These Smart Blinds Are So Simple!

In this video, we are reviewing smart blinds from Soma - the Smart Shades 2 and Soma Tilt 2, as well as the Soma Connect. These are retrofit devices that turn your existing blinds into smart blinds and they work with both roller shade and venetian/tilt blinds. They also work with Google Home, Alexa and Home Assistant. But are they better than the Aqara roller shade driver we looked at previously? And how well do they work?
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[@FrankGraffagnino]

thank you for pointing out that these don't require a cloud account or sign-in to use. we have to continue to educate users about the dangers of tying their devices to cloud services. Thanks!!!

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Cheers!

[@ronbaer67]

@@EverythingSmartHome could you do a full video dedicated to all things available, that you have tried, that do not require you to give up security for convenience

[@SlackerLabs]

@@ronbaer67 I don’t think there is a single smart home product out there that doesn’t make you trade some security for convenience. Even a completely local smart home device is going to have introduced new threat vectors that could be exploited because it’s all about making devices more convenient not more secure.

[@fishbone0]

@@SlackerLabs how is a completely local system giving up security?

[@homekitnews]

Glad to see a sound comparison between the Soma and Aqara models. I was reasonably happy with the Soma, but getting the Aqara with official HomeKit support and a lower volume motor sold me on the Aqara immediately.

[@DIYtechie]

Another great video. Thanks! And thank you for including the noise comparison and considering the mounting options. Very relevant 👍🏻

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Thanks! You bet, the noise was hard to ignore 😂

[@willholmes545]

Thank you for making this video! I hadn't heard about the company before, and I like how open they are, allowing local control and integration with Home Assistant. The price does feel a little steep though- could easily buy 9 for different rooms around my house, and the cost would add up quickly. The included solar panel is a great touch though. Great work as always, I love your channel!

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Thanks so much, really appreciate the support!

[@stevehubbard8459]

*cough* "Tuya". Love it!

[@EverythingSmartHome]

😂😂

[@formatBCE]

A bit unclear, if their bridge software can run as program on Raspbian etc. Would be really useful to have it as docker container - this way one could just add it to HA, and done. Also, BLE isn't great choice for ecosystem - if i have several blinds across the house, i will have to set up several bridges in worst scenario.

[@manu6nogue]

Giving these are BLE, would be really intereting if they were supported by ESPHome in order to use a constellation of ESP32's to integrate them locally to Home Assistant. Great video!

[@EverythingSmartHome]

That would be really cool! Although don't think ESPHome supports sending commands yet only recieving them

[@coin777]

@@EverythingSmartHome i use ESP home to controll my led and relays. So yes it does support sending

[@streetwiztech5505]

Really neat idea of the tilt.. great video as always.. Wife is looking at blinds to replace curtains. so yet another thing i can automate :-)

[@EverythingSmartHome]

I look forward to seeing your purchases 😂

[@melliflousbufo]

Ordered - thanks!

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Nice one, enjoy!

[@robinjp]

Love the MCM shirt!

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Haha thanks, me too!

[@MarcSolomonScheimann]

Update: I bought two of these about a month ago. And installed SOMA connect on a spare raspberry pi. I’ve been running them for the last month, overall pretty good. Although at times, the connection to the SOMA connect hub does dropout. If the price wasn’t so high, I would gladly recommend them.

[@tonyt9863]

They are good bits of kit. As you say there is no real alternative at the moment. I have had performance issues but Soma Customer Support have been great in trying to help me out. Like you, I would have loved to have seen some manual controls on the units. Great video.

[@EverythingSmartHome]

I have indeed heard good things about customer support so glad to hear that!

[@ygdiget4119]

This would be a solid buy if I knew how fast the shades could be controlled via home assistant (it's local polling). I would also love to know how reliable the blinds are when connected to the hub i.e., do they experience the same disconnect issues and delays like the app over ble?

[@robert.wigley]

Not available yet, but the Sunsa Wand looks very inconspicuous for use with Venetian blinds. Would be interested in a review if you are able to get one in for testing. Not quite sure how well, or if, they could be integrated with Home Assistant.

[@TechTutorialsDavidMcKone]

I've been using these for quite a while and my only main gripe has been the calibration. Movement can be the wrong way round so you have to correct the direction It's great that they provide firmware updates but you lose your settings and have to go through the whole calibration process all over again Ideally this should be done through the SOMA Connect but for now it has to be done per blind through the phone app Nice that the software is free but it's only supplied as an IMG file rather than an ISO and it would be good to put this on a VM instead But the HTTP API with SOMA Connect is very useful to control your blinds from a smart hub of your choice And it's useful that the pre-built one supports WiFi and Ethernet

[@makeitworktech]

Wait, that isn't you unboxing it...is it? haha :-D Interesting device!

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Hahaha 👀 good spot!!

[@the-bu3lb]

do i need that ras pi if i wanna just use it with my apple home kit system? scan the code add it to the list of other stuff and have siri do the rest ?

[@KrispKiwi]

I'd love the Soma tilt, bit pricey though. Lmao at the Tuya shot.

[@EverythingSmartHome]

😂😂

[@BryantBeers]

What brand are your roller blinds? They look great

[@maciejfassa4394]

Ikea and Dako make good and cheap smart blinds.

