MySmartBlinds - Blinds Automation Kit
I wouldn't say I have blind(s) faith in the MySmartBlinds Automation Kit, but I do really, really want them to work. Not because I'm too lazy to open my own damn blinds or want a fully pimped out smart home, but because those horizontal slat blinds and I have never, ever had a good relationship. Next to the pull tab plastic seals on tubs of salsa, dip, and cottage cheese that never come off when you pull the tab, blinds are my #1 inanimate object nemesis.
Blinds basically do whatever the hell they want no matter how I interact with them. They don't open and close without one of their members getting stuck or going the wrong way, they don't raise and lower without one side following the course and the other not moving at all, and they invariably bend, crease, and get all warped such that previous landlords (ahem, Mama) have held back part of my security deposit when I moved out.
But now it seems as if I can pass off my blinds troubles to MySmartBlinds; let the tech wrestle with the godforsaken window treatment.
After I wrestle with the MySmartBlinds Automation Kit mechanism to get it installed.
MySmartBlinds claims that installation is easy, and the kit comes with the motor box, battery pack, manual switch, rod adapters, etc. you'll need to do it. Once in place, you can control the open-close tilt of your blinds (but, caveat, not their raising and lowering) with you smartphone or via voice command with Alexa or Google Assistant. You can also set an automatic MySmartBlinds automation schedule.
One downside to MySmartBlinds, in addition to their inability to lift and lower the blinds, is that they work only with horizontal 2" to 2.5" corded blinds. That means no mini blinds, no accordion-style blinds, and no cordless blinds. And, of course, no window coverings that slide along a rail. (For the latter though, check out the SwitchBot Curtain, an automator for any type of curtain rod or rail.)
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