SwitchBot 3 Curtain 3 assessment: Overcomplicated

I am as a lot a fan of the internet of things (IoT) as the following tech geek, which, to be clear, is a membership I proudly contemplate myself a member of, however the web of issues and the race to automate and connect something and every thing (I am you, smart toaster) has spawned merchandise whose use instances are extra area of interest than common. The SwitchBot Curtain Opener 3 is one such product, and on this assessment I will be going over my impressions putting in, testing, and utilizing it, in addition to the area of interest use instances I might see this product addressing.

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Value, availability, and specs

The SwitchBot Curtain 3 retails for $90 for one unit, although contemplate that any center break up curtains that open from the center out would require two models to work correctly. This automated curtain opener might be discovered on Amazon and immediately from the SwitchBot web site. The SwitchBot Curtain 3 is mainly a small motor on rollers that attaches to your curtain rod. It’s out there in three types that embody your primary curtain rod, U-shape curtain rods, and I-shape curtain rods. The gadget costs through USB-C and as soon as charged SwitchBot says the battery ought to final months relying on frequency of use.

What I favored concerning the SwitchBot Curtain 3

It capabilities precisely as described

It’d sound like faint reward, however the redeeming high quality that caught out essentially the most to me was that the SwitchBot Curtain 3 labored precisely as described. I used to be a bit skeptical if I am being trustworthy, as area of interest dwelling automation units just like the Curtain 3 are typically extra gimmick than perform. After connecting the gadget to the SwitchBot app (extra on this later), the software program walked me via the calibration course of, which as soon as accomplished, allowed me to open and shut my curtains from the app.

Talking of the app, it permits for an honest stage of automation, principally via using schedules. I used to be in a position to set the curtains to open within the morning once I sometimes start working after which to shut every night as soon as the solar goes down. The app additionally permits actually wonderful management of the open and shut course of. I used to be in a position to open the curtains as a lot or as little as I wished, measured in p.c closed inside the app’s UI.

What I did not like concerning the SwitchBot Curtain 3

The juice wasn’t well worth the squeeze

SwitchBot claims that the set up of Curtain 3 ought to take as little as 30 seconds, however the actuality for me was starkly completely different. I like to contemplate myself a typically succesful particular person, and tech-savvy at that, however putting in this factor took me virtually an hour. I can see how as soon as you’ve got carried out it earlier than, subsequent installations would take a fraction of the time, however the directions are unclear, the handbook’s pictures barely useful, and the set up unintuitive at finest. As soon as the gadget is put in on the far finish of your curtain rod, maneuvering the rod itself turns into extraordinarily cumbersome as the burden steadiness is totally tilted to 1 facet.

If this catches you off-guard because it did me, you may find yourself scraping your wall and ceiling as I did, so be careful for this or set up it with some assist. Set up directions range wildly by fashion of curtain, and will embrace using stand-alone clips, or clips related by beads to perform correctly, all of which is defined in little element with pictures that may be onerous to decipher at first look.

After a cumbersome set up, I lastly bought to start out testing the bot. Because it started opening my curtains for the primary time, I used to be met with a whiny, rickety, and usually noisy operation. Within the promoting supplies for this product, SwitchBot reveals a setup the place you utilize the Curtain 3 to open your curtains within the morning, peacfully waking you up as daylight is regularly let into the room. In actuality, the noise of the operation would wake you up sooner and extra aggressively than the mild morning gentle. As well as, the sound instantly conjured considerations about whether or not the SwitchBot Curtain 3 would injury a high-end wood curtain rod or whether or not it was going to wreck my window shutters over time by rubbing towards the wooden end when shifting.

Finally, I could not see how, for me personally, this is able to ever be price it. I measured that it could take me 5 seconds to stand up and open or shut the curtain manually, whereas the set up alone took me about 45 minutes. Even when I generously dropped that all the way down to Half-hour, it could take 360 open or shut cycles simply to interrupt even on my set up time, and in my eyes, the purpose of automation is to avoid wasting me time and vitality, not value me extra.

Do you have to purchase the SwitchBot Curtain 3?

Even with my very own expertise being removed from very best, I can undoubtedly see how the SwitchBot Curtain 3 might show helpful in some area of interest circumstances. Firstly, this is able to be an incredible product for enhancements in accessibility for any customers who’re in any other case unable to simply open and shut their curtains. It additionally could be well worth the set up on extraordinarily tall or lengthy curtains which are in any other case a slog to open and shut, although keep in mind you will want to stand up there to take the centerpiece of the Curtain 3 down for charging a couple of times a 12 months, relying on use. Consideration also needs to be given to how you want your curtains set when open, as a result of for those who safe them with a tie or hook, the SwitchBot Curtain 3 can’t try this for you, and handbook interplay along with your curtains will nonetheless be wanted in the long run.

If the curtain scenario in your house is pretty common, which means you open and shut them occasionally, and it takes you 5-10 seconds to take action, then I wrestle to see how a $90 expense, 15-Half-hour of set up, plus charging when wanted, all to exchange such a easy activity is justifiable. If, nonetheless, you will have a really area of interest scenario that could be served by the SwitchBot Curtain 3, then by all means, choose one up, as a result of it definitely does what it is designed to do, and I by no means skilled a malfunction.

Helpful however area of interest

SwitchBot Curtain 3