SwitchBot Roller Shade Review: A Cumbersome Setup With Big Rewards

SwitchBot’s Adjustable Roller Shades aren’t the pinnacle of astute location convenience and installation tin beryllium a spot tricky depending connected the model size. However, erstwhile installed, it’s a delightful and easy-to-use luxury you’ll privation to adhd to each disposable model successful your home.

Price and Availability

SwitchBot’s Roller Shade is disposable successful the authoritative SwitchBot store successful 4 sizes: small, medium, large, and extra-large. They retail for $199.99, $219.99, $259.99, and $309.99, respectively. For an further $29.99, you tin besides get the SwitchBot Solar Panel charger.

A Simple-ish Way to Make Windows Smart

Though I’m a proponent of galore astute location applications, I questioned the necessity for astute shades. After all, however hard is it to unfastened and adjacent a manual shade? Then, instantly earlier receiving SwitchBot’s automated shade, I was reminded of twisting cords and the pains of uneven sides.

Automated roller shades lick some problems rather easily, and with SwitchBot’s dedicated app, it tin beryllium conveniently activated without leaving your seat. Overall, the roller shadiness offers a cleanable look with an impressively creaseless cognition — truthful agelong arsenic you tin marque it past the somewhat obnoxious installation process.

"No Customization" Isn’t Quite Accurate

Before getting excessively heavy into the functionality of SwitchBot’s adjustable roller shade, let’s commencement astatine the highest constituent of aggravation. Though selling for the shadiness proudly touts “no customization,” it’s a spot of a misdirection. So overmuch truthful that I’m not 100% definite what it means.

The shades are disposable successful 4 sizes, ranging from tiny (22.8 to 31.5 inches) to XL (55.1 to 72.8 inches). That sounds similar you conscionable measurement your window’s width, take the size that fits successful that range, and you’re bully to spell for a speedy and cleanable installation. That’s not wholly the case, though. If you bid a small, for example, unless your model perfectly fits a 31.5-inch shade, immoderate customization is required.

Unfortunately, the process is cumbersome, adjacent if SwitchBot provides the indispensable tools. You person to shrink the portion down — which is conscionable a substance of measuring the abstraction and tinkering with a fewer clamping screws — but the biggest headache is getting the shadiness itself to the due size.

A Cumbersome and User-Unfriendly Process

Physically cutting the shadiness isn’t truly the biggest problem, though safely removing it from the automated roller is clumsy. SwitchBot includes a instrumentality that easy screws into the extremity and rotates astir until it cuts done the shadiness down to the equine it's attached to. You past person to unfurl the full shadiness to chopped distant 1 past bit, past resize the equine to lucifer the main roller housing. At its longest, the shadiness is 86.6 inches. I struggled to find a abstraction agelong capable to unravel it entirely, and SwitchBot failed to see thing to laic down to support the shadiness from ungraded oregon carnal hair.

I was skeptical whether the full process would beryllium worthy it, but I muscled through, moving furnishings and laying down a protective sheet. While the process was inconvenient, existent to immoderate of my erstwhile experiences with SwitchBot, the janky instal wasn’t indicative of the finished product.

A Smooth Operator

Actually hanging the rolling shadiness was arsenic elemental arsenic immoderate different curtain. After measuring the width, drilling immoderate aviator holes, installing a weighted barroom astatine the bottom, and adding a fewer screws, it was successful place. The existent installation and calibration took minutes aft it was chopped down to size. Even easier than that, though, is operating the shade.

The adjustable roller comes with a distant power you tin instal adjacent the window, but it does ruin the cleanable aesthetic. While its two-button cognition works fine, I decided to instrumentality with the SwitchBot app (available connected Android and iPhone). Just arsenic rapidly arsenic it was hung, the roller was connected and acceptable for use.

Operating the shadiness couldn’t beryllium easier. You tin unfastened it, adjacent it, oregon set it to a tallness of your choosing. You tin customize buttons to your desired height, truthful if you similar conscionable a small sunlight, you tin acceptable a punctual to unfastened lone a 4th of the way. With up to 8 disposable customized actions, I can’t ideate not being capable to make each preset you’d privation entree to.

Quiet With an Option for Slow Quieter

When operating normally, the centrifugal is comparatively quiet. There is simply a hum, but it’s acold little noisy than the Curtain Rod 2. You tin adjacent dilatory down however accelerated it opens to trim the sound further, but I don’t deliberation the modular dependable of the centrifugal is intrusive capable to request it. The QuietDrift Control minimizes the noise, though it’s inactive audible and it does dilatory down the roller’s cognition significantly. An illustration of the 2 modes (starting with QuietDrift) tin beryllium seen successful the video below.

I can’t talk for an installation extracurricular of the model frame, but the wrong equine aligns truthful nicely with the wall. Unlike my blackout curtains, it takes up perfectly nary country and opens up the abstraction by a astonishing amount.

While the roller portion is connected the thicker side, the shadiness itself is thin, truthful I don’t fishy the extracurricular equine would consciousness overmuch different. It would springiness a spot much sum and amended regenerate blackout curtains. However, adjacent mounted connected the inside, the shadiness filters a batch of light.

Keeping the Roller Charged

SwitchBot supplied maine with a star charger, which plugs close into the roller. However, you tin besides complaint the instrumentality via a USB-C larboard successful the controller oregon done the USB-C larboard successful the roller itself. Unfortunately, the setup doesn’t travel with a USB-C cablegram oregon the required 5V1A charging adapter.

You’re amended disconnected springing for the star sheet charger, particularly since it adds a diagnostic I’ll interaction connected shortly. If you don’t, though, you’ll inactive get month's worthy of usage retired of the battery, depending connected however often you usage the shade.

SwitchBot’s App Adds Plenty of Features

For a instrumentality that moves successful 2 directions, I didn’t expect a batch of customization. SwitchBot added what it could, giving users plentifulness of power implicit when, how, and wherefore the shadiness moves. Along with manually adjusting the shade, the app besides has an enactment to docket times to unfastened and adjacent and acceptable a timer for the adjacent clip you privation it to determination automatically.

If you person SwitchBot’s Solar Panel charger, you tin utilize the app’s Light Sensor feature. If you privation the sheet to unfastened erstwhile it’s agleam out, you tin automate the roller to respond to the airy level recorded by the star panel. While my model doesn’t get a ton of sunlight, it registered capable to tally a trial wherever the shadiness opened each clip the airy level deed level 6 and closed again astatine level 4. You tin gauge the mean airy level based connected the information collected by the panel.

Should You Buy SwitchBot’s Roller Shade?

Before installing SwitchBot’s Adjustable Roller Shade, I would person said it sounded similar an unnecessary astute location addition. Just a time aft installation, though, I came astir to admit the easiness of use. I hadn’t thought astir the symptom points of modular curtains, blinds, and shades, similar however the cords thin to knot oregon twist (especially if you person funny pets). The automated shades region each wiring altogether (if you don’t usage the included fastener and abstracted star panel), giving your model a new, clean, aesthetically pleasing appearance.

Available successful achromatic and grey, SwitchBot besides notes that you tin usage immoderate roller shadiness fabric, arsenic agelong arsenic it's sized properly. If the archetypal setup were a small easier and took into information that not everyone has the abstraction to unravel 7 feet of shade, I’d person been all-around pleased with virtually each facet of the automated shade.

Whereas the automated curtain opener was much of a luxury point that would payment prime windows successful a home, the SwitchBot’s roller shadiness tin beryllium much wide implemented to assistance trim vigor costs.