GraywindMotorized Light Filtering Shades Compatible with Alexa Google Rechargeable Remote Control Smart Blinds Automatic Window Shade with Valance for Home Office, Custom Size (Jacquard Grey)

The media could not be loaded.  CONTEXT: We moved into a brand new home that required a lot of window treatments. We live in Colorado, so its sunny year around. Initially, I ordered roller shades from Blinds.com for 4 bedrooms (around $17k in total). I got either hardwired or solar powered shades for all of those bedrooms. I looked at these shades on Amazon and thought i'd give it a try.OVERALL: I definitely recommend going with Graywind over Blinds.com or three-day blinds or whatever for multiple reasons. This is a higher quality product (includes smart home tech) with a better price tag and faster shipping times.USE CASE: I needed window treatments to block out some of the intense sun that cascades into our south-facing living room that receives a lot of direct sunlight year around. The window/view is awesome, so I didn't want to black it out completely. I also wanted something that would go unnoticed at night/evening/morning when the shades were completely rolled up. I have included some photos of the results: no shades, partial shades, and full shades.BUYING EXPERIENCE: My experience using Amazon compared to using Blinds.com (as in entering the measurement details) was FAR better. The blinds.com user experience is clumsy and really not straight forward. Conversely, the buying process and user interface simply using Amazon was not pretty, but super functional and straightforward.SELECTION: Graywind doesn't have as many color variants as some of the competitors, but I actually thought that was easier/better. I don't need 70+ colors to choose from ... I opted for 5% see through black, which in theory ("black shades") sounds bad, but its not at all, it's a modern good look in my mind. Our taste is "modern" and we have enormous windows. I read a blog post that, ironically, you can see through black shades way better than white ones. White roller shades can look washed out and a bit cheap. I found this to be totally true. These shades offer light protection and blocking without totally ruining the view and/or vibe of the room.PRICE/VALUE: Graywind has better everyday prices than Blinds.com. I quoted what I wanted on Blinds.com and Graywind and they were within 10% of each other WHEN Blinds.com was running a promotion. Graywind has better "everyday" pricing ... which I really liked. I didn't feel the need to wait for some promotion like with the other folks. If you go with a Blinds.com and don't use a promotion then you will be paying at least 30-40% more, which is a lot of more money.PRICE/VALUE SMART HOME INTEGRATIONS: If you go with blinds.com they really really jack up the price when you start adding smart home bridges/integrations and you are left with the Somfy system (which totally sucks and is not the most up-to-date smart home tech). Most of these roller shades offered by graywind automatically come with smart home tech, which is amazing value.SHIPPING/TIMING: Greywind is cutting and manufacturing from China. But everything processed and shipped about a week faster than Blinds.com. Here is my timing: Ordered on 11.4, Greywind reached out to confirm all details on 11.6. manufactured and shipped out order by 11.11, received at my house via Fedex on 11.16. In total the process was 12 calendar days, super fast compared to my experience with blinds.com which took up to three calendar weeks when I ordered this summer.PHYSICAL INSTALL: I am pretty handy so the install was not terrible. I put these up myself (1 person), three units in total in about 2 hours. I used the hardware but opted for my own screws/fasteners to mount directly into the window framing.REMOTE PROGRAMMING: I had to adjust the lower limits on these to not hit molding. That was sort of annoying all around because you have to press the button(s) exactly specifically as the instructions indicate. This was somewhat frustrating but also I have had similarly frustrating experiences with blinds.com roller shades and the somfy systems. Note: I didn't account for molding at the bottom of the windows so that is why the shades were going "too low", that was something I overlooked, not something Graywind did wrong.GRAYWIND APP SETUP: Super duper easy and straight forward. Better than most in the smart home game.ALEXA INTEGRATION: easy because of how reliable the Graywind app is.I pretty much never write these reviews because I buy so much stuff on Amazon. However, I felt motivated and emboldened to share my opinion because these guys were so much better (in all measurable ways) relative to blinds.coms and three day blinds - which I have both used in the past and view as like the "comcast" of window treatment companies, which is why I was excited to find the Graywind solution on Amazon and even more excited when the shades ended up being better all around. I am sure there are little things here or there that Graywind can do better, but compared to the old "big guys"/ legacy vendors/options out there, Graywind is significantly better in all ways (superior product at a lower price and ships faster). Cheers!

