The MachForce Connect is easily one of Genie’s best garage door openers. This model has a solid warranty, great customer reviews and built-in Wi-Fi that allows you to control the opener with the Genie Aladdin Connect smartphone app. However, limited smart home functionality and fewer included accessories keep the MachForce Connect from competing with similar openers from Chamberlain.
The Genie MachForce Connect is available exclusively from Home Depot for around $250, making it one of the more expensive garage door openers we reviewed, costing about $50 more than average. This is the only unit we evaluated that has a screw-driven lift system, which gives similar performance to belt-driven models with smooth and quiet operation. With 2 HP, the motor is the most powerful in our comparison, making the MachForce Connect a good option for most garage doors.
Our research of customer reviews revealed that the Genie MachForce Connect is the highest-rated smart garage opener in our comparison. The unit has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars across 243 reviews. Positive reviews noted the opener’s speed, quiet operation, easy installation, powerful motor and built-in Wi-Fi. One criticism was that the activation code for the mobile app is on the back of the wall control, which means you need to get the code before placing that component on the wall. Other complaints focused on the instruction manual and problems connecting the unit to HomeLink devices in cars.
The Genie MachForce Connect can handle 7-foot-tall garage doors, but you can buy an extension kit for 8-foot doors if needed. For comparison, other brands we evaluated have extension kits allowing them to work with doors up to 10 feet tall or higher, depending on the brand.
Other than a timer-to-close feature and built-in Wi-Fi, the Genie MachForce Connect doesn’t have many extra features. It requires you to buy a backup battery and a wireless keypad separately. In contrast, both of those accessories are included with our top pick, the Chamberlain B970, which costs only $30 more. The MachForce Connect also lacks a motion sensor to activate lights, as Genie doesn’t make an add-on for this purpose.
You can control the MachForce Connect through the Genie Aladdin Connect smartphone app. However, it’s not much more than another remote for your system, because it lacks any meaningful smart home compatibility. In fact, Genie’s Wi-Fi openers support only one smart home platform: Iris. Unfortunately, Iris is due to shut down at the end of March 2019, leaving Genie without a platform. Hopefully, the company will improve its smart home integration. Genie is the only brand that supports in-car remotes from both HomeLink and Lear Car2U.
The warranty on the MachForce Connect is excellent, with lifetime coverage on the motor and the screw-driven lift system. The three-year parts warranty is also quite good, but it doesn’t match the lifetime warranty on the Sommer Direct Drive or the five-year coverage on the Chamberlain B970 and the LiftMaster 8500W.
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