[mbroder]

Any one know of a good web-site or company to get reasonably priced, attractive (for the WAF), motorized blackout shades?


Thanks, Mark

 

[Deane Johnson]

The easiest to use, lowest cost motorized shades are HunterDouglas PowerRise Duettes. They are IR remote control.


I would recommend you get prices and a demonstration from a local dealer. If you find them on the internet, you might save a few dollars, but what are you going to do for service when you have a problem?


Deane

 

[lexa695]

If you want blackouts that look nice, you need to get the aluminum lined shades. Problem is they aren't cheap. I just paid $1000 to do the two windows in my bedroom with a crank up auto drop mechanisim. I would imagine a remote would cost more.

 

[Deane Johnson]

The PowerRise Duettes are available in blackout. They have an opaque foil in between the fabric layers. If you want to post your sizes, I can give you a rough idea of what they would likely cost.


Deane

 

[mbroder]

Thanks Deanne,


I have 2 windows. One is 96"wide X48"high, the other is 60"X48". I did look at the hunter douglas cellular shades at Expo Design Center. They wanted about $1000.00 with the motors and 1 remote for the 2 windows. I was really hoping to spend a lot less.


There are a lot of other companies that sell the blackout cellular shades for half the price of Hunter Douglas even without the motor, but it seems that none of them have a power driven motor as an option.

 

[Deane Johnson]

Those two shades with one remote would sell for about $841 plus installation of about $40. That would include the dealer coming out at no charge and making the final measurements and making sure they would fit properly.


Each dealer sets their own retail price, so if these make sense to you, you might call around in your city.


I don't know of any less expensive motorized remote control shade.


HunterDouglas invented these shades and none of the knock-offs are as good. Hunter is a development leader in window coverings and the others all pretty much try to make a cheaper copy and get their sales that way. I can tell you from experience, you give up a lot when you leave HunterDouglas just to save a couple of bucks. And I don't know of anyone who has been able to copy the PowerRise. They are all manual pull.


Deane

 

[waja]

Quote:

Originally posted by Deane Johnson Those two shades with one remote would sell for about $841 plus installation of about $40. That would include the dealer coming out at no charge and making the final measurements and making sure they would fit properly. Deane

Deane,

How well do these shades work for Inside Mount vs Outside Mount? On the Inside Mount, how much of a gap is there between the shade and the window frame?


Thanks,

Rick

 

[apnar]

I have them on an indside mount, and I's say there is about a 1/4 inch at most gap on either side. Almost zero light slips through though due to the window frame itself (not sure exactly how to say it, but the stuff that actually holds the glass). They are great shades and are just about 100% light blacking, and I always get great reactions when I use my remote. The origional plan was to palce molding around the edges to get the 1/4 inch covered as well but I haven't needed it so I haven't gotten around to it yet.


-apnar

 

[Deane Johnson]

Quote:

Originally posted by waja Deane, How well do these shades work for Inside Mount vs Outside Mount? On the Inside Mount, how much of a gap is there between the shade and the window frame? Thanks, Rick

There are some variables involved. For one thing, if your dealer makes an inside measurement, the HunterDouglas fabricator will take 3/8" off that measurement. That means there is automatically a 3/16" gap on each side. Then, the fabric falls about 1/8" or a tiny bit more inside the head rail width on each side. So, as apnar stated, you're likely looking at a bit over 1/4". If you want to get gutsy, you can have the dealer overstate the width by a little bit, say 1/4" to compensate for the automatic reduction, but you're taking chances. These deductions are to compensate for out of square window frames, uneven window frames, etc., so they are there for good reason.


I far prefer to build light baffles in back of and in front of the shade as necessary rather than believe I could get them tight enough not to leak. This way, you can stop virtually 100% of the light. I find that any light leakage whatsoever is unacceptable. Even a slight sliver of light becomes gigantic in a 100% darkened room.


Even outside mounts need some sort of baffling (my prefered mounting approach for blackout). The back side of the shades are always white. Light hits that and bounces back to the wall, then into the room. While light doesn't turn corners, it sure bounces around a lot.


In all of this, I am assuming a 100% dark room such as is desired for front projection. If you're using some other type display device and have low level lighting in room at all times, your demands at the window are reduced a little bit.

 

[waja]

Damn. First the good part. I got the wife to agree to using blackout shades in the livingroom. She was even OK with the choices of colors. Now the bad part, the shade weighs too much for the motor that is used. At 120" across, I am only allowed 36". I need 60", so no motor option for me. Bummer.

Anyway, I did like the looks of the shades and so I went for the inside mouted, pull string version. I am having them installed and I hope I don't have a problem when I want the window's width to be stated a tad wider. I have semi-transparent shades hanging right now, and it is obvious that they can be about a half-inch wider. (I'm going to shoot for 3/8" more.)


My set is an RPTV, so I am OK with a little light leakage. The only reason I am going with the black-out shade is that I want to leave the protective screen on this set. My previsous two RPTV's did not have protective screens and I ended up buying a new screen for one set.


I will post back after the shades are installed.


Thanks all,

Rick