Do you regret your expensive motorized shades?

Being new to motorized shades, I was naturally shocked when I got the quotes. I can't imagine anything else, though, for our living room which will also be used for home theater.

I am curious if you have expensive motorized shades, and owned them for a while, do you generally feel that they were worth it? Would you buy it again if you had to do it over, or use simple draw string shades or a cheaper fabric or skip the fancy RA2 automation? Or is the motorized automation and facy fabric one of the highlights of your enjoyment of the room?

Thanks Glenn. That's one of the decisions I'm struggling with. If it had pull strings, would we actually use them, or leave the shades in one place all the time.. In this room, where we are positioned on a hill, the whole neighborhood can see us at night, but there is also a nice view during the day. I'm afraid with manual shades we wouldn't actually bother to open it for the view, or remember or care to drop them down at night. Some of the plantation shutters we have on other windows have been in the same position for decades, and thinking about it now, some of those have a nice view we're not taking advantage of.

Or automated with an astronomical timer? Sometimes we walk by the windows: "oops I forgot I'm in my pajamas and the whole city can see us" forgetting that we removed the old drapes. I'm thinking this wouldn't happen if the shades automatically lower as soon as it gets dark, and then rise back up in the morning for the view.

MrBobb, electrically operated opaque glass panes sounds like an excellent idea to consider. I didn't think of that. Although our windows are rather large from floor to ceiling covering the entire wall and I have no idea where to look for suppliers for that to get a demo.