VTi HomeMate

Have had the shades and app for almost two years. Set up is awkward but eventually you figure it out. Automation is terrible and unreliable. Have it set to open our 2 shades in the morning and close in the evening at set times 2 minutes apart. Each shade is successful only 70% of the time, even though the Device Management-Use Records in the app show it was always successful…until I manually operate it from the iPhone.

It was fairly easy to install, if the screw fit. Couldn’t put on the wall so right now it’s on the floor. The response time has barely a lag which I like. What I don’t like is that I can’t connect it to my google home so I’m having to reach my phone. Same as having the remote I guess. Convenient if I’m downstairs and I want to close the shades upstairs. That’s why I gave it a 3.

Pros: when using the app on your phone, it works great. You can set up different scenes in your home controlling all the shades at once or control your shades individually. For those who like to control everything on their phone this is a great app. Cons: The Alexa connection needs a TON of work. For people like myself, we are very dependent on the Alexa. We have it connected to almost everything. 1. For starters you have to say “Alexa, TURN ON shades 1” instead of the words “roll up” or “open”. That’s because this is the feature normally used to “turn on” the lights. I would like to see that feature updated since people don’t normally use the words “turn on” to roll up the shades. 2. You cannot use the Alexa to open up all your shades at once. You can only use the Alexa to open your shades one shade at a time. Each shade is called “shades one, shades two shades three”. I would like to see this updated where I can use voice command to Alexa to open all of my shades at once, and also command different preset scenes. 3. You cannot command Alexa to stop the shade from rolling up once it’s started. This is a very vital feature I would like to see updated. I had an incident when I commanded my Alexa to open up one of my shades, this particular shade malfunctioned on me, and was rolling up incorrectly. I then found myself shouting at Alexa to “STOP Shades One!!”. However, that is simply not a function of the Alexa, and the shade continued to rolled up until it jammed. Yet another vital feature I would like to see updated.