Switchbot Curtain Rod 2 Review: A Quick Summary
I’ve been a fan of Switchbot for a while, they make great quality products and started with the philosophy of allowing you to make your existing home items smart rather than having to buy new products. Overall, this is an incredibly solid upgrade that brings better reliability out of beta features like light sensing and adds smoother motor mechanics.
The Design And Compatibility
In this Switchbot curtain rod 2 review we share our thoughts on the motors and their improved design relative to previous models in line. The main difference is with the top of the device which has a new, spring loaded system allowing for better navigation over bumps on rails and better compatibility with it now working with curtain rails between 15 and 40mm in diameter. It’s compatible with a whole variety of curtain types including back tap, grommet, tab top and ring top but Switchbot also make products for rail-based curtains . The main body has not changed much from the first generation. When it comes to the design there is still very little change regarding the aesthetic as well. It has a nice, modern looking rounded design with the logo on the front and then a button and USB-C port on the back and comes in a choice of white or black.
Solid Specifications And Included Accessories
The main difference is with the top of the device which has a new spring loaded system allowing for better navigation over bumps. Inside you’ll find a strong motor which Switchbot claim can handle weights of up to 8KG, bluetooth connectivity for connecting to your phone or Switchbot Hub Mini and a battery with up to 8 months of battery life.
The device comes in two parts which clip together allowing it to be easily installed. In the box you get the Switchbot Curtain Rod 2, a device for smoothing bumps in the rails, a very long USB C to USB cable and a variety of bead fixers. We haven’t been able to test this battery life but have been using the solar panel accessory which we’d highly recommend as you never have to worry about charging!
The Switchbot Hub Mini (which we reviewed a while back) is recommended for those wanting out-of-home capabilities or Alexa/Google Assistant voice control. For the more tech-savvy you can also use it via HomeKit using HomeBridge and a Raspberry Pi.
You might find that bead fixers are optional but they do help with even spread of grommet curtains which is useful for certain setups, though we found the Curtain Rod 2 worked fine without them as well.
The Verdict On Price
All in all Switchbot have improved what was already a really innovative product with the Curtain Rod 2 and we think this is a great smart home accessory. At £85 for one or £144 for 2 they’re not cheap (but are cheaper than replacing your manual system entirely).
Setup Is Straightforward
You can set up the Switchbot Curtain Rod 2 in roughly 30 seconds which is probably meant to be interpreted as ‘setup is quick’ rather than it being a literal statement but setup remains simple. You start by making sure your Curtain Rod 2 is fully charged and open the Switchbot app and press the + button in the app.
The app then talks you through connecting the Curtain Rod 2, attaching it to your curtain rod, adding the bead fixers and then calibrating your curtain rod 2 so it knows how far to travel. From there you can connect two together if you’re hooking up a pair of curtains.
Voice Control And Automation Options
Saying ‘Open my curtains’ might feel like something out of The Jetsons but thanks to the Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility you can achieve this easily. This worked well every time for us when trying voice commands in our home environment testing with smart homes.
Once setup you’ll probably rarely reach for Switchbot’s well-designed app other than to tweak automations but here are various ways you might use the curtain rod 2 open and close your curtains automatically. You can set schedules – Switchbot’s schedules allow you to set your curtains to open or close at different times of day and on certain days of the week.
This feature is great for allowing daylight wakeups…allowing for weekend lay-ins specifically with sunrise triggers that adjust based on location settings available in app. Voice Control works well every time for us thanks to Alexa integration which lets you just say ‘Open my curtains’ without reaching for your phone interface or physical remote.
Solar Panel And Eco-Friendly Features
We’ll write a full review of the solar panel accessory in due course however we’ve had this hooked up and would certainly recommend them. They do have an optional wire but we have had them clipped onto the curtain rod 2 itself and have found they keep it charged.
This is particularly nice because you never have to worry about charging battery manually which adds a nice eco-friendly way of keeping operation going without needing wall power outlet nearby in many installation scenarios. This feature also helps when using cloud services for out-of-home control where connectivity matters more than raw standby time alone during usage.
Beta Features And Third Party Controls
You can setup a variety of automations or just operate the curtains through your daily routine if preferred. There is Light Sensing in beta mode which be used with the solar panels to open and close depending on light levels outside…in testing this we didn’t find that it’s very reliable yet but certainly a great feature to have when it improves.
You can use them for IFTTT connecting with other apps (e.g. closing them if a Hue light comes on or opening them at sunrise) and you can also use Siri Shortcuts too using HomeKit enabled hubs if available in your setup environment configuration choices.
Pull Feature And Linked Devices
If you have given the curtain a slight tug open or close the motor will kick in automatically to do the rest of movement for you. If you’ve got two Curtain Rod 2s linked up on either side only need to pull one and both motors are triggered by that single action interaction with fabric material.
Final Thoughts
The Switchbot has a variety bead fixers included but these don’t attach directly to the motor unit itself and help spread out grommet curtains more evenly. These accessories mean using them is optional which helps if you have standard ring top or other styles that do not need extra smoothing of rail friction.
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