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dipulb3 · 4 years

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Ikea Fyrtur smart shade review: I'm keeping this thing

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/ikea-fyrtur-smart-shade-review-im-keeping-this-thing-3/

Ikea Fyrtur smart shade review: I'm keeping this thing

The window on my home’s front door has no curtain or blind, which is something I’ve long wanted to fix since it looks straight out onto the street. There are plenty of basic options that will get the job done, but I’ve been holding out for something a little fancier — and preferably something that I can automate, or control with my voice. I mean, come on. Who doesn’t want to live like a Bond villain?

Incredible value compared to competitors like Lutron, Somfy and Tilt.

Easy-to-use app covers all of the bases for smart control, grouping and scheduling.

Simple, easy to use voice controls vie Siri, Alexa or the Google Assistant.

Removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

Magnetic wireless remote comes included.

Don’t Like

Totally non-customizable design, available only in gray.

Slightly ugly metal housing.

Gateway device for app and voice controls sold separately.

Mounting screws not included.

No way to manually raise or lower the shades when the battery is dead.

Enter the budget-friendly home furnishings of Ikea. After initially getting its feet wet with the Tradfri smart lighting system, the Swedish retailer announced in 2018 that it was working on app- and voice-enabled roller blinds to go with it. Initially pitched for release in April of 2019, the blinds hit a number of delays during development before quietly starting to hit stores toward the end of the year under the Fyrtur name.

That was welcome news for me, because Ikea’s smart shades support voice controls via Siri, Alexa or the Google Assistant and start at just $129. Most everything else in the smart shade category costs quite a bit more than that.

How much more? Well, motorized roller shades of all sizes cost a flat $399 apiece from Tilt, and you have to pay extra for the hub that smartens them up and syncs them with your voice assistant of choice (“Free shipping on orders over $2,000,” the website reads). A single motorized smart blackout shade from Lutron’s Serena collection similar to the ones we tested at the CNET Smart Home a few years back added up to about $660 when I customized it to fit my door’s window on the Serena website and added in a Lutron Bridge for app and voice control — and you’ll play in the same high-priced ballpark if you’re shopping for Lutron’s new smart wood blinds, too. What about a smart shade from Somfy? You’ll have to connect with a third-party dealer and pay who knows what.

All of that gives Ikea’s Fyrtur shades the look of a game-changer for the category. And the value is indeed pretty strong here, especially for folks like me who have long felt priced out of the category altogether. It isn’t the prettiest-looking piece of window dressing — and you can’t customize the design at all, which is a drag — but if you just want the Bond villain satisfaction of telling your voice assistant of choice to lower the shades without needing to spend one meeeeellion dollars on them, then these are the roller blinds you’ve been waiting for.

Ry Crist/CNET

The Fyrtur is now

Available now, Ikea’s Fyrtur smart shades come in eight different sizes. Each one is 76 inches long when the shade is fully extended, but the width varies from 23 inches ($129) up to 48 inches ($179). There’s very little markup from size to size, and just $50 separating the smallest Fyrtur from the largest, so good on Ikea for not bilking people here. For my front door’s window, I went with the 27-inch version, which costs $139.

No matter what size you need, your shade will come with heather gray blackout fabric and a metal, industrial-looking overhang. I wouldn’t call it ugly, but it definitely isn’t eye-catching. You can’t customize the way they look at all, either — no special-cut sizes, no fancy colors or materials, no nothin’. That’s the key trade-off here — competitors like Lutron and Somfy will let you customize your shades in all sorts of ways, but they cost substantially more than what Ikea’s asking.

Ikea Fyrtur Smart Shade sizes

Width (inches) 23 27 30 32 34 36 38 48 Price $129 $139 $149 $154 $159 $164 $169 $179

Each Fyrtur shade comes with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery to power it, a wireless remote to control it at a touch, and mounting brackets that you’ll need to screw it into place. They don’t come with screws, though. Since your mounting needs will vary, Ikea makes you pick out your own screws, which feels like a bit of a cop-out since it could have included two or three sets of the most commonly used varieties, along with instructions on what to get if you need something else.

Okay, made a quick run to the hardware store this morning for some lath screws — now, I’ve got those brackets in place above the door window and the Ikea Fyrtur smart blind hanging neatly in place. Time to finish setup and start testing it out. pic.twitter.com/BWIm7xc5by

— Ry Crist (@rycrist) June 3, 2020

Still, after a quick trip to the hardware store to grab a fresh pack of self-drilling no. 8 lath screws, I was all set to drill the thing into place at the top of my door. Doing so was relatively painless — just measure to determine where the brackets should go, mark the spots with a pencil, and screw them in. Once you’ve done that, the entire Fyrtur blind clips into place beneath them. It’s somewhat heavy, but the brackets do a good job at keeping everything secure

Trip to the hardware store aside, I was able to install one myself in about 20 minutes (and I was tweeting each step of the way, too — here’s the link to that thread in case you want to see the play-by-play).

