Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Chamberlain B550 Smart Garage Door Opener- myQ Smartphone Controlled - Ultra Quiet & Strong Belt Drive with MED Lifting Power, Wireless Keypad Included, Blue

Quiet, Functional, Attractive, Easy-to-Install

Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2018

My home was constructed in 1992 and was equipped with a pair of LiftMaster 1/3HP openers (single door, double door).

Although the LIftMasters were still chugging along 26 years later, they were undeniably noisy and were unlikely to make it another 26 years (ditto for me).

Time for an upgrade (for the openers, at least!).

I contacted a nationally known firm specializing in garage door openers and installation services. It took some determined prying to obtain a preliminary estimate from a representative over the phone --- $700 (and up) for installing a single WiFi opener.

Time to check out Amazon!

I purchased a Chamberlain B503 opener. My plan was to install this on the single door. If that effort was successful, purchase a B550 with MyQ and let the B550 be the hub for the B503.

I had never replaced an opener before, so I approached this project with a certain amount of apprehension. Being 79 years old didn't help, either!

Since this was a replacement, rather than a new installation, I was able to use existing ceiling supports and door fittings.

NET: Installed w/o problems, w/o reference to videos, w/o assistance from anyone else. Product manual was comprehensive and comprehensible. All parts were supplied, enough to cover a variety of installations. Final adjustments of the door travel were simple.

Next step!

Back to Amazon for a B550. I was unconvinced of the practical value of MyQ, but I love to tinker with technology, and the B550 included a wireless keypad for installation outside.

The B550 installation was even simpler than the B503, since I was not proceeding from a base of pristine ignorance. I was very pleased at the simplicity of the MyQ setup. The B550 and the B503 played very well together, and the MyQ app on my El Cheapo Tracfone will allow me to open and close my garage doors from anywhere on the planet (why would I want to do that???).

NET: Even easier than the B503 installation.

Possible negative for some people: As I understand it, Chamberlain provides Alexa support through IFTTT. This is a subscription-based service reportedly costing $1/month.

Alexa lives in every room of my house (OK, not the bathrooms --- my wife is picky about some things), in my garage, and in my car. But I am not sure why I need Alexa to fiddle with my garage doors. She has enough to do, managing my home lighting and responding to my frivolous inquiries.

Also, I would advise Chamberlain that I will NEVER pay for a subscription-based service, on general principles. Just imagine if Jeff wanted 10 cents every time I asked Alexa to marry me! Bummer. Amazon rules because it values the customer experience above all else. Chamberlain's subscription-based support for Alexa is rightly a pathetic object of ridicule.

If smart products cannot interface with Alexa MOL directly (w/o IFTTT), I will give them a pass. My home is nicely automated through the efforts of LIFX, TP-Link, and Philips Hue --- they all have a comfortable and productive relationship w/Alexa.

FINAL NET: Chamberlain openers are a great choice! (But maybe not if you really need them to interface with Alexa --- I don't.)

Note: This review appears under both the B503 and B550, since both products were involved in the installation.

