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With SwitchBot's Blind Tilt, transforming your existing horizontal "dumb" blinds into smart ones is a breeze. Many products made by SwitchBot are easy to install and affordable, and the new Blind Tilt is no different.

Right now, SwitchBot has a Kickstarter project where you can essentially pre-order the Blind Tilt at a special rate or even bundle three Blind Tilts with a SwitchBot Remote and Hub Mini as well. For anyone who makes a pledge, the estimated delivery date for the Blind Tilt is December 2022. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for the product to hit SwitchBot's website. The campaign is set to end on November 20, 2022, at 8:59 AM CST

While there are some relatively affordable smart shades out there, buying a Blind Tilt for all of your existing horizontal blinds is still going to be cheaper and requires a lot less work to install. SwitchBot's Blind Tilt device only works with horizontal blinds that use a control wand to tilt the blinds open and closed. There's nothing overly impressive about the Blind Tilt, but it does what's advertised and is a handy little smart device!

Installation Was Fairly Easy

At first glance, the instructions seem intimidating, but once you lay out all the components and start the process, the steps become much clearer. Some of the components have unique titles, so before explaining the setup process, let's talk about what comes in a Blind Tilt box.

SwitchBot Blind Tilt components and manual sitting on wooden desk.
Sarah Chaney / Review Geek

There's the main unit, a solar panel and its cord holder, an alignment sticker to properly measure everything, the open flex coupling that goes around your blind's control wand, and adapters with adhesives to accommodate various sizes. Then, there's the boring stuff you'd expect, like a Type-C power cable, the user manual, and a screw pack in case you want something more permanent than adhesive tape. SwitchBot even throws in an ejection pin, much like the one you receive with a smartphone purchase, to easily push the Reset button if you ever need to.

After laying out all the components and skimming the instructions, it's installation time. First, you wrap the alignment sticker around your blind wand, tuck the end of it through a precut slit, and pull it tightly to figure out the proper size: S, M, L, or XL. Once you find the proper adapter size, you use the alignment sticker to measure how far down on your blind wand you should fasten the open flex coupling piece.

Gear cog from Switchbot Blind Tilt installed on blind wand.
Sarah Chaney / Review Geek

You stick the wider end of the alignment sticker on the headrail to the left of your control wand. Then, wherever the bottom of the alignment sticker lands, that's where you put your size adapter and fasten the coupling over it. After this, you're completely finished with the alignment sticker and can stick it back in the box.

When I measured my blind wand to find an adapter size, it was technically past the L, but when I used the XL adhesive with the open flex coupling, there was too much space between the wand and the adhesive. So I grabbed the L-size adapter and squeezed the coupling together---very gently so I didn't crack it---with a wrench until I could close the spring buckle. This was the only small annoyance I ran across during the installation process, so for more commonly sized control wands, there may not be any hiccups during this process.

The solar panel connects to the main unit via a Type-C port at the top. There's a spin buckle locking mechanism and a strong rubber cord connecting the two, which is fantastic, especially for long-term use. Then, there's an adhesive sticker on the back of the solar panel that lets you easily attach it to your window. Once everything is connected, it's not moving unless you specifically pull it down or unlock the main unit from the solar panel to charge it manually.

Related: Switchbot Lock Review: Renter- and Budget-Friendly!

Most SwitchBot products come with double-sided adhesives for an easy install or anchors and screws for a permanent install, which makes them perfect for homeowners or renters. If you're at all worried about the adhesives stripping your paint, opt for Command strips instead.

You Can Do Quite a Bit With the App

SwitchBot has a ton of smart products for the home, so when you first open the SwitchBot app (Android/iOS), you'll see all your devices listed out in thumbnails with the product's name and unique icon. After tapping the Blind Tilt's thumbnail, you have full control over tilting your blinds through the app. There's a cute animation at the top of this screen that correlates to the status of your blinds. If they're fully closed, the animated blinds in the app are fully closed as well---if your blinds are open, the animated blinds open and reveal a landscape.

You can drag your finger over the animated blinds to adjust the level of openness or use any of the commands below. There are preset commands that you can't change---Close Down, Fully Open, and Close Up---and custom commands that let you easily set your blinds to 50% Open Down, 80% Open Up, or any other possible combination. At the bottom of the app's home screen, there are three quick-access features that help integrate the Blind Tilt into your daily life:

  • Light Sensing: With this feature and the included solar panel attachment, the app collects data on light levels throughout the day. Once there's enough info, you can set the blinds to open when it's cloudy and close when it's blindingly sunny.
  • Delay: This allows you to create a one-time countdown to a customized setting for your Blind Tilt. For example, you could set a thirty-minute delay until your blinds go from fully closed to fully open, letting you take a midday nap and wake up with natural light.
  • Schedule: If you know there are times you consistently want your blinds fully open, half-open, or any other configuration, creating a custom schedule lets you set it and forget it. With each schedule you add, you choose the day(s), time of day, whether you want it to repeat or only occur once, and what setting you want your Blind Tilt at. If you have a SwitchBot Hub Mini, you can create unlimited schedules; if not, you're limited to eight.

