Motorized Shades in 2025

We have these big windows in our living room and I need to purchase custom sized blackout Roman Shades or Roller Shades for them. Since they’re tall, I would like to have a solar battery option (west facing window gets a lot of sunlight).

For those that have gotten motorized shades within the past year, which options did you consider? My initial research years ago had me looking at Yoolax. I’m reading there could be issues on HE. Is anyone else running those?

1 Like

I have ordered blackout shades from Blinds Galore with a continuous bead loop (no motor). The shades are less expensive than most, can be customized, and are of high quality. Some of their shades are motorized. I then have purchased from SOMA Smart Home SOMA Smart Shades 3. They are very robust and reliable. I use their SOMA Connect on a Raspberry Pi Zero to control them with Hubitat using the HTTP request because I have some of their older version from 2021. The new Smart Shades 3 can be controlled directly with Zigbee and have a solar charging option.

I’d recommend https://www.smartwingshome.com/. Lots of options available for direct control (zwave/zigbee/matter/thread) and they are are quiet.

5 Likes

Thank you! I’ll have to check that out! What driver do you use in HE?

Smartwings zwave/zigbee/matter shades are on the compatiblity list. I use whatever driver they were detected as. they “just work”.

Good deal! Do you have the Zigbee or Matter? Thanks again for this! I order some swatches.

neither, i’m a zwave fan. The 2.4ghz spectrum in my area is already heavily used. for me 900mhz has much less interference, but pick the protocol that works best for your enviroment.

3 Likes

Z-Wave is actually best in my environment, but I didn't see the Z-Wave in the compatible devices list. But, if you're using it, then it must be fine. Thank you!

Smartwings, I use ZigBee for 18 indoor shades. z-wave for two outdoor shades. No issues with either protocol. I'm Matter adverse. ZigBee and z-wave both work perfectly. For me matter is a work in progress. No need, if you don't need it. I really like the roller shades. Get the fabric samples. Buy 1 and make sure it is what you really want. Measure the full width and height. They will subtract a little for the opening clearance. FWIW ZigBee motors are less expensive. Fully Hubitat compatible. The solar charging panels work very well.

Here is an interesting option for trapezoid windows. SmartWings Motorized Blackout Trapezoid Cellular Shades Nowa

1 Like

Just wanted to thank everyone suggested SmartWings. Works great just out of the box using whatever Z-Wave driver it defaulted to. Seemless installation. I think the most difficult part was snapping the shades back into the brackets,

1 Like