[@74357175]

Is it possible to control this via BLE directly, rather than wifi via soma connect, with home assistant?

[@tolem9793]

Mighty car mods shirt?

[@Excentyl]

I use iBlinds and I really like them. They are installed inside the top of the blind so are a bit harder to get set up (and you need a big enough blind so that they fit). I like them because they are just a zwave device, so can be added straight to Home Assistant :)

[@dhp106]

can you run homebridge and the soma connect app on a rPI at the same time?

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Probably, don't see why not!

[@user-dg4kb4mw5z]

Do these run even if the wifi is down ? Or say electricity is down ?

[@CMDRSloma]

My Venetian blinds have two cords for tilting, so this wouldn't work with them. Damn, back to the drawing board...

[@EverythingSmartHome]

I have one of those too, I did a DIY video on making them smart if your interested (it was my first ever video 😂)

[@CMDRSloma]

@@EverythingSmartHome Yes, I remember watching your video, as well as Rob's from The Hookup, and DrZzs's. But... Maybe it is possible to attach the ends of my cords to a chain (I have old vertical blinds laying about somewhere) and use Soma that way. I wonder if this would work.

[@IJm3]

Ha. This is awesome.

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@arevee9429]

Thanks for not using the "A-word" :).

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Haha I got roasted for it about a year ago - learned my lesson 😂

[@boopeshkumarprabhakaran]

this is great but a diy version of it would be really helpful.

[@EverythingSmartHome]

That was my first ever video!

[@boopeshkumarprabhakaran]

@@EverythingSmartHome yes... I have seen that... May be a upgraded version of that would be helpful... Don't mistake.... Love your work ❤️

[@coryhyatt2035]

What about if you have pullcord tilt wooden faux styles blinds?

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Check out my very first video, I made a DIY version 😅

[@coryhyatt2035]

@@EverythingSmartHome I like how easy to follow your video is on it. Although I dont have a 3d printer. Thank you though

[@TexSweden]

look great, but how do you actually buy them in Europe?

[@incrediblebulk92]

How's the battery life for these devices. I'd rather not have the wires running up the walls but recharging 6 devices every week sounds tedious. Edit: I must have skipped the part where you show the solar panel, that's an interesting option, I wonder if I could charge 2 with 1 panel using a 3.5mm headphone splitter.

[@sebofdoom]

I wonder how much power these solar panels provide. Living in Scandinavia means few solar hours a day during the winter and I would hate to charge these every month.

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Yeah it's interesting, they say that these are improved solar panels that don't need direct sunlight to work and so far during my testing that does seem to be true, in Scotland we get very little sunlight all year 😂

[@habitatstech]

The Soma solution uses batteries which can last a month without recharge. In northern countries the solar should be good enough to recharge the batteries without ever running out of battery power. The consideration is how good the batteries are over time.

That small devices look great but that noise… damn!

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Yeah they are screamers huh? 😂

[@Dennis-qm4rd]

Star Wars 😂 I really like them! Unfortunately they are quite BIG and need the Soma Connect (or Pi) for integration in HA. More powerful but much noisier! So why thís one, which is much more expensive, instead of the Aqara...still don't have the answer? I'm using Motion for my blinds, but looking for a solution for my venetians...

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Different use cases, well for one the Aqara can't do Venetian blinds, but I think I do prefer the Aqara unit especially for the money. But not everyone has ZigBee, so it's great to have options and choices!

[@riaanpretorius8184]

The solar panel is a big plus for me, as I've been looking at units but the wiring etc puts me off, and being lazy I wouldn't want to go around a maintenance run every month just to charge all the blind motors in my house. Would defeat the automation idea of setting and forgetting

[@EverythingSmartHome]

No absolutely agree Riaan!

[@doug350zTT]

I looked at soma and went with Sunsa instead .. better cost

[@stoneobscurity]

if its just bluetooth, then you should be able to control it via an Esp32.

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Yep exactly!

[@TheFlatulentCow]

So speed wise, the Aqara gets chopped!

[@EverythingSmartHome]

It does, but noise is high 😂 CHOPPED!!

[@TheFlatulentCow]

@@EverythingSmartHome I do like MCM. Really enjoying your channel too, keep up the good work. Found the Soma's really interesting but I'll probably still go with the Aqara due to price and Zigbee, just need stock or to be able to find them on AliE now.

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Me too! And thanks! Yeah stock of the Aqaras has been a pain since the video came out, everyone bought them up 😂

[@mrxmry3264]

the question is, does this stuff still work when there is no internet connection? if not, it is not worth buying.

[@EverythingSmartHome]

It does indeed, I mentioned it in the video that the app does not require you to create an account or sign in. Also the fact they are Bluetooth and have no WiFi so they have no way of knowing if they are connected to the internet or not :)

[@mrxmry3264]

@@EverythingSmartHome "the app does not require you to create an account or sign in" true, you said that. but that does not mean that the app doesn't try to connect to some server in the cloud.

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Sure, can confirm it does not though

[@KeranMcKenzie]

Bluetooth? Seems strange. No Zigbee or Thread or Matter? And that noise, no sound shielding? For that price it feels like they are missing the mark on a number of things there :(

[@revealingfacts4all]

I just can't stand these devices stuck to the wall.

[@EverythingSmartHome]

Don't buy them then 😂