This Genie MachForce Connect garage door opener is fast, easy to install and connects easily to a smart phone, making your home easy to monitor when you are out and about.
Disclosure: I am partnering with Genie. All opinions are my own?
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We have lived in our home for almost a decade! We are the second owners, but our home was basically brand new, as the first owners only lived there for about 6 months after it was built. It then sat vacant for a few months before we purchased it. The original garage door opener was a base model and it came with the house. It gave us 10 solid years of no issues, which sold us on a newer model.
We decided to upgrade to the Genie MachForce with Aladdin connect for a few reasons. First, our old opener was getting tired and was showing signs of needing to be replaced. Next, we wanted something that opened fast and was quiet since our kids rooms are above the garage. Last, we wanted to be able to monitor and control our garage door from our phones. The MachForce was the PERFECT fit for our needs.
What’s in the Box?
We had the Genie MachForce Connect shipped to us and it wasn’t really all that heavy. Inside the box is everything that you need to install your opener (even if you do not have the mounting or wiring). The rails, the powerhead, remotes, all the wiring, wall control and every nut and bolt you can imagine is all in the box, clearly labeled along with some very visual directions on installing this yourself. It really is a very easy install.
Simple installation
We had never installed a garage door opener, so we were a little apprehensive starting into this project. However, it was very simple and the directions that were sent with the Genie MachForce Connect were easy to read and understand. Genie did a great job walking their consumers through a process that many people are nervous about. Put those nerves away, it was simple! You start by connecting the rail systems. There are arrows showing you the direction to snap these together and they go together very smoothly. From there, you slide the shuttle on (that is the black piece with the red and white cord hanging down).
Next, you will connect the powerhead to the rails. The hardest part about this is making sure that you have the rails facing the correct direction. Hint: the arrows on the rails that say “door” should point towards the garage door and away from the powerhead. Then you connect them with the powerhead bracket and begin the mounting of the unit to the door.
We used two ladders. One ladder supported the main powerhead and the other ladder helped to align the rails with the mounted wall bracket. You do want a slight angle to the mounting and the instructions in the box go over this process very thoroughly. Luckily, our brackets were already in the right position, so we just had to reconnect and hang it up.
Once the powerhead and rails are mounted, then you need to attach the door arm to the door bracket. This part goes really quickly. You can also attach the pull string handle at this point as well.
From there it is time to wire the wall switch console and then the powerhead as well. If you are nervous about the wiring process, DO NOT stress, the pictures in the instructions are very easy to follow and it is just a couple wires. My husband is by no means an electrician, but he had no issues placing the different colored wires into the right places according to the diagram in the directions.
Features
The is a lightweight, quick and relatively quiet garage door opener. It features 2x faster chain and belt drives and a powerboost which makes it a strong and powerful. I can tell you that when we compare our old opener with this one, it seems as though this new Genie opens our heavy door in a snap. What used to take over a minute is done in seconds, with MUCH less sound.
The programing buttons on the powerhead are much easier to reach than previous models, which made programing vehicles and other handheld remotes so much easier. Also there are 2 light bulbs which offer more light in the garage area.
The Genie MachForce Connect comes with 2 handheld remotes along with the powerhead. If you would like a keypad for outside the garage, you can purchase one and that install only takes a few minutes as well.
Aladdin Connect
One feature that we were looking for when purchasing our new garage door opener was the ability to monitor it when we are away from home. We have a terrible habit of not remembering if we closed the garage door or not and then having to drive back past our home to ensure that we actually did. has broken that habit and given us peace of mind.
Simply download the Aladdin Connect app, run through the fast installation and connection and then you are off. If you want to share the connection with other members of your household, you can easily send them an email and they too can access you garage door, near or far.
You can set rules and add shared users. The rules are great because we can make sure that our garage door is closed at certain times (like night). However, the users feature is our favorite! When we leave out of town we have to hire a house sitter. Instead of giving our house sitter our keypad code or a remote, we can give them temporary access through the for a specified amount of time. Super cool!
I love that we can open and close our garage door from a far and that I get clear notifications when it has been opened or closed. These notifications also come straight to my smart watch. From the app we can also see who opened the door and if they were an authorized user or not!
Installation Video
We put together a quick little installation video so you could see how easy the installation of the Genie MachForce Connect opener was. Check it out below. In total it took us about an hour to complete the installation, however, it would have went even faster if we would have put the rails on correctly the first time.
