Hi Craig, Great video.. I have had my 12 SmartWings custom roller shade all made to fit my windows for 6 to 7 months. they have been working great and mine are only bluetooth! The charging of mine ( battery built in) is so easy t charge and the still work while I are charging. Also homekit shows the battery level in the setting!! so no need to guess! for the price I would change my blinds rather then using the switchbot to control my tilt blinds.. My favorite automation is when I turn on the master bath fan the bath and bedroom blinds close. When I turn off the master bath my blinds open up to 50% open again! I feel these are one of the best HK devices for the price.
Thank you for sharing your experience. That is so great to hear they have worked so well for you. I like the bath fan automation. That is cool. I hadn’t thought about the battery until you mentioned it. Then I saw it there in the Home app. Thanks for checking out the video and for your comment.
While I love the idea, my specs are $400 per shade, and definitely out of my "nice to have" budget. Perhaps this technology will come down in price in the next few years. Thanks for the vid!
I am with you Terry, 100% in the nice to have. There are so many other areas that probably should come first in building out a smart home. I am glad to hear you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching.
I'm sold. I just had Budget blinds in and it was $2200.00 plus taxes, total. $2530. Having all the windows trimmed and will be ordering. I'll be using your link as I"m sure you get a commission which is so on point. referral baby. Saving me tonnes. PS, there was no smart blinds or remotes in my quote.
It cost a lot to get those custom blinds. We did that once on a house. If you compare that to these, the price isn’t that different. You have to provide the labor, but you have some cool automated blinds. Since I made the video I am still loving them. I switch between the remote and voice. While my wife is remote only. A remote is a must have. Every once in a while I find myself still reaching to open the blinds and forget they are smart. The only limitation I really see is that they aren’t meant to be opened by hand. I hope you enjoy them. I appreciate the support.
Beautiful well done ! Question for you too , I’ve these powered tube motors with Rf 433 mhz signal and I do have a google home set up for other things activated . Ok , I’ve no remote for these motor tubes and in time I’d like to automate them with google and by voice , now which hub or controller would I need or Implement , any suggestions would be fantastic haha Thanks
Thank you very much. I wish that were the case for this one. If you are doing 18 windows and if any of them may not be white, I would consider the fabric samples. Let us know if you order them and what you think.
What is the depth of your windows? I recently replaced 10 of our windows with new windows and the shades that we had, which were 2-½" shades, no longer fit. The previous depth was 4" and the new depth is 1-3/4" that I now have to work with. Do you think these will work inside my casements for the new windows or will I have to get the ones that mount to the wall outside the window opening? Hope that makes sense.
I don’t think that will be deep enough for your inside the casement. Over 2” was recommended and I have about 2 1/2. With my rounded corners they look like they stick out a bit, but are flush with the wall. You might not be happy with how far they may stick out. Your safest bet would be outside mount.
If it weren’t for the volume of the motor I’d definitely buy them. (Motor sound has been keeping me away from all smart blinds.) I also want them to be capable of manual hands on operation, not sure if these do that.
I can understand that. I am waiting to see who can make a quieter version. I think that is going to be a tough one. You can not use these manually. One thing to look at it retrofitting existing blinds using the SwitchBot blind tilt. I did do a video on that.
Thank you Wayne. They are pretty cool. My wife is loving them and having physical remote. If it was voice or app only she would kill me for putting them in. You need to keep a happy home and stay away from these. There are a lot of other smart home battles to pick over smart shades.
Great video! Really appreciate the useful information. Your windows are approximately the same width as mine where I would like to install these. Any issues with sagging in the middle since it’s so wide?
Thank you very much. I am glad that it was useful. I have not had any problems with sagging. There are 4 brackets that get spread out. It looks just the same today.
Yeah, they have some cool options. Smartwings team recommend the blackout roller or cellular shades if you want a completely dark room. Thanks for watching.
That was fun to watch. You're clearly into the techie stuff. I'm not, but I have so many windows that I'm considering smart shades. QUESTION: I don't want to synch a group of windows, but would want to close all shades at night during the winter. Can I move along smartly from shade to shade with the remote, or do I have to wait for each one to close before sending a remote signal to the next shade? Not good at at waiting.