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Steven P. Spinella

Great unit, wifi is nice, demands some care during installation

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is for the belt-driven, wifi-enabled unit without a camera. I am totally pleased with my selection, both as to brand, and as to this particular model. I have several chain-driven units installed elsewhere, and they work well, but this works better, and I think the price differential was quite reasonable.
Chamberlain, same company and interoperable with Craftsman and Liftmaster units, was the pioneer of the electronic sensor, now required more or less universally across the US. Other manufacturers use their same tech in the sensors.
The belt drive is quieter than the chain drive and less likely to fall out of adjustment. Follow the instructions carefully to get the tension right--it's not intuitive. When it's correct, it should vibrate at a visible rate like a lower frequency plucked string.
The instructions are not easy to follow--basically there are a set of different colors on the instruction page, and you follow the instructions in sequence by color, but there is no place that gives you an overview. That's probably why they've also given several youtube channels free units to review, resulting in instruction videos of varying quality. Still, it can be installed by any homeowner that can assemble a partially assembled bicycle and plug wires into a computer. (And the assembly process is somewhat similar to a combination of those two! Tools you could use include a socket wrench, a screwdriver, a drill, and wire strippers. These are not included, but all parts are, including insulated staples for running the wires to the sensors and the wall control and a couple pieces of bracket to attach the unit itself to the ceiling.)
This unit is 1/2 horsepower and works fine for any segmented or single piece garage doors that open up as opposed to sideways, provided they are counterbalanced with spring tension, as they are all supposed to be. If you have a garage door over 7' in height, you will need extra parts. The standard unit has enough travel to completely lift a 7' door out of the opening.
Compared to the basic unit, this one has room for two lights instead of one (use LEDs, standard sockets,) has two included car remotes, has an included wall-mounted outside remote with a programmable keypad, and has a wall controller that includes a separate switch to turn the lights on & off without moving the door as well as a lockout and a learn button, meaning you shouldn't have to access the unit hung from the roof once it's installed, even when you add remotes or want to lock out the door. (We've already discussed belt vs chain drive.)
WiFi allows you to control the garage door remotely from any smart phone with the installed app, as well as receive Amazon deliveries inside the garage if you choose. This also means you can be notified on your phone as you choose, including for opens, stops, and closes. If you close the garage door remotely, the lights on the ceiling unit flash for several seconds as a warning before the garage door begins to close, as an additional safety measure.
Speaking of safety, there are two safety circuits to avoid injury. First, the sensors have to see each other for the garage door to move. If this is broken while it's closing, it reverses. Second, if the garage door hits something before it gets to the ground, it reverses. When installing, you test this with a 2x4 with the 1.5" dimension pointing up. (It is for this reason that Amazon drivers delivering packages in the garage using Amazon Key are required to wait until they see the garage door closed completely. Otherwise a foot or board inserted just before it finished closing would reopen it.)
I bought this unit and installed it myself. I then had a new garage door installed, and the installers confirmed it was all safe and in good working order.
A note about wiring: It takes two low voltage wires, like phone wiring already installed in the brown sheathing, or the provided two-strand wire, to go from the unit itself to the wall control. It takes two low voltage wires to go from the unit to both electronic safety sensors. While it may be non-intuitive, these are wired in parallel, so you can join them together at any point, or run separate wires and join them at the main unit.
A note about installation: The most complicated part is probably hoisting the unit to the ceiling, since it is just below 7' high when installed. It can be attached using an included pin to the bracket above the garage door, while the unit is still near the floor, for instance, on top of the box it came in. Then the unit can be raised onto the steps of a ladder or a series of boxes until it is at approximate installation height. You will need to access it here in order to bolt the unit to the included or existing angle straps using the included bolts.

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Robert Swift

Great opener for attached garages

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

Short Review: Quiet garage door opener. If you door is taller than 7 feet (as mine was) you will need to buy an extension. Smartphone app works fine.

Longer Review: My old garage opener was a chain drive belt and was very loud. It got worse over the years and eventually I started parking outside so I wouldn't wake up my house in the morning.

I purchased this and the professional installation, but they did not install after looking at my door setup. They said since I didn't have an extension, they would have had to remove the bracket and move it forward, which was not in the scope of work. So they left and I wasted a day. So make sure you check to see what's involved in the install (I never got charged).

Once I got the extension I had my dad install the opener. I only helped a little but the only tricky part is getting some of the wires stripped and coiled together to fit in some of the terminals.

It is MUCH quieter than the chain drive, obviously. Because the bar is in sections, it kind of bows but I don't know if that's a problem (I guess I'll find out). The only loud part is my door itself. While the difference is apparent in the garage, it is even more apparent throughout the house. In the morning I have not woken anyone up yet.

The app works well so far. It will notify you (if you want) if it's open, closed, and current status. You can enable a push notification for if you leave your door open for a period of time.

All the remotes are programmed and ready to go. The keypad is easy too; there is a 'learn' button on the switch that you attach to the wall so you don't have to climb up a ladder to program it.

