I upgraded one of my regular blinds with a Luxaflex Powerview smart blind. It’s one of the few Homekit compatible smart blinds available in Australia. If you’ve been thinking about adding automated Luxaflex blinds to your home, make sure you read this review first.
What is Luxaflex Powerview Smart Blinds
Luxaflex Powerview is a range of automated smart blinds from Australian blind manufacturer Luxaflex. The Powerview system is made by Hunter Douglas which is the parent company of Luxaflex and is available both in Australia and overseas.
Powerview is one of the few smart blind systems in Australia that is HomeKit compatible. I mainly use Apple devices, and use a Apple TV as a home hub. So having Homekit compatible blinds is a must have feature for my smart blinds.
The Powerview Setup
- HomeKit, Google Home, Alexa Compatible – These smart blinds work with Apple HomeKit, and the Google and Alexa Assistants.
- Battery or Wired Installation – The smart blinds can be installed using either a rechargeable battery or hard wired in.
- Remote or App Control – The smart blinds come with a Pebble remote that can be used to control all the Powerview blinds in your home. You can also use the Powerview app.
- Hub Based – While the blinds can be used with a Hub, the Powerview Hub connects the blinds to HomeKit (or Google Home/Alexa) and allows remote operation.
- Operate Blinds Remotely – You can control the blinds remotely. Great if you have pets!
Automation Features of Powerview Smart Blinds
Scenes
You can create scenes to control 1 or multiple blinds at the same time. For example I’ve created a “Working” scene that puts my living room half open (from the bottom up) so I get privacy but still lots of natural light.
You could create scenes for the afternoon or morning and then switch between them with one tap in the app. You can also activate these scenes using Siri (Hey Siri, set blinds to Morning).
Automations
One of the great features of smart blinds is they can be automated. You can set your blinds to open or close automatically at set times.
For example, if you wanted to wake up without an alarm, you can set your bedroom blinds to automatically open I the morning.
Remote Control
Your blinds come with a Remote so the blinds can be controlled without needing an app. I use the Remote about 50% of the time. It’s pretty well designed and if you have a lot of blinds I imagine this remote will come in very handy.
App Control
Powerview has an app and it’s fairly well designed. I use the App instead of using the Apple Home app, but you can use both. From within the app you can create scenes and automations. If you’re looking to create more complex automations such as turning on lights and closing blinds at the same time, you can do this from with the Apple Home app or Google Home app.
Voice Control
The blinds can be controlled using Siri, Google Assistant or Alexa. I use Siri. You can ask Siri to open or close specific blinds, all blinds in a room or all blinds in your home. You can also use Siri to activate Scenes.
Where to Get Powerview Blinds in Australia
Luxaflex Powerview Smart Blinds can only be ordered from a Luxaflex dealer. The good news is that Luxaflex is an established Australian brand and there are locations pretty much Australia wide. To order a blind, you can just ask a rep to come to your house for a measure and quote and take it from there.
How Long Does the Battery Last on Powerview Smart Blinds
I chose to go with the battery powered smart blinds as I live in an Apartment and installing wiring can be a bit tricky. My one concern was that I would need to keep replacing the battery. I’ve had the blinds for around 1 year and I’ve had to recharge the battery once since installation. I’m not sure how charged the battery was when it was installed (they are usually not charged to 100%). You will get months worth of use out of a single charge and of course this does depend on the weight of your blinds and how often you open and close them. My blind is one of the heaviest options.
If you have a lot of blinds charging might get annoying, but I have just one (and soon two) smart blinds so the battery option makes sense.
The battery can be removed to charge, although the blinds come with a charger that has a very long cord, so you can just charge them in place. The battery clips on magnetically. You also won’t see the battery most of time, unless you have the blinds positioned from the bottom upwards.
Are Luxaflex Powerview Blinds Worth It?
Luxaflex blinds are expensive! They are custom made for each window which means they are going to be more expensive than off the shelf options.
I ended up choosing Luxaflex blinds as I live in a region of Australia that has hot winters and freezing winters. So I wanted a Duette Insulated Blind. Powerview was one of the few automated options for this type of blind in Australia.
Overall I think Powerview by Luxaflex is a pretty solid blind automation system. I’ve found it to be quite reliable. The blinds have never been unresponsive when using the Powerview app or when using the Remote. There has been a couple of occasions where I tried using Siri to close the blinds and it hasn’t been able to connect. These issues are very sporadic and hasn’t really been an issue.
Hunter Douglas does update the app and hub fairly regularly. So overtime I imagine this system will get better and better.
Powerview works with HomeKit, Alexa and Google Home. So no matter what smart home setup you have, it should work with your devices. There is no word yet whether Powerview will work with the open standards Matter or Thread. I imagine they will eventually as most Homekit compatible devices are moving in that direction.
I like the Powerview Smart Blind setup and I plan to add more smart blinds to my apartment. While they are expensive, you do get a very high quality blind with a ton of customisation options. The Smart Blind system is a step above what you’d get from Ikea or other cheaper blind companies. Overall I think it’s worth it.
