Kogan Smarter Home Smart Blinds Driver

Great for the price though can be fiddly to use – These are a good mechanical option for raising/lowering blinds with an app or according to a timer. They are a bit noisy and I don't know how long they will last (had them about 16 months) but they reliably open and close at the set times. When things do go wrong it can be a bit fiddly but they are simple enough to operate.

Alexa, open the blinds – I finally bit the bullet to purchase one of this device to see how well it works. I was really sceptical of this as I have very heavy roller blinds but decide to give it a try. To my surprise, the device worked perfectly. Setting it up was a little tedious process but if you follow the instructions properly it just works. It comes with a remote which is very handy to open and close the blinds without going into the app or asking Alexa/Google to do it. The blind motor comes with a mount that can be installed using the screws or 3m tape (both provided in the box) near your window and motor slides right into the mount. I installed it using the 3m tape and it works brilliantly.

In case of power failure, you can remove the motor from its mount and open the blinds manually.

You can instal Kogan Smarthome app to control the blinds, which is really just a rebranded Tuya app so if you have an existing Smartlife account/app, you can use that instead. I use the Kogan Smarthome app and have setup auto close/open function according to the time when sun comes in our living area.

You can also tell Alexa and Google to open/close the blinds - or open/close 1 to 100% blinds which is very handy and I use this feature a lot.

It comes with around 2 meter wire which was a bit short for my use so I ended up buying 12v extension cable for about $5 from eBay to use along with the provided adapter.

It's a bit noisy but it doesn't bother me in the living area.

Pros: No drilling required for installation; Very competitive price; Works on heavy roller blinds such as mine; Works with remote as well as voice commands such as Google and Alexa; App is great and can set auto open/close time according to your need; Open/Close blinds from anywhere in the world using the app.

Cons: A little noisy if you are installing in the bedroom; Due to lack of battery, the unit can't be operated during blackouts.

So much better than other retrofit Blind Controllers I have tried – I bought this Kogan Blind Controller to replace my previous unreliable unit from another company. I wasn't expecting the Kogan unit to terribly much better but it turned out to be far better in several ways. Price - It was cheaper than the previous unit. Ease of use - Much easier to set up and use. Alexa compatible - A bit quirky to get it operate with voice commands but that is more about Alexa limitations than Kogan product issues.

Best of all - The Kogan unit is very easy to recalibrate when the blind inevitably loses its place and fails to close completely. No mucking about with the app ... just adjust it manually with the buttons on the motor. Quick, easy and painless.

The Kogan unit is perhaps a little louder than others I have tried but it out performs all the others and is the ONLY one that allows integration with Alexa and the ability to program time based actions such as "Open the blind 50% at 8:00am" etc.