I Really Like These (Relatively) Inexpensive Smart Blinds
I never realized how quickly window treatment costs can add up until I bought my first house (turns out it has too many windows). And if you want your window coverings to be “smart” (meaning they can be controlled from an app and integrated with existing smart home technology), the cost will only get worse. Luckily, there are some “budget” brands that offer more affordable options than high-end brands like Lutron’s Serena .
I recently tried one of these to see if they were worth the investment or not. I decided to go with SmartWings , which sent me a set of single-pane solar- powered blackout blinds with a 15-channel remote control and a hub that allows me to connect them to my Google Home.
Considering these are more ‘affordable’ blinds (again, relatively speaking, they cost about the same as IKEA’s range of smart blinds ), I was pleasantly surprised by their quality and performance.
The good and the bad of SmartWings blinds
Pros
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Assembly : Very easy to install as they come already assembled.
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Customization : Blinds come in a variety of sizes and the ones I received fit my windows well.
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Compatibility : They use Matter or Thread protocols to connect to Google, Alexa, Apple, IFTTT and other smart home control systems.
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Features : You can schedule activities and “scenes” in their app.
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Solar Power : Instead of charging your blinds or using batteries, you can have your blinds powered by the sun.
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Value : They feel, look and sound great considering the price.
Cons
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Difficult manual controls : The physical button used to move the blinds up and down is small and difficult to press.
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Complex remote programming . Programming the remote gave me some problems.
Order and prices
The easiest way to order blinds is through the SmartWings website. I found more options, variety and more customization there than anywhere else. If you pay extra, you can make the blinds work with your smart home without a hub, or choose the hub option, which will allow the blinds to connect to any of the compatible smart home ecosystems.
The blinds I received were single pane honeycomb shades with motorized light filtering , a standard motor, and a solar panel. These options bring the price up to $228.99 per blind. The other variety I chose, the Blackout Motorized Honeycomb Shades , also with a standard motor and solar panel, was similarly priced at $234.99 per blind/window. If the height or width of the blinds exceeds 24 inches, there is an additional fee that starts at $6.
By comparison, Lutron’s equivalent Serena blinds start at $349 for light-filtering blinds and $369 for blackout blinds, and they don’t offer a solar power option. IKEA’s smart blinds start at $129.99 for light-filtering blinds and $159.99 for blackout blinds , but there’s no option to customize sizes beyond preset parameters or choose solar power.
Additional costs to consider: If you want to be able to control your blinds with smart home technology, you will either have to upgrade each individual blind with smart technology or purchase a hub. The cost of the former varies depending on which smart system you want to integrate with. Zigbee/Alexa costs $30 per blind; Z-Wave Plus costs $56 for the blind; The Apple Home Kit costs $80 for the blind; and Matter, which works with Google, Apple, Smart Things and Alexa, costs $95 per blind.
Meanwhile, the Smart Link Pro Hub will work with most any system ( except Apple) and costs an extra $150 but can control all your blinds.
Installing SmartWings blinds was easier than I expected
SmartWings sent the blinds in boxes with clearly labeled sizes, plus the blinds themselves had labels on them, which I really appreciated since I have so many different sized windows in different rooms. Each curtain comes in a separate box with all the materials needed to install it. Since I have solar powered blinds, I didn’t have to worry about having an outlet nearby or where to plug in the battery.
Installing the solar panels was easy. All it took was connecting the cable to the back of the blind, as you can see in the picture above. Since I have blinds designed to fit inside window frames, I only needed to screw the spring-loaded brackets to the inside top of the window sill as you can see in the picture below. There are two per blind, and once they are installed, the blinds are easy to lock into place using the spring mechanism on the bracket.
While opening the blinds in the brackets, I noticed that the solar panel cable tended to move, so I secured it in place to reduce the chance of breaking the copper inside the wire. It was actually easy to get the blinds into place. All that remains is to choose where I want to glue the solar panels. They came with a 3M sticker on the back so it just needed to be placed where the sun would hit it.
After installation, I was pleased to see that the smart blinds fit my windows well. The measurements I sent were exactly what I received from SmartWings. I also received a 15 channel remote control which allows me to control up to 15 smart blinds individually. You won’t actually need a remote control if you purchase the Smart Link Pro Hub , but having the remote will also make programming the blinds easier if I ever need to calibrate them. Plus, sometimes it’s easier to press a button on your remote control than it is to open an app on your phone or talk to Google.
(Speaking of buttons, if I want to manually raise or lower the blinds, each one has a small physical button under a plastic cover that I had to clumsily press with my fingernail, which is not very easy or practical.)
Speaking of Smart Link Pro, I think it’s more cost effective to purchase a hub than to make all your blinds smart at once (there are additional changes for each blind, so the increased cost will add up if you have a lot of windows). If you don’t have a hub, it’s worth noting that the 15-channel remote was difficult to program, requiring some interaction with customer service.
How SmartWings blinds work
In testing, I found the blinds to be very responsive, whether I controlled them using a remote control, voice assistant, or physically pressing a button on the blinds themselves. The sound is about the same level as when a microwave oven is operating.
I set the blinds to automatically rise at sunrise and the sound never woke me up (even though I’m not a light sleeper). The blinds take about 30 seconds to go up or down on my 45″ tall window.
My window frame is not completely straight, so I noticed some areas where light leaked through the cracks, but this is not the fault of the blinds. However, the single blackout blinds I chose for the bedroom did a great job of blocking out the light on a sunny day. (It’s hard to tell in the picture above because my phone automatically switches to night mode when taking pictures in the dark, but in reality the room was pitch black.)
I was less pleased with the light filtering blinds as I expected them to let in a little more natural light while reducing glare. With all four blinds down in my living room, the room was still light enough to read a book without the light on, but the light was simply diffused, creating the effect of a lampshade covering a light bulb.
You can see the difference between a blackout window and light filtering blinds above. The outside of the blinds look the same as the inside; darkening ones do not allow light to pass through, and light filters allow you to see light (but do not distinguish people even at night).
SmartWings features and application functionality
SmartWings uses a third-party app called ” Connector ” to control your blinds using your smartphone or smart home ecosystem. Setup was easy for me: I just had to connect to the Smart Link Pro hub and then connect each blind to it by pressing the physical button on it a couple of times.
The app can be used to create “scenes” or presets. My current settings are Morning Blinds, which opens all blinds; “Night blinds”, which do the opposite; and “Movie Blinds,” which only cover the living room blinds completely. Once programmed, scenes can be activated via the app or by voice using Google Home.
There is also a Timer feature that allows me to set a specific time to run a device or scene. I set the timers so that the Morning Blinds scene would start every day at sunset, and the Night Blinds scene would start every night 10 minutes before sunset.
Bottom line
SmartWings are good value for money if you’re looking for a custom smart blinds option that you can control from your phone or voice assistant that costs less than most competitors. They offer a decent variety when ordering, as well as plenty of options for powering and operating them. The Smart Link Pro hub and Connector app make it easy to sync with Google, Amazon Alexa or IFTTT. Assembly and setup are fairly simple, but programming the blinds using the remote control can be a little tedious. I really liked the option of using solar panels to power the blinds.
In terms of materials, I have found that blackout blinds do a good job of blocking out light, but I would have liked the filter blinds to let in a little more light. Controlling them through the app gave me plenty of freedom to customize the blinds the way I wanted. wanted that I appreciated.
Overall, this is good value for money (relative again: bespoke blinds are never ‘cheap’) for those looking to save some money on smart blinds.