That is great to hear you enjoyed the video. Luckily you do not have to wait on each window. It would drive me crazy to wait. You start one moving, select the next, move it and continue through them. At any point, grab them all on the remote and they will move again together. Most morning I do the side two with the remote instead of voice. Thanks for watching.
I currently have the Ikea smart shades on Homekit and they work flawlessly, but these have promise. They seem to be competitive with Ikea and does not appear to need a hub like Ikea. Custom widths and height and huge. Thread motor is over the top expensive and why is Homekit motor more than Alexa? Great video! Thanks
Thank you very much Chuck. Glad to hear you enjoyed the video. I am glad to hear that the IKEA shades are working well. That is good to know. They custom nature of these shades and substantially cheaper then Lutron Serena, were the big reasons for me. The motor pricing is kind of crazy. I don’t know if there if the HomeKit version is more because of Apple’s certification requirements.
Definitely one of the most affordable for custom shades out. Keyword is custom and especially for 72” shades. If you are referring to the price for SmartWings is cheaper on Amazon. The only thing I will add is SmartWings do have preset sizes and depending on motor can be substantially cheaper. But if you go through their custom blinds the process is the same as their website. With all the same options. It’s pretty cool you can do the whole process right through Amazon. If you were buying them, getting them from Amazon makes sense. If you know cheaper Matter supported custom smart shade, please share them. I don’t mean that in a mean way. I am curious who else is making 6’ wide custom blackout shades. Serena shades that are the equivalent is $800 for the same shades. Thank you for watching and am glad you liked the video.
🔴 Check out SmartWings to learn more these smart shades - bit.ly/3AQvCjE
Hi Craig, Great video.. I have had my 12 SmartWings custom roller shade all made to fit my windows for 6 to 7 months. they have been working great and mine are only bluetooth! The charging of mine ( battery built in) is so easy t charge and the still work while I are charging. Also homekit shows the battery level in the setting!! so no need to guess! for the price I would change my blinds rather then using the switchbot to control my tilt blinds.. My favorite automation is when I turn on the master bath fan the bath and bedroom blinds close. When I turn off the master bath my blinds open up to 50% open again! I feel these are one of the best HK devices for the price.
Thank you for sharing your experience. That is so great to hear they have worked so well for you. I like the bath fan automation. That is cool. I hadn’t thought about the battery until you mentioned it. Then I saw it there in the Home app. Thanks for checking out the video and for your comment.
I like the mixing up off angles in your videos now Craig
Hey Gareth, I hope you are doing well. It’s good to see you here. Thank you, I appreciate that. I need to change it up more.
Great panel, Nana always a master class
Just bought my first home, installing this shades in all my windows, is going to be expensive but i think it will be worth it! :D
While I love the idea, my specs are $400 per shade, and definitely out of my "nice to have" budget. Perhaps this technology will come down in price in the next few years. Thanks for the vid!
I am with you Terry, 100% in the nice to have. There are so many other areas that probably should come first in building out a smart home. I am glad to hear you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching.
Mine is $600+. Albeit my window as insanely big and one shade would be incredible.
I have them in all My windows and I LOVE them.
I'm sold. I just had Budget blinds in and it was $2200.00 plus taxes, total. $2530. Having all the windows trimmed and will be ordering. I'll be using your link as I"m sure you get a commission which is so on point. referral baby. Saving me tonnes. PS, there was no smart blinds or remotes in my quote.
It cost a lot to get those custom blinds. We did that once on a house. If you compare that to these, the price isn’t that different. You have to provide the labor, but you have some cool automated blinds.
Since I made the video I am still loving them. I switch between the remote and voice. While my wife is remote only. A remote is a must have. Every once in a while I find myself still reaching to open the blinds and forget they are smart. The only limitation I really see is that they aren’t meant to be opened by hand. I hope you enjoy them. I appreciate the support.
Thanks Craig.
Thank you Ron. I hope you are doing well.
Beautiful well done !
Question for you too , I’ve these powered tube motors with Rf 433 mhz signal and I do have a google home set up for other things activated . Ok , I’ve no remote for these motor tubes and in time I’d like to automate them with google and by voice , now which hub or controller would I need or Implement , any suggestions would be fantastic haha
Thanks
Thanks!
You are too generous my friend. Thank you for the Super thanks. I hope you are doing well and your internet is getting worked out.
Great video. 👍
Thank you very much. I hope you are doing well.
