I never once dreamed of having automated blinds until one day when Smartwings reached out for a review. I was hesitant at first because I live in a rental, but then I thought I'd for sure get my deposit back when we eventually move out after an upgrade like automatic shades, right?
To start, I was given carte blanche to pick what I wanted to review for my living room. I'm totally one of those guys who doesn't just go for the most expensive thing, especially when doing reviews. I try to think of the practical approach. After sitting on it for a couple of weeks, I chose the 100% blackout Zebra Shades for the three windows and 90% blackout drapes to cover my French doors in my weirdly-shaped living room.
The Smartwings website has a lot of options. Frankly, it was a bit overwhelming, and every time I'd open the site to make those choices, I'd end up closing it and thinking, "I'll come back to it later," hence sitting on it for a few weeks.
The website also has instructions on how to measure your windows in really tiny font, as these blinds are all custom-made to order. Once you're locked in, you're locked in. I measured everything and finally submitted my order, which came out to just a smidge over US$1,800. The last time I'd bought a bunch of curtains and the like, I may have spent around $300 for off-the-shelf stuff from Target ... and that was for a house I owned.
Two weeks later, they were on my doorstep awaiting install. I don't know about you, but I'm fairly handy ... I'm just not always motivated. While I was excited by the idea of having the equivalent of The Clapper for my living room windows, I wasn't looking forward to the hassle of removing the mini-blinds and installing a bunch of new hardware. Plus, I was super busy with other projects at the time.
Once I opened the package, however, I was totally surprised by two things: 1) the individual boxes were clearly marked as to which shade it was, taking out any guesswork, and 2) each shade was pretty much a fully-contained single unit and required very little to actually install.
As soon as I saw that, I was off to the races. Installation was incredibly easy. Using my tape measure and a pencil, I lined and marked where I was going to put the mounting brackets for the first shade. It took me all of 10 or 11 minutes to install. The second shade took me even less time, maybe seven minutes. By the third, I literally didn't even measure anything – I just eyeballed it and mounted it up in about three minutes flat. It was seriously that easy.
The drapes ... well, that's a different story. When I opened up that package, it had mounting hardware that I've never seen before in my life – and I spent way too much time trying to figure out what it's called with no luck. I'm a simple curtain rod kind of guy. This was not that. It was at least another week before I rallied to tackle the drapes. And once I did, it wasn't actually that bad, but it did lead me to realize that either myself or Smartwings got my measurements wrong.
Have you ever heard the expression "It's me, it's always me"? Yeah, it was me. I got it wrong.
I double-checked Smartwings' instructions on how to measure drapes, and my result was the same as I'd gotten the first time ... I then realized that the instructions weren't in a language my brain always understands: Literal English. "Measure the opening," it says. And that's what I did. I failed to take into consideration that there was more area to cover than simply the opening. That being said, I was a solid 10 inches (25.4 cm) too short on the drapes, and it was 100% my own fault. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed at times.
When I contacted customer service, I fully owned my mistake and asked how I could pay for longer drapes (as that's not one of the million options on the website) and a different motor for the drapes (which I'll get into in a moment). They graciously offered to send me new ones, free of charge – even at my insistence that I'd pay and that it was my own fault. Two weeks later, they were at my doorstep. I can't say that this will be the case for everyone, as I'm writing a review for the product, but customer service was quick to reply and get me dialed in. ... if I had to eat my mistake, it would have cost me around $550.
Regarding home automation, I'm a complete noob to anything outside of lighting, security cameras, door locks, scenes/routines, thermostats, geo-fencing and smart plugs – automated window shade motors were totally new to me. I think Smartwings offers every single type of motor protocol ever made on the planet – which is great if you know what you're doing ... but is awfully overwhelming if, like me, your main ecosystem is a Raspberry Pi server running Home Assistant, piggybacking on Google Home for localization (I've been a nerd my whole life and I don't apologize for it!). I own nothing Apple and nothing Alexa. And I'd never even heard of "Threads over Matter."
"Zigbee? What's that? Oh, but it works with Smart Things and Google Assistant – I should be fine."
I was not fine. I semi-confidently added the most affordable motor option in the lineup because it featured Google Assistant compatibility, completely unaware that it still required either Apple Home, Alexa, Matter over Thread, or a dedicated Zigbee or Z-Wave hub to connect to my home automation.
Thankfully, you have to get at least one Smartwings remote, as it's required for initial setup. While I might not yet be able to yell at my Pi to open and close my blinds, I at least have a remote that can control one or all of them at once until I eventually splurge on a ~$30 Zigbee dongle.
This isn't a knock against Smartwings. If anything, it really goes to show how fragmented home automation still is with every company trying to make its own standardization. Tapo what? Kasa this? They're the same thing who? Smartwings is clearly trying to cover all the bases with its motor options – I simply didn't know any better. And I still don't know what Thread Matters is.
I ordered window shades with the small solar panels that stick to your window and keep the batteries charged. Without the solar panels, the batteries should last you around 6 months of use before needing a top-up via the USB-C port on the motor. It's all tucked away neatly behind the top roller, so I don't even notice it from the interior. I did notice it from the exterior at first, but after a few weeks, I never even see it anymore. My drapes are a regular wall plug, but they have other options to fit your needs.
When opening and closing them, they aren't going to set any blistering speed records. While I haven't actually pulled out a stopwatch, to raise the 58-or-so-inches (~146 cm) to fully open takes about 15 seconds. Maybe 20? If you're watching it open, it might actually take longer, similar to watching paint dry. And they make noise, but it's more of a soft ASMR Z-Z-Z-Z-R-T, so it's not at all unpleasant.
They were super easy to install and had good documentation on how to install and connect to your hub for home automation. Even without hub ability, it's nice to just click my remote and all my blinds open up for some sun therapy. Or a quick double click and the zebra stripes part just enough to allow 50% light in and give me the ability to see outside, depending on the mood.
The Smartwings shades give my living room a definite high-class hotel room vibe – and that same disorienting hotel-feeling when you open up the shades and realize it's already noon because the room was that dark with them closed.
All in all, I have to say I'm pleased. I don't know that I could ever bring myself to spend that kind of loot unless I hit the lottery or New Atlas gives me a 10,000% raise, but I do really enjoy having them. There are eight more windows in my house, so it would likely cost north of six grand to outfit the entire place – which is about what I paid to have seven brand new, high-efficiency, double-paned windows installed – including a very large picture frame window – in one of my old houses during a remodel. Though, I think they're having a Christmas special right now for 12% off orders over $1,500.
"Why don't you just twist open your mini-blinds like a normal person?" For the same reason I like to just say, "Hey Google, turn on 'outside'," and voila, all my exterior lights turn on ... because I'm lazy.
Source: Smartwings
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