Pairing the Blind Tilt with a SwitchBot Remote

SwitchBot Remote box, manual, two button remote, and included double sided mounting tape.
Sarah Chaney / Review Geek

SwitchBot's Remote isn't included with the purchase of a Blind Tilt, but it's pretty handy and only $19, so I'd invest in both. The Remote can control multiple Blind Tilt devices, so if you have three windows in one room, you'll need three Blind Tilts and only a single Remote.

The Remote has a small---no, tiny---form factor with dimensions of 1.5 × 1.7 × 0.5 inches. You can leave it on a side table somewhere or stick it to a counter or wall with the included double-sided sticky tape. It's powered by a circular CR2450 battery, and you can see the battery percentage at all times through the mobile app.

There are two buttons on the Remote, each of which can have its own assigned function. Looking at the Remote paired specifically with the Blind Tilt, most people would likely set one button to fully close the blinds and the other to open the blinds to a preferred percentage.

Performance / Effectiveness

In short, the Blind Tilt works exactly as advertised. There's a calibration process through the app where the device essentially learns how many turns it takes to fully close your blinds, fully open them, and open them halfway. After completing this process a single time, everything worked perfectly, and I haven't had to recalibrate the Blind Tilt---though you can if it ever does get wonky.

We're currently living in a much older home, and the blinds haven't been replaced in a good 30 to 40 years. When manually turning the control wand on our blinds, it's a slow process. This means that when the Blind Tilt turns the control wand, the motor runs longer than it probably would for newer blinds. The longer the motor runs, the noisier the overall experience is. That said, it only lasts for a few seconds, and it's easy for me to ignore.

Switchbot Blind Tilt and included window solar panel installed on blind wand.
Sarah Chaney / Review Geek

There's a built-in 2000mAh lithium battery, which you can charge with either the included cable or via the solar panel piece. However, if the window you want to put the Blind Tilt in doesn't get a lot of sunlight, it's likely not going to charge via the solar panel. With a full battery charge and no solar charging, the Blind Tilt can last about 10 months.

I love how easy it is to control the Blind Tilt wherever I am. If I'm in bed, I can use the SwitchBot Remote on my side table or quickly open the app on my phone. Or, if I have no idea where my phone is---which is often---and I'm across the room, I can ask Google Assistant to open or close the blinds.

Plus, this is just a single Blind Tilt in one room, but you can group up to eight Blind Tilt devices together and have multiple groups. For example, if you group three sets of blinds in the living room, you can use one command to open or close all of them.

Related: The 6 Best Smart Blinds and Shades

During this review, I found myself wondering: Is it more worth it to just invest in smart shades instead? And honestly, I think it depends. Smart shades are objectively the better product, but if you don't anticipate being able to afford smart shades anytime soon, SwitchBot's Blind Tilt devices are a great affordable alternative. Investing in smart shades over multiple Blind Tilts requires more money and more work to install, which a lot of people understandably want to avoid.

Which Blind Styles Will It Work With? - Compatibility

If you have horizontal blinds that tilt with a wand control, you can probably use SwitchBot's Blind Tilt with them. The company claims that the Blind Tilt is "compatible with 99% of wand control horizontal blinds on the market." With four adapter sizes for the open flex coupling that goes over your wand, it'd be pretty hard to find a control wand that's too big or too small to work with this.

Any set of blinds that don't have a control wand to affix the Blind Tilt to won't be compatible. Rolling shades, plantation shutters, and some cellular shades are just a few examples of incompatible blind styles.

Verdict: Affordable and Easy to Install

If you don't want to go through the lengthy---and very costly---process of swapping out your existing blinds for smart shades, SwitchBot's Blind Tilt device is a great alternative. You'll have to buy and install a Blind Tilt on each of your blind sets, but at $69, that'll save you quite a bit of money overall. Plus, the first installation takes about 15 to 20 minutes, but after you know what you're doing, each subsequent installation should only take 5 to 10 minutes.

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SwitchBot Blind Tilt
$56 $70 Save $14

Pros
  • Lots of ways to control the Blind Tilt
  • Solar panel can keep it charged indefinitely
  • Works with almost all wand control horizontal blinds
  • Not ugly or super noticeable once installed
Cons
  • Noisy, but it doesn?t last long
  • Windows have to get enough sun to use the solar panel