Good opener, I'll update if the thing breaks.

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Time For Lunch

Much quieter than our previous garage door opener.

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

***Edit: we have had this garage door opener for 1.5 years now and we love it! LOVE the phone app!!! We just had to replace the garage door opener on a rental home that we have and immediately went and ordered this same opener for the rent home. The renters also LOVE this! It is so quiet and the phone app will definitely spoil you!***

We had to (reluctantly) replace our garage door opener at our home. This opener is the new version of what we previously had. My husband researched these for a while before he decided on this model. It was easy enough for him to install without any major issues. He installed it during a Saturday afternoon so it wasn’t too time consuming either.

This garage door opener uses two spiral CFL light bulbs on either side. It is considerably brighter than our previous unit which is nice. The bulbs did NOT come with this garage door opener. It would have been nice if it did include bulbs but it states on the box that it doesn’t come with them.

This garage door opener is so much quieter than our previous unit! Substantially quieter!

We have Home Link on our vehicles and sometimes they are tricky to get the garage door to sync with them initially. My husband didn’t have any issues with the garage door syncing up with our vehicles.

The remotes are slightly smaller and more streamlined than our previous remotes were.

The keypad outside of the garage was easy to replace. So was the main wall unit, the holes aligned with our previous wall unit. The senors were also easy enough to replace.

Apparently for $10.00 a month this can operate with Siri but that seemed like a frivolous expense to me so we will not be signing up for that. Therefore, I am not able to give any insight on that aspect of this garage door opener.

So far my favorite part of this (besides the brightness from the lights and the quietness of the system) would be that it is linked up with an app, like everything else nowadays. We had a friend dropping something off at our house while we were gone and I was able to open the garage door for her when she arrived at our home. Then, I was able to shut the garage door back after she left. That was super convenient! Occasionally we leave our house and we are not sure if we remembered to shut the garage door but now we can just double check on our app! Another perk to the app is more for laziness purposes but it’s my husband’s favorite part so far: if we are lying in bed, half asleep, and too lazy to get up to shut the garage door, my husband just shuts it from his phone without even having to get up.

Even though we didn’t want to have to invest in a new garage door opener, this one seems to be a pretty good investment! Modern technology sometimes does make life easier for us and this is one of those times. I am very, very pleased with this garage door opener so far! The only change I would make would be to include two light bulbs but I guess that really isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

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JerryFromPittsburgh

Great value for the price

Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

Replaced 2 Liftmaster belt drive units that were 25+ years old. Old units still worked fine, and Chamberlain is the same company, so I feel the quality is there. Old belts were showing wear, so I decided to upgrade rather than replace the belts given the age of the units and price of new belts. Upgrade provides new security logic, replacement buttons(old ones were showing their age) and nice Wi-Fi capabilities so I can control and monitor remotely (very nice). This allows me to make sure the doors are closed at night without walking to the basement to check. Also allows me to open/close them when I am away from home if necessary. I didn’t pay the extra $ for the video option. These relatively inexpensive units have plenty of power to lift my single bay, 7’ insulated aluminum doors. Units are incredibly quiet. My doors have a bit of rattle noise to them(not the fault of the openers) but the hum of the opener is VERY quiet and does not vibrate the floor above like the old ones did. Installation was very easy and can be done by anyone with basic handyman skills and tools. Just double check any hardware that you reuse to ensure things are tight and secure. My units do not have motion detection for the lights, but were not advertised with that feature either. Lights DO activate if the doors are open and someone trips the safety light beam between the two sides of the door. I dropped to 4 stars because the manual recommends that you NOT use LED light bulbs even though that is the standard light bulb now. Their concern is that the LED bulbs can decrease signal range for the buttons and/or Wi-Fi signals. I installed LED bulbs anyway and have not yet observed any problems. Units included a keypad also for opening with a 4 digit code, which is a nice perk for the price. These were easy to configure and install. One final note: while the system does support connecting to a “HomeLink” device so you can use the built in buttons on your car to control the doors, it recommends against that and prefers using the included transmitters. I have not attempted to use HomeLink with these openers.

