How many times have you left your house, only to get a few miles away and you ask yourself, “did I close the garage door?!”  I’ve headed back home several instances to check, I would never feel comfortable until I knew!  A solution has been offered!   As home products are constantly evolving and becoming “smarter” to help simplify Americans’ busy lives, LiftMaster has engineered a new garage door opener with MyQ Technology, allowing it to do more than ever before, like controlling it from your own smart phone…

The two new professionally-installed LiftMaster models are the first of a family of new garage door openers outfitted with new brains, enabling them to control, monitor and manage the garage door and other household devices. Combined with new MyQ-powered accessories, LiftMaster’s newest technology now allows you to:

· Open, close and monitor your garage door from anywhere in the world with the MyQ Internet Gateway and LiftMaster app (available on BB, Android and iPhone platforms).

· Turn on the lights before you arrive home.

· Set a timer-to-close on the garage door, ensuring the door is never left open.

· Monitor the garage door from anywhere in the house.

· Ensure home access even when the power is out with LiftMaster’s standard battery backup.

Our Take via My Husband:  Two months ago we replaced our old garage door opener with a LiftMaster Model 8550 Belt Drive Garage Door Opener. It was installed professionally in about an hour and it has performed without fail daily. This new opener is belt driven and includes a DC battery backup and MyQ technology as well as all the safety and security features you would expect from a top of the line opener.

The LiftMaster Model 8550 is a functional addition to our garage. The shiny red motor cover with built in lights opens and closes the door with ease, lights our entire garage and looks as good as it works. Note that within our garage a number of un-sightly and useless items abound and this opener has prompted a necessary clean-out/re-organization. Our previous opener was a worm driven and I was initially skeptical of the belt driven system. Not only does the motor and belt include a lifetime warranty but they are significantly quieter and smoother than I expected. In fact, I now realize that a number of wheel bearings on the garage door rollers make a substantial amount of noise and are in need of repair.

Included with the opener is a functional door control that displays the time, temperature and the backup battery charge status and has a built in motion sensor that automatically turns the lights on when someone enters the garage. All the setting and service functions for the opener are easily available on this control. You can also add, reprogram or change remote control/keyless entry PINs with this door control.

The safety and security functions of the LiftMaster Model 8550 include an invisible light beam projected across the opening and sensing technology which automatically reverses the door if anything crosses the opening or if anything (person/car) comes into contact while the door is closing. (See the door hit my shoulder and go back up in the video above)  The opener also beeps and the lights flash that provides warning that the door is about to close when using the Timer to Close or remote closing features.

Speaking of the remote closing features, we included a garage monitor that shows the door status (open/closed) and allows the door to be controlled from within the house. We located our monitor in the kitchen and have it set so that it gives a slight beep when anyone enters or leaves the garage while the door is open.

We also decided to install the LiftMaster Internet Gateway which allows the door to be monitored or operated from anywhere in the world. My wife installed an app on her smart phone and has used it to allow the kids or friends access to the house while we were out of town. In fact she also returned from an outing with friends without keys to the house and was able to open the door with her phone.  When we leave the house and someone asks, “did we close the garage door?”  we just check the phone app and have peace of mind.

The battery backup is a feature I had never considered necessary until I realized that my wife or kids would be able to manually open the door when the power is out but they are not tall enough to reach the handle of the door to manually close the door once it is open. Now that we’ve got the battery backup, the door opener functions with or without power.  The LiftMaster Model 8550 Belt Drive Garage Door Opener is a welcome addition to our home and promises years of reliable operation with all the features imaginable. The only addition we are considering is a keyless entry panel for the smartphone-less Dad.

Product was sent for honest review, installation was provided.  All opinions are our own.