Making your home a smart home can help reduce the time spent on unwanted tasks such as opening or closing your curtains or blinds every day. Now you have already seen our review of the SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2 which automatically takes care of opening or closing your curtains now is the turn of the Switchbot Blind Tilt to do the same job for your blinds.
First Impressions
This smart accessory will work with most blinds as long as you have a control rod. The key benefits of the SwitchBot Blind Tilt are they are:
- Solar Powered
- Easy to install
- Bluetooth Control
- Light Sensing Control
- Potential for Smart home compatibility (Smart Hub required)
- Precise Alignment Control
- App Controlled
The SwitchBot Blind Tilt is currently available for £69.99 but remember it’s vital you pair this with a SwitchBot Hub now the version 1 hub is available for £29.99 or the Hub 2 with more features such as temperature and humidity recordings are available for £79.99.
Hence this option could be quite an expense if this is your first time turning your home into a smart house. However, if you already own a hub it’s not too bad on the cost considering what you are buying.
Design
The SwitchBot Blind Tilt are basically robotic gadgets that spin your blinds control rod to allow you to automatically open and close the blind. This gadget will only work with blinds that have horizontal slats and a control rod. Unfortunately, if you have blinds that use the string pulley system this device is not suitable.
The Bild Tilt is designed so that it could, in theory, work with large size windows as long as you have the right design of blind. SwitchBot allows you to work with different size windows as you are provided with 3 different tilt wand sizes.
It is worth considering if your blinds require a decent amount of human power to rotate this device might not be for you.
Installation
In terms of installing the Blind Tilt, it comes down to the type of blind you have. Now SwitchBot has provided 4 stick-on adapters ( S, M, L& XL) that are designed to wrap around the blind’s control rod. There is also a measuring tape provided to help you select the correct one. You can also use the measuring tape as a handy positioning guard. Simply stick it to the top of the blind next to the mechanism and the adapter is supposed to wrap around the rod at the marked position.
Once the adapter is in place you are provided with a secondary gear that wraps around it. The gear has cogs that will assist the motor in the blind tilt which in turn opens or closes the blind.
Now in terms of keeping the Switchbot Blind Tilt charged they have your back providing solar panels in the box which are needed to be installed as it acts as a cable tidy to keep the motors in place otherwise your Blind Tilt will just continue to keep spinning. You need to make sure the solar panel is stuck window-facing as well but surely that is common sense.
Image Credit: Trusted Reviews
Overall the installation can be a little time-consuming as you must have a neat cable run. In terms of the size, it’s hardly going to be that noticeable and will just blend into your current set-up.
If you need a set-up guide the app offers a step-by-step picture guide or the below video:
Features
Now just like in the SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2 review the Blind Tilt needs to be connected to the SwitchBot Hub or Hub 2. You will then have to download the SwitchBot app as connecting the Bilnd Tilt is done via Bluetooth using the app. The app will run you through the configuration of the blind and each Blind Tilt you purchase will need a configuration which involves twisting the blinds open and closed. Once configured the control will be via the SwitchBot app.
The main options on the Blind Tilt are:
- Close Down
- Fully Open
- Close up
Top Tip! – If you buy multiple devices say you have 2 Blinds in your living room configure the first and set it to fully open then repeat the process you can then match the position on both so they look tidy.
The app also lets you set commands and you have the option of a slider to adjust the blinds to the level you want. You will also notice the Blind Tilt just like the Curtain Rod 2 has light sensors built into the blinds which monitor the level of ambient light by a scoring system of 1 to 10 with 10 being very bright and you can create automations as a result.
When connected to the Hub 2 or mini Hub you are given more control and can adjust the blinds at any point in the day or you can link them to your smart assistant and include them in any schedules you have set. I have the words “ Alexa Let there be light” and both the Blinds at the front of my living room and the Curtains in my dining door all open on that command. It’s actually very cool!
Unfortunately, they do not support IFTTT or SmartThings which will be a shame but maybe this might change in the future.
Something we did find very interesting was the fact they can be linked to your Hub 2 so if the temperature or humidity is raised to a certain level the blinds will automatically adjust to combat that issue.
SwitchBot Hub2
Performance
We have been using these blinds for the last few weeks now and they do their job of opening and closing the blinds very well.
Now if we had to find a fault as mentioned it’s the motors that control the rotation of the tilt and it is quite loud but it’s only for a short time. You will also notice the SwitchBot blind tilt also comes with 2 levels of operation – Performance mode which is faster rotations and faster closing and opening of blinds but louder as a result.
Ways to control the SwitchBot Blind Tilt
The other mode is a silent mode which offers a slower performance the rotations are slower unfortunately just because it’s slower it won’t reduce the sound too much and if your sleeping this might wake you up still.
Verdict
Making your home smart might be interesting but one thing it is not is cheap so if this is something you want to do consider this would be our set-up and that just my living room/dining room:
- 1x SwitchBot Hub 2 = £79.99
- 2x SwitchBot Blind Tilt @ £69.99 each
- 2x SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2 @ £79.99 each
Total Cost = £379.95
(Prices via Amazon)
So as you can see if you are going to do what I have done it’s a long-term investment and that is how it needs to be considered. I did find the Bild Tilt was limited as it will only work if your blinds have horizontal slats and a control rod. Most family members have the string pulley system instead of the rod making this device useless. It would have been great if SwitchBot could have created something with that type of system as am sure they would sell tons.
However, when we got the SwitchBot Blind Tilt to work it was fantastic and that paired with the curtain rod 2 and linked up to Amazon Alexa took my average living room and made it a real conversation starter. I found the inclusion of solar panels beneficial as they can recharge when not in use and it’s great there was not an extra cost for this.
If I had to find fault it was the operation of the tilt was a little loud but if you want smart blinds you will just have to deal with it. Now if the price does not bother you and you want to upgrade your blinds then this is an excellent option to consider.
Product Rating
Design/Build: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
Installation: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Features: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Performance/SwitchBot App: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Value for Money: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Overall ranking: 4.2 out of 5.0 stars – 4.2 stars
Current Special Offer till July 31st 2023 – 5% off code XMSWITCHBOT
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