I Really Like These (Relatively) Budget-Friendly SmartWings Smart Blinds | Lifehacker

I never realized how quickly the cost of window treatments can add up until I bought my first home (turns out it has way too many windows). And if you want your window treatments to be "smart" (that is, to be controllable from an app and integrate with your existing smart home tech), the cost only gets worse. Luckily, there are some "budget" manufacturers out there that offer more affordable options than high-end brands like Serena by Lutron.

I recently gave one of them a shot to see if they were worth the investment or not. I decided to go with SmartWings, which sent me a set of their solar-powered, light filtering and blackout single-cell blinds with a 15-channel remote and a hub that lets me connect them to my Google Home.

Considering these are more "affordable" blinds (again, relatively speaking—they cost around the same as IKEA's line of smart blinds), I was pleasantly surprised with their quality and performance.

Assembly: Very easy to install, since they come pre-assembled.

Customization: The blinds are offered in a wide variety of sizes, and the ones I received fit my windows well.

Compatibility: They use Matter or Thread protocols to connect with Google, Alexa, Apple, IFTTT, and other smart home control systems.

Features: You can schedule routines and "scenes" in their app.

Solar powered: Instead of charging your blinds or using batteries, you can get the sun to power your blinds.

Value: They feel, look, and sound great, considering the price.

Tricky manual controls: The physical button used to move the blinds up and down is small and hard to press.

Tricky remote programming: Programming the remote gave me some trouble.

When ordering the blinds, it's easiest to go through the SmartWings website. I found more options, variety, and a better tailored-made order there than I did it anywhere else. If you pay extra, you can make the blinds work with your smart home without a hub, or you can choose an option with a hub that will allow the blinds to connect to any of the compatible smart home ecosystems.

The blinds I got were the single cell Motorized Light Filtering Cellular Shades with the standard motor and solar power panel. These options bring the price to $228.99 per blind. The other variety I chose, the Motorized Blackout Cellular Shades, also with the standard motor and solar power panel, were similarly priced at $234.99 per blind/window. If the height or width of the blind goes over 24 inches, there is an extra charge that starts at $6.

For comparison, an equivalent blind from Serena by Lutron starts at $349 for the light filtering blinds and $369 for the blackout blinds, and they don't offer a solar power option. IKEA's smart blinds start at $129.99 for their light filtering blinds and $159.99 for their blackout blinds, but there is no option to customize the sizes beyond their pre-set options or to choose solar power.

An extra cost to consider: If you want to be able to control the blinds using your smart home tech, you'll either need to upgrade each individual blind with smart tech, or get a hub. The cost for the former varies depending on what smart system you want to integrate with. Zigbee/Alexa is $30/blind; Z-Wave Plus is $56/blind; Apple Home Kit is $80/blind; and Matter, which works with Google, Apple, Smart Things, and Alexa, is $95/blind.

Meanwhile, the Smart Link Pro hub will work with most any system (but not Apple), and costs an extra $150 but can control all of your blinds.

SmartWings sent the blinds in boxes with clear size labels, plus there were labels on the blinds themselves, which I appreciated since I have so many windows, all different sizes, in different rooms. Each blind came in its own box with all the materials needed to set it up. Since I got the solar-powered blinds, there was no need to worry about having a power outlet nearby, or where I would plug in the battery.

Installing the solar power panels was easy. All it took was plugging the cable into the back of the blind as you see in the picture above. Because I got blinds designed to fit inside my window frames, I only had to screw the spring-loaded brackets on the inside top part of the window sill as you see in the picture below. There are two per blind, and once they're set up, it's easy to snap the blinds in place using the spring mechanism on the bracket.

When popping the blinds in the brackets, I noticed the cable from the solar panel tended to move around, so I taped it in place to reduce the chance of the copper inside the wire breaking. Actually snapping the blinds in place was easy. All that was left was choosing where I wanted to glue the solar panels. They come with a 3M peel sticker in the back, so just had to place it somewhere the sun would hit it.

Once set up, I was happy to see the smart blinds fit my windows well. The measurements I sent were exactly what I received from SmartWings. I also got the 15-Channel Remote Control, which lets me control up to 15 smart blinds separately. You don't really need the remote if you get the Smart Link Pro hub, but having the remote will also make it easier to program the blinds if I ever need to calibrate them. Plus, sometimes it's easier to click a button on a remote than opening an app on my phone or talking to Google.

(Speaking of buttons, if I want to manually raise or lower the blind, there is a small physical button on each, underneath a plastic flap, that I had to awkwardly press with my nail—not very straightforward or practical.)

Speaking of the Smart Link Pro, I found it more cost-effective to get the hub rather than get all the blinds to come "smart" already (there is an added change per-blind, so the increased cost will add up if you have a lot of windows). If you don't get the hub, it's worth mentioning that the 15-channel remote was tricky to program, requiring some back-and-forth with customer service.

In my testing, I found the blinds to be very responsive, whether I controlled them via the remote, a voice assistant, or by physically pressing the button on the blinds themselves. The sound is about the same level as running a microwave.

I set the blinds to automatically come up at sunrise, and the sound has never woken me up (although I am not a light sleeper). It takes roughly 30 seconds for the blind to go up or down my 45-inch-high window.

My window frame is not completely straight, so I did notice some areas where light bled through the cracks, but that is no fault of the blinds. Even still, the blackout single cellular blinds I chose for the bedrooms did a great job of blocking out light on a sunny day. (It's hard to tell in the picture above because my phone automatically adjusts to night mode when taking pictures in the dark, but the room was pitch dark in actuality.)

I was less satisfied with the light filtering blinds, as I was expecting a bit more natural light to come through while reducing glare. With all four blinds down in my living room, the room was still bright enough to read a book without the lights on, but the light was just dispersed, with an effect like putting a lampshade over a lightbulb.

You can see the difference between the blackout window and light-filtering blinds above. From the outside, the blinds look the same as they do from the inside; the blackout ones let no light through, and the light-filtering lets you see light (but can't make out people even at night).

SmartWings uses a third-party app called "Connector" to control the blinds with a smartphone or smart home ecosystem. I found it easy to set up: I only 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 preset settings. My current settings are "Morning Blinds," which opens all the blinds; "Night Time Blinds," which does the opposite; and "Movie Blinds," which completely closes only the living room blinds. Once programmed, scenes can be activated through the app or by voice using my Google Home.

There's also a "Timer" function, which lets me set a specific time to trigger a device or scene. I set my timers to trigger the "Morning Blinds" scene every day at sunset, and "Night Time Blinds" every night 10 minutes before sunset.

SmartWings are a good value if you're looking for a custom smart blinds option you can control from your phone or voice assistant that costs less than most of the competition. They offer a decent amount of variety when ordering, and plenty of options for how they will be powered or controlled. The Smart Link Pro hub and Connector app make syncing to Google, Amazon Alexa, or IFTTT simple enough. The assembly and setup are fairly easy, but programming the blinds with the remote can be a bit tedious. I really liked the option to use solar panels to power the blinds.

Materials-wise, I found the blackout blinds do a good job of keeping out light, but I wish the light-filtering blinds let a little more light in. Controlling them via the app gave me enough liberty to customize the blinds in any way I wanted, which I appreciated.

Overall, these are a good value (again, relatively—custom blinds are never "cheap") for those looking to save a bit of money on smart blinds.