gate opener reviews GTO vs Viking

walt1122

Hi all, not wanting to start any arguments but just wondering if anyone has any experience with front gate openers.

Have the dual gate GTO system at our community entrance and many home owners are unhappy with its performance/reliability. Had a Viking installer come and is working up a quote to replace but can't find much about them on Web. Old system not well protected from lightening and electrical surges. I have had good responses to posts about ways to fix here and I thank you all for them. Viking guy says his is better at protecting and reliability but he has a vested interest in selling his system so...Anybody have/know about this Viking gate system?

thanks

Walt

cube17576

I have a couple of GTO openers, and I probably go through a mother board a year, so I can vouch for the lack of reliability of the GTO.

jrepp44

I don't know about the Viking Openers, but I have replaced the mother board on my GTO Mighty Mule 500 three times and the receiver once in about 8 years.

walt1122

thanks guys, would you happen to know if lightening or surge spikes were the reason for their failure? I see some third party companies sell add-on surge protection like Ditec and wonder if it we added them to our gate maybe these protective devices might help. I have already seen on the GTO website they are now recommending a more robust grounding process. I want to keep costs down so I'm still looking at keeping the GTO system but fixing some of the short comings. If I can get by with spending a couple hundred instead of a few thousand and get the reliability I'm looking for.

If anyone else has any good stories or wants to add their own experiences that would be great.

thanks again

Walt