Graywind Smart Blackout Roller Shades Work with Alexa Google Textured Fabric Rechargeable Motorized Blinds Cordless Remote Control Window Shades, Custom Size (Frequency Sand)

My window’s shades were beginning to crack, rattle and disintegrate. Just trying to move them was a disaster. It was obvious I needed new blinds for all my windows. Blinds that worked well and were easy to open and close. Oh and it would be nice if they were automated. I noticed an ad on TV for a blinds that interfaced with smart phones and a controller. So I thought Amazon, they might have a useful product. I decided I wanted a controller minimum and it would be nice if I could control it as a smart device. In looking through Amazon, I came across Graywind roll shades. Wow, a shade that would roll up and disappear. It wouldn’t just hang there on the side or rotate open closed like my slotted old shades. And it had a remote plus local network interface and Alexa/Google voice control. Plus it was wall powered, no batteries to change.So I ordered two rollup shades for my front windows. To my surprise Graywind responded immediately via email asking for confirmation on my shade size and specifications. After an email reply, they changed the order to my exact requirements and processed my window shades in a day. In two weeks from clicking place my order on Amazon, the order arrived via Fedex from China. The window shades were packed well with everything I needed inside. It took two bracket clips screwed to the opening to hold the shades. Honestly, it took me longer to remove the old shades than to install the new Graywind shades. I carefully measured and predrilled screw holes in my window sills. The new Graywind shades fit perfectly in the clips. The only minor thing was routing the power and antennas though the gap on the top side so the roll shades didn’t interfere. There are two antennae, one for the remote (433MHz) and second for WiFi (2.4GHz only). After this was done I plugged in the shades to 115V power and loaded two AAA batteries into the remote. The shades responded to the remote and I was able to open and close them perfectly. I measured the shade width and shade height and they matched my specification exactly. The shade when lowered definitely blocked all light, 100% as advertised.Ok. Next step was to download the phone app. I have an iPhone so I went to the apple app store and found Smart Life and easily loaded it into my iPhone. It was simple and it worked for me immediately after it found my home network and prompted me for my password. Next step was Alexa on Amazon. I had a bit more difficulty just finding the Skill. Amazon skill searching is cluttered and awkward. I found it, installed it, and enabled it. The first thing, I needed to rename the Graywind shade names. They came as default Chinese names. No problem, just went to my iPhone and clicked the pencil on top right, inserted my first shade as ‘front shade’ and my second shade as ‘side shade’. Then the fun began. Alexa open front shade. Nothing. Alexa front shade up and the shade went up. Alexa front shade down and the shade went down. Ok, up and down are keywords. Then I discovered Alexa front shade 50 and the shade went half way open. I finally figured out (Graywind need to update this in your manual) I could position the shades in increments of 10 from 0 closed to 100 wide open. This was absolutely fantastic. My wife loves these shades. We have ordered more for the rest of the windows in need.Finally I created an Alexa group. I called it ‘window shades’. I put my two shade names into the group. Now when I say 'Alexa window shades 50' both shades half open. I also tried leaving the shades open and while I was on the road I commanded the shades closed with my iPhone. When I came home the shades were closed. Yep, it works remotely via internet anywhere in the world. This is a fantastic product and it works well. I cannot attest to how long the shades will last, but the product I received was well engineered and its case appearance is very nice.

We are extremely pleased with our Graywind motorized remote controlled solar-operated blackout thermal shades. We had a couple of questions about the solar powered option, which their customer service answered promptly and thoroughly. We picked the color we wanted from their sample swatches, ordered them and the shades arrived within about a week of placing our order and were exactly to our specifications. They were carefully packaged, included extra hardware, with the remote control already programmed and ready to use. The remote can operate each shade individually, or both together at once. These are very well-engineered and high quality shades made of substantive fabric. They were very easy to install, even doing so from a ladder on 20' high clerestory windows. They roll up and down quietly and smoothly and are true blackout blinds. We couldn't be more pleased with them.Update one year later: We were so pleased with the two initial blinds we ordered that we ordered four more to the same exact specifications. The blinds arrived quickly and were easy to install. However, one of the motors did not work properly, so we contacted Cherry and Zoe in the customer service department. They gave us suggestions for solving the problem, but when the motor still would not work correctly, they promptly sent us a new motor to install in that blind. Installing the motor was quite easy and all of our four new blinds are now working exactly as they are intended to, along with the two we originally purchased a year earlier. We are VERY pleased with this purchase and would highly recommend Graywind Motorized Roller Shades.

I absolutely love this shade. I ordered the darker gray and it’s beautiful. Was easy to install and works great! It’s very quiet. Plan on doing all my windows in these shades!

I ordered the largest size possible, over 100 inches wide, to fit my window. I chose the motorized option for use with my Echo (4th Gen).The blinds arrived on time. Packaging was good, and I am impressed that such a long product made it to my front door without damage.Install went smoothly. I had to drill extra mounting holes in the brackets to fit with my specific window. Not a big deal.Using the handheld remote with the blind was a breeze. The blind was pre-programmed with the remote and set to my exact window height. The remote included a wall mount for storage, which was a nice touch.Alexa integration was difficult. My Echo "discovered" the device easily, but the voice commands didn't work. I found some reddit posts that helped me understand the correct phrase to use - "Alexa, Set *blind* to 50". Once I figured out the correct phrase then I could create some routines so that Alexa can respond to phrases that make more sense. Such as "Alexa, close the *blind*".I agree with other reviewers that there should be a skill or better instructions. The instruction booklet was great, except for the Alexa part.