When Eve debuted its smart MotionBlinds at CES last year, we were instantly impressed by its speed and functionality. Now, Eve is at CES 2023 showing off its MotionBlinds Upgrade Kit—a standalone motor that lets you turn basic roller blinds into smart MotionBlinds.
The premise here is pretty simple. Instead of buying Eve MotionBlinds, you can simply add a MotionBlinds motor to your existing blinds. It’s a retrofit solution that fits a wide range of roller blinds tubes, and it’s completely wireless.
Like the standard MotionBlinds, this MotionBlinds Upgrade Kit charges via USB-C. It also supports the Thread protocol, which means that it quickly responds to smart home commands. (That said, Thread functionality requires a Thread border router, such as the HomePod Mini.)
The MotionBlinds Upgrade Kit launches on March 28th for just $200. That’s a fantastic price—the MotionBlinds we reviewed earlier this year retails for $800! That said, SwitchBot’s Blind Tilt accessory costs just $70 and performs a similar task (though with much less grace than the MotionBlinds.)
Note that all Eve MotionBlinds products are expected to receive a Matter update by the end of Q1 2023. This update will allow you to control MotionBlinds using any smart home platform, whether it’s Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, or Samsung SmartThings. But at the time of writing, MotionBlinds only works on HomeKit.
Source: Eve