Each Fyrtur blind comes with a magnetic wireless remote.

Ry Crist/CNET

Smart controls

Once the blind is installed, you’ll use the included Micro-USB cable to give the battery a quick charge, and then pop it into place in the housing. At that point, you’ll be able to push a pair of inconspicuous buttons on the overhang to move the blind up and down. Plug in an odd-looking, two-piece signal repeater that comes with each blind, and you’ll be able to pair the wireless remote with your blinds, too. Just unscrew the back, insert the coin battery, and then hold a pairing button down while holding it up close to the blind. It’s magnetic, too, which is a nice touch if you just want to keep the thing on the fridge.

You’ll need Ikea’s Tradfri Gateway plugged into your router in order to control the blinds from the app or with a voice command. It sells separately for $35.

Ry Crist/CNET

For app and voice controls, you’ll need Ikea’s Tradfri Gateway plugged into your router. It sells separately for a reasonable $35, and works just like a Philips Hue Bridge, translating the Zigbee signals sent by your Tradfri lights and Fyrtur blinds into something your home network can understand. The Tradfri app also includes controls for Ikea’s line of smart speakers, though I didn’t have one on hand to test out how well those integrate into the system.

With the Gateway up and running and everything properly paired up, you’ll be able to raise and lower the blinds from your Android or iOS device. You can also program your blinds to open and close on an automated schedule. And, importantly, the app tells you how to specify a maximum extension length for each blind, which keeps it from spooling out onto your floor when you tell it to lower to 100%.

In my case, I only needed a little more than half of the full 76 inches of fabric in order to cover the window on my door — so, I extended the blind to that point and then held down some buttons for a few seconds in order to lock that length in. Once I did, the blind wouldn’t go any lower than that when I tried to close it. Perfect.

One other quick note about the app: It includes a well-organized privacy policy that makes clear what info Ikea collects about you as you use your smart shades. And, as you might expect from a company based in Europe, where privacy laws are a lot stronger than they are in the US, those details are sensible and sound. Namely, the app collects IP addresses and access tokens used to connect with Amazon, Apple and Google. Ikea lists all of the ways it uses and protects that data, and says that it doesn’t share that data with anyone other than authorized IT service providers.

Ikea’s Tradfri app lets you control or automate your blinds from your phone, and it’ll tell you how to connect with a voice assistant, too.

Screenshots by Ry Crist/CNET

The app also offers instructions on how to pair with Siri, Alexa or the Google Assistant. I mainly use Alexa in my home, so I started there, and had the connection up and running in about a minute. Everything worked great. When I told Alexa to lower the shade, the shade would drop down to my preset maximum length. When I told Alexa to raise the shade, it neatly wound itself back up. When I told Alexa to set the shade to 50%, the shade raised to cover the top half of the window. Those same basic controls worked well with Siri and the Google Assistant, too.

You can also control those blinds using the automated controls offered by each of those three voice platforms. For instance, I have an Alexa routine that turns off lights and sets the thermostat whenever I go to bed. Now, that routine makes sure the shade is closed, too.

If you’re an Apple HomeKit user, you’ll be able to see what percentage the blind’s rechargeable battery is at in the Home app.

Ry Crist/CNET

Controls like those are more or less the same on each platform, with some slight differences (one nice extra on the Apple HomeKit front: the Home app will tell you what percentage the blind’s battery is at). Between that, the voice controls, and the app scheduling, Ikea’s shades offer everything I want as far as smarts are concerned.

Still, these blinds don’t get everything right. Though the heather gray looks fine to me, the most obvious issue is the lack of any color choices for the fabric, and there aren’t any Ikea alternatives for folks looking for smart slatted-style blinds, or cellular blinds, either.

Another issue: While you get those two little buttons on the blind housing as a form of physical control, you can’t manually roll the blinds by hand when they aren’t powered. The rechargeable battery packs are a pretty nice touch here, and more convenient than the D-cell batteries needed to power Lutron’s luxurious Serena shades, but that still seems like an oversight to me.

Ry Crist/CNET

I’m keeping it

As a badly needed value pick in an intriguing smart home category, Ikea’s Fyrtur smart shades check all of the boxes. The design is admittedly basic, especially the clunky-looking metal housing, but that doesn’t bother me too much at this price. More important is that the Fyrtur shade was easy to install, easy to program and connect with whatever voice assistant you like, and easy to use. It brings some new utility to my smart home that I couldn’t previously afford. I’ll take it.