The media could not be loaded.  First, the pre-order stage:I had a lot of questions regarding planning the sizes appropriately: This application was for a French Door - the complications were whether it would slide past the lever handle and also, I wanted to plan these by Fabric Width (rather than an inside-mount window frame type application)Zoe at Graywind was absolutely wonderful - prompt and assuring with her replies to my multiple e-mails.For other's reference, the 'overall' width is 1.06" (1-1/16") wider than the Fabric - so if like me, you are basing your requirement on the final width of fabric, add 1-1/16" to that for the overall order width.I had space of about 1-3/8" between the surround of the door panel (on which shade would be mounted) and the inside of the handle (which extended over the glass area) - Zoe again assured me that with a std roll (unrolling from back side of roller) the fabric would be about 0.4" from the frame - her info was spot on as it turns out and the shade, even with the Deluxe Weighted Bottom Rod, these comfortably pass behind the handle (check that out in the video). On the subject of Bottom Weighted Rod - definitely go for this! It's a bargain adder at only $5 and looks so much classier (I asked for the std rods to be included in the shipment just in case I had any issues with clearance - so was able to compare them directly)The final part of the pre-sales was in being able to secure ZF motors - even though Amazon Listing said out of stock Zoe confirmed they had just received a batch and could assure me I would be included if I ordered soon.From order date of 5/16, I received them in hand on 6/2 - just over 2 weeks! And another tip on the order in that regard - again, definitely select the expedited delivery - another incredible value at only $24 more.Packing was excellent - solid carton with dense foam spacers surrounding the actual shade inside.Installation was extremely simple - for each one, a couple of brackets to install and then simply click the shade into them. I was careful with alignment having three in a row on my French Door. I ensured that the brackets were all level with respect to each other. If you don't get them level, then they won't track perfectly vertically, so be critical with this.While at the planning/order stage, I selected the motors/charging ports to be at the left of the left shade, right of the right shade and the hinge side of the opening door (which also was the right side) - this means that when the charging cords are attached, they are in the most suitable locations. And one more tip - the charging cord adapter is about 6' long - but additional extensions of 6' more are only $2 ea! Another bargain adder! So I got a couple of those too. On the charger itself, when first plugged in to the shades, the LED shows red and turns green when fully charged. I charged all 4 of mine prior to hanging.Setting up and testing: The remote pairs easily and the manual accurately reflects the procedure for setting up the various options. I complicated the process by trying to set the limits however - I believe these (at least for top & bottom) are already preset and I simply made it more awkward (confusing) as I tried to teach these. In the end I just completely reset each motor and did the set-up from scratch. It went smoothly after that. One note, the remote does NOT come with a battery so be sure to get a CR2032 Coin Battery beforehand!Then onto Alexa - I had purchased a new Echo 4 with SmartHub for these. (another tip here - if you have on old dot - working or not - send it in under Amazon trade-up program - I got $5 for a non-working dot but more importantly also a 25% trade-up credit on the new Echo. With a flash sale, my discount and gift card, I was all in at $60 net for my new Echo!)The pairing was simple and quick. I set all three into Zigbee pairing mode and then asked Alexa to discover and it recognized all three within about 20 secs. I renamed them to a simple scheme.The next part was not so straight forward - it took me trying LOTS of commands with Alexa not recognizing (saying command not available for that device) before finally finding what worked - 'raise' and 'lower' is what worked. The suggested commands in the user guide did not! (i.e. open, close)And then another Alexa 'gotcha' - I put the three shades in a group so I could command all three to raise or lower together (you will see in the video that I have just commanded each individually at that stage) - trying to command the group proved impossible - I tried every word I could think might be appropriate (incl the raise and lower that worked for the individual shades) and NOTHING was recognized as an executable action.Ultimately I hit on a solution - I created custom routines with verbal command to lower all the shades with the custom verbal trigger command with actions including the lower for each shade added; then another routine with same process for raising. That did it! So a little more complex than just creating a group and telling the group what to do as suggested in the User Guide. I suspect that if using SmartThings instead of Alexa Hub directly, it may possible work with a group (I'm honestly not sure on that point however)I am definitely pleased with the quality and the appearance. I LOVE the semi-opaque material where you can still enjoy the view through them. I would definitely recommend to family and friends.

I hardly ever leave reviews, but for this product, I wanted to make an exception. We purchased two 6-foot Graywind shades to cover the span of our four-panel sliding glass door. Each shad is approximately 6-feet wide and 8-feet long. I’ll admit that despite the great value, I was very reluctant to order a custom fitted product online, but in the end, I could not be more pleased.I followed the ordering process explicitly and Graywind even contacted me by email to confirm one of the measurements. I am glad they did, because I did not allow enough space for mounting the shade above the frame around the window. Once we finalized the measurements, Graywind emailed me the final specifications for my approval. The production and shipping time was fairly quick given they are coming from overseas. I believe our order took about 2 weeks to be custom built and delivered from the date we finalized the measurements. The product received was packed very well and the fit matched my measurements exactly.Installation was very easy and the instructions provided were fairly clear. I also watched the installation videos on the Amazon page for the product. I will note we installed our shades into a solid wood header above the window, so we did not use the anchors provided and also replaced with screws with something a bit heavier.Programming was also pretty easy. Since I did not have the recommended generation of Alexa devices, I added the shades to my Smarthings Hub, and then they were automatically added to Alexa. It’s nice to simply ask Alexa to open or close the shades or just open them a percentage (e.g. 50%).Again, I am very pleased with the product. They look great and function perfectly.