Each Eve blind is custom-made to your specifications, but they are only available in a roller shade configuration, whereas SmartWings offers several shade types, including roller, cellular, outdoor, zebra, Roman, and woven wood. Eve’s fabric choices include light-filtering (partial darkness), blackout (total darkness), and light-filtering with insulation (which uses a metallic backing that reflects and filters sunlight). Light-filtering and blackout fabrics come in Ash, Dust, Ink, Oyster, Sand, and Snow colors, while insulated color choices include Anthracite, Black Metal, Grey Metal, Silver Metal, and White Metal. Eve will send you free fabric samples to help you pick the best option for your home.
(Credit: Eve/PCMag)
Prices vary according to the type of light-filtering fabric that you select, your window dimensions, and optional features such as an exposed bracket or enclosed cassette mounting assembly. Our test shade, which was configured using an Ash blackout fabric for a 74-by-52-inch double window with a cassette mount, cost $1,146.58. In comparison, a SmartWings roller shade built to the same specifications goes for $495.96.
Eve shades use a battery-powered motor designed by Motionblinds, a company that specializes in providing smart motor solutions for shading applications. The motor has five speeds and is charged using a USB-C cable and an AC adapter, neither of which is included in the box. Oddly, the shade does not come with mounting screws or a remote control, but it does come with mounting brackets and a setup guide.
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The motor contains a USB-C charging port, an LED indicator that glows red when the battery needs charging or green during setup, an end position button, and a Reset/Program button. The end position button is used to tell the motor when to stop when the shade has reached your desired top and bottom positions. The Reset/Program button is used to reset the motor to its factory default settings, pair the shade with a Matter controller app, and change motor speeds. It’s strange that the Eve shade doesn’t come with a remote like the SmartWings shade, but it does have a handy pull cord controller that raises and lowers the shade. Simply pull the cord once to lower the shade and pull it again to raise it.
Eve’s only motor choice supports Thread networking and is Matter-enabled, whereas SmartWings offers Matter over Alexa-only, Thread, Z-Wave, Zigbee, and non-smart motor options. Matter over Thread technology allows the Eve shade to work with multiple home automation platforms, including Alexa, Google, HomeKit, and SmartThings. As with any Matter over Thread device, you’ll need a Thread border router and Matter controller to use these shades. A few examples include the Apple HomePod mini, the HomePod, the Amazon Echo, the Amazon Echo Show 8, the Google Nest Hub Max, and the Google Nest Hub.
(Credit: Eve/PCMag)
Eve shades can be controlled using the Eve mobile app (available for Android and iOS) and one of the aforementioned home automation platform apps, whereas the SmartWing shades rely solely on the latter with no first-party companion app. The shade appears in the Eve app in whichever room you assigned during setup. Tap the Rooms tab and the shade name to open a screen with a position slider for opening and closing the shade fully or partially.
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Below the slider is a Schedule tile where you can program the shades to open and close at a specific time of day and on certain days of the week. You can have the shade stop at a favorite position, fully open, or fully close. From this page, you can also configure and enable Adaptive Shading, a feature that uses the position of the window and the sun to automatically open and close the shade. Tap the Automation tile to program the shade to open and close at sunset and sunrise, when a compatible motion sensor detects motion, and/or when you leave or arrive at home.