I mean that literally, by the way. I paid for this thing and I like it enough to keep it right where it is at my front door. Along with making my living room feel a bit more private and high tech, it’ll give me a good, first-hand sense of how long the battery lasts on a charge (hopefully at least a few months with light usage). I’ll report back once I have that info, but for now, I’m more than comfortable recommending Ikea’s Fyrtur blinds to just about anyone interested in adding smart shades to their smart home setup without breaking the bank.

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vivellefashion · 6 years

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Moreover, this coverup serves a dual function as also a sundress

Indeed, I Loved it so much, that I got two different colors/print

Recap and review of Los Cabos summer getaway trip

Welcome to my space!

First of all, if you follow my blog and social media posts, you are well aware of the fact that I have a recent high school graduate. So,this past week I took my daughter, the graduate, on her senior trip. We went to Cabo! It was both our first time visiting Cabo. Along with that, I am providing a Recap and review of Los Cabos summer getaway trip.

Pre-travel

We booked our travel through Costco travel and stayed at the Grand Fiesta Americana in Los Cabos. I must stay, the process was super easy, with so many options. The one thing I was not happy about was the fact that there no options for a non-stop flights in the trip we chose. This is not a sponsored post, so you get an honest review!

Nevertheless, I decided to use the Costco travel service, because I figured they would have contracts with reputable resorts and services, especially since it was our first time in Cabo. Generally, I can’t say I regret that decision.

Need to know…

Because we had no preplanned itinerary so we wear an easy target for the timeshare marketers at the airport. Which is one thing I did not know about…so beware. On the other hand, it’s not a bad thing if you’re interested in purchasing a time share, or just want the freebies that are offered, if you listen to their presentation. We got two bottle of tequila, a certificate for horseback riding, an explore Cabo tour, and a ride in the glass bottom boat…all almost a $700 deal….WIN!

We made it to Cabo with a stop at SFO

Moving on. we were picked up at the airport by a pre arranged transportation service, part of the all inclusive service through Costco travels, and we arrived at the hotel around 4pm. The view from our room was unbelievable…we had an oceanfront view. Also, we had a daily $50 room credit we could apply to a number of features like spa, drinks, room upgrade, and cabana rental, but not at the Fine Argentinian restaurant.

Notably…the view from our room

Being that we were tired, we spent the evening indoors, after having some taco at the La Taqueria restaurant in the resort grounds, and retired for the day. The room was spacious, and modest, with sitting area on the balcony.

First, to start off, we had a delicious taco dinner here on our first night

Day 2

The next day was all about the beach! We spent all day at the beach after sleeping in. My daughter loved feeding the fish, played in the water a bit and then had lunch at the restaurant by the lake. We opted not to lay on the beach, even though we had a room credit to cover part of the cost for a cabana rental. We opted to use the credit instead, for our spa day, where we got a 90min outdoor massage, spent time in the sauna and hot room, then retired for the day.

Significantly, I used the solid wrap to break the floral pattern. That’s actually my scarf I have also previously used as a head wrap…versatility rules!

Similar swimsuit here | here | here |

Day 3

On day three, we spent part of the day listening to a marketing presentation at Pueblo Bonito resort for timeshare, or as he called it…”fractional ownership” of a vacation slot. We returned to the hotel to get ready for the horseback ridding excursion. The ranch owners were very nice. Although we had a free ticked from the timeshare presentation, it only covered rides through the desert, so we had to pay $5 for change to ride to the beach, playa Medano, and take pis, before riding through the desert.

P.S. Take plenty of $1, $5 bills and Pesos to use for tips!

Horseback riding…that’s my daughter there

oh my butt…

Although it was our first time on horse back, my daughter was amazingly confident, while I was terrified at first, but got better. I have to say though, I wish the saddle was more padded, cos I felt like I was sitting on a bed of rocks, and was even more pronounced when the she tried to gallop along. I quickly learned to slow her down…ijs. Also, my horse, Pinta, seemed to be super hungry, or just loved to eat. She stopped at every brush to take a bite.

Crossing the standing water by the beach

The guide took our pics

He also let me borrow his cowboy hat 🤠

My daughter too 😃

phew…

One more thing, I was thankful we didn’t end up in the filthy water we had to cross, since of of the horses decide to just sit down in the middle of the trail, and sent her rider falling. No injury, thank God! I’m pretty sure they get tired of the trip routine. The horse owners also had a ranch chihuahua dog that followed us the entire trip, wadding through the water like it was nothin…Ha!

Heading towards the desert. Some videos on IGTV

Day 4

Day #4 was our Explore Cabo tour day. The transportation service picked us up, first thing in the morning at he hotel lobby. We started at the Marina, rode to the Arco in the glass bottom boat, and back. Then we visited a glass making factory, tequila Making simulation Factory where we learned about the history of tequila making, and had tequila tasting. Then, on to the market place, the town square and church, then some lunch at ….. I have to say, the guide was super knowledgeable about the town, and history.