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Jim J

Follow directions to the letter! Balancing garage doors is essential!

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2021

Verified Purchase

I had to install this twice. Since my ceiling did not provide the 2” of clearance and the track was longer than the original, I installed it forward of where the original track was. To my surprise, the door hit the nut on the bracket holding the track to the ceiling. So I ended up moving it back even past where the original track was installed. All working great now! I will say there is one point in the instructions that could be updated to prevent a little confusion. Once everything is assembled and attached the instructions should have said to raise the door by hand until the engages the release mechanism and snaps into place. I tried moving the release down toward the door to no avail... would not budge. The other thing is once assembled and connected, the belt had a lot of slack in it. Tried to tighten it up, but still too much slack. This is when I figured out that my door being out of balance might be the issue as I had not followed the direction and balanced the door first. So once I did that and programmed the door... all is good! Don’t be afraid to balance the door yourself! It required a little muscle... and certainly would have been easier had I enlisted someone to help. All it took was buying a 1/2 steel 36” rod from Home Depot and a wrench... and like I said, a little muscle!
Have been using it now for a while. The MyQ software is an added bonus as I have Amazon deliver packages inside my garage. It’s linked to my account and is simple to use. I bought the camera that works with it separately and get notified when there is a delivery. Awesome! Probably would buy the Chamberlain opener with the integrated camera the next time. Would have been cheaper. If you are going to use the inside delivery option... a camera is required in my opinion. Plus, if somehow someone was able to hack my code and open the door... I get notified and have the ability to see and talk with whomever is there. Love this setup. Was a little intimidated before I installed it... but would do it again.

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R. Esrey

I Love This Opener!

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

I had considered spending the extra $100 for the 1 1/4 HP model since most of the Internet gurus recommended, at least, buying a 3/4 HP motor for my type of garage door (sectional, 2-car, carriage-style, garage door). But, then I noticed that the old one, currently installed in my garage was a 1/3 HP, so I opted for this 1/2 HP model to replace it. Glad I did. It works quietly and smoothly, without the extra horsepower and bundled features that I don’t care about. For instance, I don’t need an integrated camera or a back-up battery.
Installation wasn’t easy by any means, but it was straight-forward and I was able to do it by myself (Tip: When I installed the motor unit to the ceiling, I hooked a black, rubber tie-down strap to the end of the motor and hooked the other end of the strap to one of the holes in the ceiling angle iron, which held the motor in place for me. That way, I could take my time measuring, cutting and installing the vertical angle iron pieces and then bolting the motor to them—without having to call a friend to help hold the motor). When it was all bolted together, I removed the strap.

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Jose Leon

Fabulous product,Amazon install a hassle!

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

I bought two for my garage and all I can say is why...Why did I waif so lying! First the expense the lift they gave my garage was tremendous. The noise level alone was worth it!! It is basically silent with the belt drive and the remixes work great as does the exterior key pad. My only grioe was with Amazon's install although I bought two the ordering system couldn't get the installation rider correct. I had to call in and then had to be called back once by Amazon who instilled no confidence so I bought and installed locally. I will say I did eventually get another call by Amazons installer three days later! They were local and seemed nice but my discussion with the off-shore rep gave me zero confidence.. Needless to say a the whole event was a hassle. So my low rating on "ease of install" was on the Amazins system and their inability to support what should be a common, two opener install So ease of install is not reflective of the product, in fact the install was fast without drama if any sort.

