Centurion vs ET vs Gemini: how the three gate motors really differ

On the same gate, all three will do the job. What you'll notice is everything around the motor.

• Centurion counts the gate's position with an encoder inside the motor and checks it against an origin magnet on the rack every run. The SMART range is set up entirely in an app; the older D5-Evo has a setup wizard on its own LCD screen.
• ET learns the gate in its run-time setup on the display: a limit actuator on the rack trips a switch at the closed end, you press enter where the gate should stop open, and the motor profiles the run.
• Gemini has no limit switches to adjust at all. It learns the gate from two solid end stoppers, which Gemini makes compulsory, by running slowly to each on its first two presses. The only setting is one switch for which side the motor stands.

What it means for you: a Gemini is quick to set up but depends on its stoppers staying put; move one and it has to learn again. An ET lets you choose exactly where the gate stops open during setup, which suits a gate that needs a set open width.

This is where the three differ most in daily life.

• Centurion SMART: up to 1,500 remotes, and the owner adds and removes them, and phone users, in the MyCentsys app. A lost remote can be removed individually.
• ET Drive: up to 1,023 users. Each remote gets a user number, and a lost one is deleted by its number from the display, without touching the others.
• Gemini: up to 30 remotes, learnt with the LEARN button on the card. Gemini's manuals give one way to remove remotes: clear them all and learn back the ones you're keeping.

For a busy household, a small complex or anyone who loses remotes, the first two are easier to live with. For a family with three remotes that never leave the house, it hardly matters.

All three home sliders run their motors from a battery and use the mains only to charge it, so they keep going in a power cut. ET's Drive 500 gets its charge from a plug-in transformer, which keeps mains wiring out of the motor; its sibling, the Drive 600, runs from the mains for a 98% duty cycle at complexes and businesses, with the battery as backup.

For busier and heavier gates, each brand has a bigger model:

At the light end, Centurion's D3 SMART and ET's Drive 300 take gates up to 300 kg. Centurion's A10 is the odd one out: a mains-driven industrial motor with an inverter, for factory and depot gates.

All three release with a key, in slightly different ways:

• Centurion: unlock the camlock and pull the release handle (on the SMART range, as far left as it goes); a latching option keeps it on manual with the cover locked.
• ET Drive: turn the key clockwise and swing the release lever out through 90° towards the gearbox; push the gate a little afterwards until the gears click back.
• Gemini: unlock and open the red release lever; to re-engage, move the gate to halfway, close the lever and push until it clicks. Never release or engage it with the gate moving.

Keep the key somewhere you can find it in a power cut. Our guide to opening a gate by hand covers each in more detail.

For swing gates, Centurion makes the Vantage linear arm in three lengths, ET makes the Wingo, and Gemini makes 12 V and 24 V swing motors.

• Centurion Vantage 400 vs 500: the 500's longer stroke handles the heavier leaf: 750 kg against 500 kg on a leaf up to 2.5 m opening to 90°. See the Vantage manual.
• ET Wingo: leaves up to 3.5 m and 500 kg, with up to 720 cycles a day at no more than 30 an hour.
• Gemini: 12 V and 24 V swing motors for home gates, the 24 V model learning remotes with its LEARN button like the sliders.

How to choose between them depends on the leaf's length and weight and the space at the hinge, all covered on swing gates.

ET is part of the Nice group, so "Nice vs Centurion" searches often mean ET's Drive range. Nice also sells motors under its own name and the Hansa name in South Africa: see Nice and Hansa.

Shop prices are without installation. Prices checked October 2026. Our installed price for each, with what's included, is on gate motor prices. Your exact price is set in a free quote before any work starts. No call-out fee when we do the work. If no work is done, a R650 call-out fee applies.

We won't name a winner, because there isn't one for every gate. Choose by what matters at your gate:

• Phone control and easy remote management: Centurion SMART.
• A display for setup and diagnosis, and a low-voltage supply at the motor: ET Drive 500; for a busy gate, the Drive 600.
• Simple setup for a home gate with few remotes: Gemini.
• Whatever is already common in your estate: the same make keeps remotes and service simple.

We install and repair all three, and Centurion, ET and Gemini model manuals are in our manual library. All our spare parts are genuine, and every repair carries our six-month guarantee on our repairs. For the wider question of which motor fits your gate, see the best gate motor in South Africa.