The upside down shaped map of California, part of the distinction rock formations in El Arco.

Peep the Pacific Ocean through the gap. Where the Pacific Ocean meets the sea of Cortez

Gorgeous view

Using the Iconic arch of Cabo San Lucas as backdrop

Mission de San Jose

one last dip…

Furthermore, we ended up at the beach again, that evening. I posted an IGTV post you can check out here. Consequently, we had a fun time frolicking in the waves…as much as I am scared of large bodies of water, I still had a good time.

Using as a sundress worked equally well. Here I style it with @katespadeny ankle wrap sandals I found on clearance @tjmaxx

Here’s another coverup from @tjmaxx

Sorry for poor quality. It was taken by a passerby. Still appreciate the effort, or we wouldn’t have any pic

Meanwhile, we dined at the Artgentinial restaurant on our last night. I had the steak, which was super tasty, while my daughter played it safe with chicken…Ha!

Certainly, I am not a fan of rare steak, so they had to fire it up a bit more for me…still juicy tho. However, the mashed potatoes was something else!

Finally, I do hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post. Leave me any comments or questions below. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you next week…Ciao!!

SaveSave

#Cabo san Lucas #Costco travels #coverup #El Arco #Fiesta Americana #Los Cabo #Swimsuit

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dipulb3 · 4 years

Text

Ikea Fyrtur smart shade review: I'm keeping this thing

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/ikea-fyrtur-smart-shade-review-im-keeping-this-thing-4/

Ikea Fyrtur smart shade review: I'm keeping this thing

Incredible value compared to competitors like Lutron, Somfy and Tilt.

Easy-to-use app covers all of the bases for smart control, grouping and scheduling.

Simple, easy to use voice controls vie Siri, Alexa or the Google Assistant.

Removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

Magnetic wireless remote comes included.

Don’t Like

Totally non-customizable design, available only in gray.

Slightly ugly metal housing.

Gateway device for app and voice controls sold separately.

Mounting screws not included.

No way to manually raise or lower the shades when the battery is dead.

Ry Crist/CNET

The Fyrtur is now

Ikea Fyrtur Smart Shade sizes

Width (inches) 23 27 30 32 34 36 38 48 Price $129 $139 $149 $154 $159 $164 $169 $179

— Ry Crist (@rycrist) June 3, 2020

Each Fyrtur blind comes with a magnetic wireless remote.

Ry Crist/CNET

Smart controls

You’ll need Ikea’s Tradfri Gateway plugged into your router in order to control the blinds from the app or with a voice command. It sells separately for $35.

Ry Crist/CNET

Ikea’s Tradfri app lets you control or automate your blinds from your phone, and it’ll tell you how to connect with a voice assistant, too.

Screenshots by Ry Crist/CNET

If you’re an Apple HomeKit user, you’ll be able to see what percentage the blind’s rechargeable battery is at in the Home app.

Ry Crist/CNET

I’m keeping it

0 notes

dipulb3 · 4 years

Text

Ikea Fyrtur smart shade review: I'm keeping this thing

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/ikea-fyrtur-smart-shade-review-im-keeping-this-thing-2/

Ikea Fyrtur smart shade review: I'm keeping this thing

Incredible value compared to competitors like Lutron, Somfy and Tilt.

Easy-to-use app covers all of the bases for smart control, grouping and scheduling.

Simple, easy to use voice controls vie Siri, Alexa or the Google Assistant.

Removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

Magnetic wireless remote comes included.

Don’t Like

Totally non-customizable design, available only in gray.

Slightly ugly metal housing.

Gateway device for app and voice controls sold separately.

Mounting screws not included.

No way to manually raise or lower the shades when the battery is dead.

Ry Crist/CNET

The Fyrtur is now

Ikea Fyrtur Smart Shade sizes

Width (inches) 23 27 30 32 34 36 38 48 Price $129 $139 $149 $154 $159 $164 $169 $179

— Ry Crist (@rycrist) June 3, 2020

Each Fyrtur blind comes with a magnetic wireless remote.

Ry Crist/CNET

Smart controls

You’ll need Ikea’s Tradfri Gateway plugged into your router in order to control the blinds from the app or with a voice command. It sells separately for $35.

Ry Crist/CNET

Ikea’s Tradfri app lets you control or automate your blinds from your phone, and it’ll tell you how to connect with a voice assistant, too.

Screenshots by Ry Crist/CNET

If you’re an Apple HomeKit user, you’ll be able to see what percentage the blind’s rechargeable battery is at in the Home app.

Ry Crist/CNET

I’m keeping it

0 notes