Thanks Craig. Perfect for my mountain home. You should get quite a commission since I have 18 windows that need shades.
Thank you very much. I wish that were the case for this one. If you are doing 18 windows and if any of them may not be white, I would consider the fabric samples. Let us know if you order them and what you think.
What is the depth of your windows? I recently replaced 10 of our windows with new windows and the shades that we had, which were 2-½" shades, no longer fit. The previous depth was 4" and the new depth is 1-3/4" that I now have to work with. Do you think these will work inside my casements for the new windows or will I have to get the ones that mount to the wall outside the window opening? Hope that makes sense.
I don’t think that will be deep enough for your inside the casement. Over 2” was recommended and I have about 2 1/2. With my rounded corners they look like they stick out a bit, but are flush with the wall. You might not be happy with how far they may stick out. Your safest bet would be outside mount.
What about if the motor burns out. Is there way to still open/close manually??
If it weren’t for the volume of the motor I’d definitely buy them. (Motor sound has been keeping me away from all smart blinds.)
I also want them to be capable of manual hands on operation, not sure if these do that.
I can understand that. I am waiting to see who can make a quieter version. I think that is going to be a tough one. You can not use these manually. One thing to look at it retrofitting existing blinds using the SwitchBot blind tilt. I did do a video on that.
Love it! However, I can't convince my wife to switch from what we currently have. Great stuff, Craig!
Thank you Wayne. They are pretty cool. My wife is loving them and having physical remote. If it was voice or app only she would kill me for putting them in. You need to keep a happy home and stay away from these. There are a lot of other smart home battles to pick over smart shades.
@@CraigsTechTalk So true. This is not a battle I need to fight. LOL
These are pretty slick! I’m not sure I have that much room behind the shade for a battery. . .
Hey Larry, I hope you are doing well. They recommend 2 1/2 inches for it to fit. The battery can go on the front. But that takes away from the look.
Great video! Really appreciate the useful information. Your windows are approximately the same width as mine where I would like to install these. Any issues with sagging in the middle since it’s so wide?
Thank you very much. I am glad that it was useful. I have not had any problems with sagging. There are 4 brackets that get spread out. It looks just the same today.
I went to the smartwings website. They also have motorized dual shades and woven wood shades I think.
Yeah, they have some cool options. Smartwings team recommend the blackout roller or cellular shades if you want a completely dark room. Thanks for watching.
That was fun to watch. You're clearly into the techie stuff. I'm not, but I have so many windows that I'm considering smart shades. QUESTION: I don't want to synch a group of windows, but would want to close all shades at night during the winter. Can I move along smartly from shade to shade with the remote, or do I have to wait for each one to close before sending a remote signal to the next shade? Not good at at waiting.
That is great to hear you enjoyed the video. Luckily you do not have to wait on each window. It would drive me crazy to wait. You start one moving, select the next, move it and continue through them. At any point, grab them all on the remote and they will move again together. Most morning I do the side two with the remote instead of voice. Thanks for watching.
I currently have the Ikea smart shades on Homekit and they work flawlessly, but these have promise. They seem to be competitive with Ikea and does not appear to need a hub like Ikea. Custom widths and height and huge. Thread motor is over the top expensive and why is Homekit motor more than Alexa? Great video! Thanks
Thank you very much Chuck. Glad to hear you enjoyed the video. I am glad to hear that the IKEA shades are working well. That is good to know. They custom nature of these shades and substantially cheaper then Lutron Serena, were the big reasons for me. The motor pricing is kind of crazy. I don’t know if there if the HomeKit version is more because of Apple’s certification requirements.
"One of the most affordable..." ??? Cost 2x more than on Amazon. Great video otherwise.
Definitely one of the most affordable for custom shades out. Keyword is custom and especially for 72” shades.
If you are referring to the price for SmartWings is cheaper on Amazon. The only thing I will add is SmartWings do have preset sizes and depending on motor can be substantially cheaper. But if you go through their custom blinds the process is the same as their website. With all the same options. It’s pretty cool you can do the whole process right through Amazon. If you were buying them, getting them from Amazon makes sense.
If you know cheaper Matter supported custom smart shade, please share them. I don’t mean that in a mean way. I am curious who else is making 6’ wide custom blackout shades. Serena shades that are the equivalent is $800 for the same shades. Thank you for watching and am glad you liked the video.