belt drive.
We get tremendous feedback from customers commenting on how quiet this opener is. The opposite is true when we used to install AC motor openers. A customer calling to tell us that their newly installed garage door opener seems kind of noisy is not a call we want to get. We no longer get those calls thankfully.
The 8160 is also extremely dependable and has plenty of power for most residential garage doors. We have had very few issues in the multiple hundreds of 8160s that we have installed and will continue to offer this model as one of our go-to products.