Martin appears to be a company that has Chamberlain and Genie build openers and apply Martin's name to them. Hormann is built in Germany and apparently is pushing hard here in the states. I never heard of them until about 2 weeks ago. I would worry about price and availability of repair parts. Liftmaster is made by Chamberlain who also makes Craftsman for Sears and many other companies. Liftmaster is their commercially installed opener and Chamberlain is more of a do it yourself model. There is not an opener I like more than Liftmaster and Chamberlain is a first class organization. There you go with my opinion.

Thanks for the reply ... from my perspective, all information/opinion is worth hearing.

BTW, where did you come across the info about Martin? From speaking with one of their customer service reps, I gathered that they didn't manufacture the openers. He also said (if I remember correctly) that Martin openers were designed by a German company (not Hormann or Sommer) to Martin's specifications ... however, he did seem reluctant to tell me the name of the company.

I just went to their web site and snooped around. The pics of their openers look like Genie and Liftmaster.

It does, doesn't it. But the thing that interests me most about the Martin is their Soft Touch feature, which eliminates the need for the photo eye; and neither of those manufacturers (or any other, from what I've found) have that feature.

Yes that is a feature but is only available if you purchase a new garage door. It's a good selling point in that it eliminates those pesky sensors but I wonder why the 2 largest manufacturers don't have it if it is so great.

patent?

I don't think so. That type of safety was used years ago by some manufacturer but it and they went by the wayside and so did my memory. I actually never saw one but heard of them. It was a rubber piece that ran along the bottom of the door. If the door ran into something it compressed the rubber and closed a switch causing the motor to reverse. This must be the same thing because it is part of the door rather than something that comes with the opener.