Recently, a lot of smart blinds and shades have passed my testing bench. I found that the tech behind motorized shades has evolved quite a lot, going all in on batteries with solar panel charging. For example, the new SwitchBot Adjustable Smart Shades are well made, customizable, and solar-charged shades with replaceable fabric. If you prefer wired, the latest SmartWings Matter over Ethernet Smart Shades can be powered by PoE and used over Matter.
In this review, I’m sharing my experience with the Weffort Smart Shades with Matter over Thread. I installed and tested these blinds at a friends house, integrating them in Google Home and Home Assistant. They are available in custom dimensions on their Official Webstore and Amazon.
Overview and Package Contents
When you order according to your dimensions, the Weffort Shades arrive neatly packaged in box matching the size of your windows. The shades are doubled boxed, cushioned and protected on all sides with Styrofoam. Here’s how the Weffort Roman Shades cushioning between the fabric looks like:
As these samples are Roman Shades, the shade is lifted by a thread instead of being rolled around the tube like most roller shades. This thread is preinstalled and set to match the length of the shade. When you lift the blind, it pulls the hem bars upwards, one after another, creating a smooth opening effect. There is a small piece of Styrofoam wrapped around each thread that you need to remove before use.
The Matter QR pairing code is attached at one end of the roller shade. It’s best to remove it and put it somewhere for safekeeping. The code is also printed on the top of the shade enclosure, in case you lose it.
I removed the side of the valance by gentling tapping it from the inside. A sturdy metal bracket holds the main motor in place, whose threads prevent it from wiggling around while its spinning. This is the same type of mechanism used in the SmartWings shades.
Once I removed the main motor, I was able to check out it’s model number and basic specs. It’s labelled as model WM25L/M, rated for 1.1Nm with 24 RPM, which is capable of lifting blinds up to 50kg. This is the exact same motor used in the SmartWings shades and I believe they are made by the same company. This one in particular is a bit more powerful, as the shade dimension was quite large.
Installation and Calibration
Installing the Weffort Smart Shades was a simple task, identical to installing SmartWings shades. As with most shades or blinds of this type, you are going to need a helping hand. After drilling holes and installing the brackets, the shades simply snap in place and are ready to operate. Here’s how the roman version of the Weffort Shades looks like once Installed:
The second room had quite a large window and door opening, so the shade itself was very large. I installed all four brackets to secure it properly and it turned out great.
The user manual does a great job of explaining how to operate, calibrate and use the Weffort Smart Shades. Ordering a remote along with the shades is a must, you won’t be able do adjust anything without it! With that said, all shades come pre-calibrated with their minimum and maximum limits set by the factory. If you do happen to need to change the limits, follow this procedure, repeating for up and down limits on the remote:
- Choose a CHANNEL on the remote (Up/Down)
- Press and hold the UP & STOP button on the remote until it jogs once
- Move the maximum limit with UP or DOWN buttons (it moves in small increments)
- Press and hold the UP & STOP button on the remote until it jogs twice
In my case, I had to adjust the limits slightly because I decided to mount them lower than initially planned. It’s worth noting that you can also adjust the motor speed. By default, the blinds move quite slowly — but they are very quiet. You can increase the speed two levels more with the remote. After I was done, the shades operated perfectly.
Home Assistant Integration over Thread
The Weffort Smart Shades integrate well with Matter over Thread in Home Assistant. At the location where I installed these, I have deployed a SLZB-06M coordinator operating as a Thread Border Router. Before they can be paired to HA, the motor needs to be awaken by single-pressing the pairing button. Once you scan the QR pairing code, they are added to Home Assistant immediately exposing a single cover entity, a battery percentage and voltage level sensor and a firmware version sensor.
As these motors are sleepy end devices in a Thread mesh network, there is a slight delay once initially triggered. This floats around half a second, maybe even less before the motor starts spinning. The state is mirrored in Home Assistant, regardless if the shade is operated by HA itself or the 433MHz remote. In other words, Weffort shades operate great in Home Assistant without any hiccups.
Final Thoughts
The Weffort Smart Shades are a great all-in-one solution for smart shades and roller blinds. They are more affordable than SmartWings Smart Shades, but offer comparable build quality and smart connectivity. Weffort Shades are also available with Zigbee and Z-Wave motors, which also work with Home Assistant.
To be honest, I really can’t tell the difference in build quality between these two brands. Since I’ve already reviewed the SmartWings Woven Wood and Zebra Shades, I have a pretty good idea of their quality. And now, having tested the Weffort Roman Shades, I can comfortably say they feel very much the same in terms of quality. They are both built well, without any type of tradeoffs.
Furthermore, it appears the same roller motors are used all across the range. The only variability appears to be the actual strength of the motor, which depends on the weight of the shade you get when choosing your dimensions. The larger the blind, the more powerful the motor.
With that said, SmartWings does offer some things not available with Weffort Shades. There is bigger choice of shade/blind types and a larger portfolio of fabrics to choose from. Also, Weffort does not sell the beautiful Helix Dial remote that SmartWings does.
If you are looking for an affordable, budget-friendly solution for smart shades, Weffort is a great pick. If you are looking for a top of the line product, consider SmartWings as the best choice. Here’s where you can get both:
DISCLAIMER: Weffort Shades provided me with two Matter-over-Thread smart shades of my choice for the purpose of a review. This will in no way influence, sway or affect my opinion of their products and will just be my usual observations and unbiased testing approach. I shared my guidelines and principles for collaboration with their PR person, to which they fully agreed.