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Inventor2Go

Trouble Shooting of problems over a two year period

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

I hope this helps others. I purchased two garage door lifts (openers) about two years ago. The door openers I replaced were 20+ years old. I first bought one Chamberlain units to see if I liked it before purchasing a second. I noted that the Chamberlain unit I bought on Amazon had more features than the unit I could buy locally for slightly less money. The features were important and I love doing business with Amazon, especially because of the informative reviews and also ease of return. The first opener worked fine so I bought a second. Both were much quieter than the old units they replaced. I love the Chamberlain toothed belt drive. After a number of months one of the units started to operate intermittently. Had to key it on several times to get it to completely close. I did not trust it to fully close so started waiting until the door was COMPLETELY closed before driving away. Then the other opener on the other door just quit altogether. Turns out, there was NO electrical power to it. The old electrical outlet boxes that the Chamberlain openers were plugged into had gone bad. So this was not at all a problem with the Chamberlain unit. The electrical power connection boxes used "press in" not screwed down outlet plugs. After twenty years the connections had become intermittent, lose, corroded at the press-in connection. I changed out each of the house electrical plugs and whalah! Openers worked great again.

Next, perhaps 5 months later one of the openers started to act up. It violently jumped and jerked. I carefully inspected and found that the belt tension spring (see image on the right in attached pictures) had nearly come apart. The nut on the end had unscrewed and there were only a few threads still holding it on!! Had it come off it would have been a MAJOR problem to re-assemble. This is the reason I only gave the product Review three stars. In fact, I am annoyed that in the choices offered in reviewing were (Noise Level, Motion Detection, and Easy to Install). There is no "reliability" or other issues category?! As I said, I found that the nut that holds the spring tensioner on had vibrated nearly off so this was potentially a serious problem. The assembly should have included a locking nut or double nut with lock washer. It did not. Hopefully Chamberlain customer support has already been told of this problem and provided a locking nut or other nut locking hardware for new units.

Lastly, after about 20 months of operation, (and this is not at all a problem with the Chamberlain opener) I had a problem AGAIN. The middle picture provided shows one of the many hinges that hold the wood door panel sections together. The nuts on many hinges of these door panel sections had come unscrewed after 22 years. The result was that the Chamberlain unit, sensing some binding or bucking when opening, would just stop part way down. This was an intermittent problem and very, very difficult to diagnose. One day one of the hinges completely fell off! After I reinstalled and tightened all the other nuts (on both doors) the opening problem completely disappeared. Chamberlain openers have been working fine for months now.

I hope I am done with problems for at least 20 years and I hope this review really helps someone with similar problems. Chamberlain can become part of reliable garage door opener system !

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Kevin

A Company that really cares!!!

Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2019

Verified Purchase

I live in a condo and share a parking spot with one of my neighbors. We had an old garage door motor that needed to be replaced so we ordered the Chamberlain B550. My neighbor's Uncle was nice enough to install the motor and now we were both pleased we had a working garage door. A week or so after installation I downloaded the application onto my Android to be able to connect to the WiFi and that is when the problems began. I had major problems connecting and no matter what I did was unable to get the companies WiFi signal to appear as one of the available networks on my phone. This is when the first positive experience occurred because the rep I was talking with was totally invested in helping me resolve the issue. I was very cranky that this fancy machine that had all these bells and whistles wasn't working but the rep stayed positive and did everything he could to trouble shoot the problem and get the WiFi to work with my phone but it wasn't meant to be and he had to send me to the Tech Escalation team for further assistance. Even though the person couldn't resolve the problem I could tell he really cared that it wasn't working and he seemed so invested in getting the problem resolved that I was really impressed in this person trying to get my phone to work. The one bad thing is that it was I that had to reach out to the Tech Escalation Team the next day because they didn't call me during the two-hour window that had been assigned to me. When I I got a hold of the rep who was like the previous rep, fully invested and he kept reassuring me that he was taking charge and that by the end of the call my problem would be resolved. He was right on the mark! He used a "backdoor" procedure to get me connected since the previous rep's' attempt didn't work. The process took about 45-50 minutes but this guy was great. I mean he knew exactly what icons would appear on my phone, what I needed to click he literally walked me though the process with patience, dedication and commitment to excellence. My belief is that this company trains all of their reps to provide superior customer service. Both of them were serious about making sure that my problem was resolved and that Chamberlain stands behind their products. I can attest that in fact they truly do stand behind their products!!

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