SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2 review: This smart curtain controller gets a streamlined design

Value When Reviewed

$99.00

Most effective Price ranges Today: SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2

$84.14

Free of charge

Past year’s SwitchBot Curtain was a good 1st endeavor at automating the opening and closing of curtains, but the corporation clearly noticed that its variation-one release experienced some developing to do. The good news is that the Curtain Rod 2 helps make considerable improvements on the design and style and operate of the initial SwitchBot Curtain. The better information is that the cost hasn’t improved, remaining at $99 for a single unit. (Bear in mind that if you have double curtains, you are going to have to have to purchase a single for each side.)

The general appear of the Curtain Rod 2 is about the exact same as the authentic: It is a chunky, rectangular product with two smaller pieces that snap onto to both facet of its motor. While the initial Curtain attached to a rod with a removeable piece that clipped to the best of the curtain rod, sandwiching it concerning the motor underneath and the hunk of plastic previously mentioned, the new Curtain Rod 2 is self-contained, with a pair of additional easy (and moderately extra desirable) spring-loaded clips that clutch the rod like a pair of wheeled claws.

Switchbot

That spring is tight, which designed it a tiny challenging to affix the Curtain Rod 2 to a thick curtain rod (the product still supports rods 15- to 40mm in diameter), but not extremely tricky. As with the first-gen product, you are going to want to get a distinct product if as a substitute of normal cylindrical rod, you have possibly I Rail or U Rail tracks. You’ll need to have to put in smaller plastic clips atop your curtain’s tabs to give the motor something to press against as it moves if you have grommet-style curtains, an involved string of beads with clips attached can help to complete the exact same point, but this provides a bit of complexity.

SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2 is Bluetooth only, unless…

The SwitchBot Curtain 2 stays a Bluetooth-only machine, 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 community, making it possible for you to use the controller though you’re absent from household. You can also pair it with Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri shortcuts, and IFTTT, between other people. You can skip the hub if you want only area manage with your smartphone.

The beefy device (it weighs extra than a pound) still includes a battery that fees by using USB-C cable (included). The producer provides no technical specs on anticipated battery lifespan, but you can acquire a $19 solar panel to continue to keep the battery topped off.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Setup is quick and requires a quick calibration to notify the app in which the curtains’ correct open and closed positions are at. Guide command is straightforward and intuitive—open, close, or pause—while much more wonderful-grained manage allows you partially open or close drapes, set operation on a delay timer, or configure a recurring timetable for operation.

A mild-sensing function allows you automate curtain operations primarily based on ambient light, and it works surprisingly very well considering it is nonetheless going by means of beta tests. At last, for most modes you can convey to SwitchBot to run in Efficiency Mode or a quieter Silent Mode. The latter ratchets down the motor electric power, however, which can result in it to get caught mid-operation if it’s shifting weighty drapes.

SwitchBot

In Functionality Method, the motor feels extra highly effective than the original, although no matter if that is an improve to the genuine components or the influence of the redesign is unachievable for me to say. (SwitchBot does not deliver horsepower specs, although each types claim to guidance a maximum curtain weight of 17 lbs ..) In any case, I discovered the motion to be smoother and extra certain than on the previously model.

The modestly enhanced SwitchBot Curtain Rod 2

This second-gen gadget doesn’t address all the issues of the primary design and style. If you have mini blinds instantly under your curtains, for case in point, the unit can drag in opposition to them as it moves, making complications. And, of system, quite a few kinds of curtains will not conceal the continue to industrial-searching SwitchBot effectively, if at all. That said, opening curtains is no one’s most loved work when early morning arrives the primary SwitchBot Curtain went a lengthy way towards streamlining that approach. This update only improves it—albeit modestly.