I've seen a bunch of older posts for retrofit options for existing venetian blinds (cordless lift) but I'm curious what's the best solution that integrates with hubitat (z-wave/zigbee so I don't need an additional hub) in 2024. I also use google home and would prefer integration with either the stock google home integration or the community one. I am also looking for a solution that can raise/lower in addition to tilt but it seems like most don't support that. Some options I've seen are:
I've been using iBlinds for at least a year and a half so at least they work well with Hubitat. I can't comment on a Google Home integration (I use Alexa) or on whether any of their models can do lift, too. But it's been a pretty stable piece of hardware.
I've had nine iBlinds devices in my apartment for almost three years. They can physically be a little tricky, but once I set them up I haven't had to deal with them again. They just work. I got solar panels for all the devices, so I never even have to charge them.
Another iBlinds recommendation...they are pretty much set it and forget it, once you have good Z-Wave communication. There is also an excellent community driver that is maintained.
My blinds are all metal enclosures so I did have some communication issues until the C8/external antennas...since then been 100% reliable. To set them up you have to fit their motor inside your blinds casing, so make sure you look at their fitment guides to ensure your blinds will work.
I bought a bunch of the Sunsa wands. They work pretty well. However, I cannot recommend them as they are cloud based only.
When they were in development, they promised that a local control option would be come later and that promise was reiterated several times. No "we'll see" or maybe, it was a definite "yes, it's coming".
That was almost three years ago, and there's no sign of a local option. Once in a while they used to send out emails asking for feature requests, and local control was always near the top of the list of responses on the survey site. Those "feature requests" were just marketing BS though. Nothing ever happened.
My mistake, I trusted this company, something I should have known better not to do. It would be one thing if they tried and couldn't implement local control due to some unforseen hardware issue, but it's just crickets. They've completely lost my trust, and although my wands still work fine, if/when the company goes down the tubes they'll be useless.
It's too bad because the hardware is actually pretty good.
