Expert’s Score
Execs
- Slightly enhanced procedure and design and style in contrast to the unique
- Intuitive procedure, with lots of automation options
- Light-weight sensing manner operates well—even nevertheless it is in beta
Drawbacks
- However an unattractive include-on if your curtains are not fully opaque
- Not extremely tranquil
- Hub required for broader smart home integration
Our Verdict
Minor updates increase on the original SwitchBot Curtain when preserving pricing intact.
Value When Reviewed
$99.00
Ideal Rates Currently: SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2
$84.14
Free of charge
Final year’s SwitchBot Curtain was a good 1st attempt at automating the opening and closing of curtains, but the enterprise plainly observed that its version-one particular release had some growing to do. The great news is that the Curtain Rod 2 helps make considerable advancements on the style and design and functionality of the initial SwitchBot Curtain. The far better news is that the price has not improved, remaining at $99 for a solitary product. (Don’t forget that if you have double curtains, you are going to will need to buy a person for every single side.)
The over-all seem of the Curtain Rod 2 is about the very same as the first: It is a chunky, rectangular product with two more compact pieces that snap on to to either aspect of its motor. Even though the authentic Curtain connected to a rod with a removeable piece that clipped to the top rated of the curtain rod, sandwiching it amongst the motor under and the hunk of plastic earlier mentioned, the new Curtain Rod 2 is self-contained, with a pair of a lot more easy (and moderately much more appealing) spring-loaded clips that clutch the rod like a pair of wheeled claws.
The SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2 is intended for these forms of curtains hung on a conventional spherical curtain rod.
Switchbot
That spring is restricted, which built it a little difficult to affix the Curtain Rod 2 to a thick curtain rod (the device even now supports rods 15- to 40mm in diameter), but not extremely tricky. As with the first-gen system, you are going to want to purchase a distinctive item if as an alternative of regular cylindrical rod, you have both I Rail or U Rail tracks. You will require to put in compact plastic clips atop your curtain’s tabs to give the motor a little something to force from as it moves if you have grommet-fashion curtains, an provided string of beads with clips attached assists to achieve the same thing, but this adds a little bit of complexity.
SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2 is Bluetooth only, unless…
The SwitchBot Curtain 2 stays a Bluetooth-only product, which makes for a speedy set up. If you also have a SwitchBot Hub Mini ($39), you can bridge the bot to your Wi-Fi network, allowing you to use the controller though you’re absent from house. You can also pair it with Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri shortcuts, and IFTTT, among the many others. You can skip the hub if you require only regional management with your smartphone.
The beefy device (it weighs additional than a pound) still involves a battery that charges via USB-C cable (involved). The maker presents no requirements on anticipated battery lifespan, but you can get a $19 photo voltaic panel to retain the battery topped off.
SwitchBot’s app is nicely manufactured and easy to use. The Light Sensing aspect is effective extremely very well, primarily thinking about that it’s even now currently being beta tested.
Christopher Null/Foundry
Set up is brief and includes a brief calibration to tell the application the place the curtains’ proper open up and shut positions are at. Guide command is very simple and intuitive—open, close, or pause—while extra fantastic-grained regulate lets you partly open or close drapes, established operation on a hold off timer, or configure a recurring routine for operation.
A gentle-sensing aspect allows you automate curtain operations primarily based on ambient mild, and it functions surprisingly properly contemplating it is continue to heading through beta tests. Eventually, for most modes you can explain to SwitchBot to work in Functionality Method or a quieter Silent Method. The latter ratchets down the motor electricity, having said that, which can induce it to get stuck mid-procedure if it is going hefty drapes.
SwitchBot’s optional photo voltaic panel, $19, will preserve the SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2’s battery topped off, but recall you will have to have one particular for each and every SwitchBot (and you will require two SwitchBots if you have two curtains that near by meeting in the center).
SwitchBot
In General performance Mode, the motor feels additional potent than the initial, though irrespective of whether that is an upgrade to the genuine components or the influence of the redesign is difficult for me to say. (SwitchBot doesn’t give horsepower specs, while both equally types declare to help a most curtain pounds of 17 pounds.) In any circumstance, I identified the motion to be smoother and far more certain than on the previously model.
The modestly enhanced SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2
This second-gen gadget doesn’t address all the troubles of the initial layout. If you have mini blinds straight beneath your curtains, for instance, the unit can drag versus them as it moves, developing troubles. And, of study course, many forms of curtains will not conceal the continue to industrial-on the lookout SwitchBot effectively, if at all. That mentioned, opening curtains is no one’s preferred career when early morning arrives the initial SwitchBot Curtain went a prolonged way toward streamlining that course of action. This update only improves it—albeit modestly.