GE Smart Shades (standard sizes)

A finished shade for an ordinary window

GE Smart Shades suit a bedroom, office or kitchen window of ordinary size, where you want a motorized shade without ordering one to measure. Each box holds the roller shade with its motor and rechargeable battery, a pre-paired remote, a magnetic charger and a mounting plate. There are six widths from 24 to 38 inches. Every standard shade carries 76 inches of fabric, and the remote sets how far it travels, so one shade covers windows from 24 to 76 inches tall.

Price is the main reason to choose it. At GE's US store, translucent fabric runs from about $300 for the 24-inch shade to about $335 for the 38-inch one, and blackout costs about $35 more at each width. White or grey fabric and white or black hardware cost the same. Matterhome's priced example of Eve's custom collection, a 36 × 60-inch light-filtering blind, comes to about $690. The 36-inch GE shade in translucent fabric costs less than half that, though you get a fixed width instead of an exact fit.

Fit decides the purchase, especially for blackout

Standard sizes only work if you measure carefully and round down. An inside mount needs at least 3 inches of depth and a square frame, and GE tells you to order the next size below your narrowest measurement, never above it. A window that measures exactly 32 inches gets the 30-inch shade.

That rounding leaves light at the edges. GE calls light gaps of about an inch on each side normal for an inside mount. For a bedroom that has to be dark, GE recommends mounting the shade above the window and adding 4 to 6 inches to the frame width. GE measures that frame across the outside edges of the trim, so with 38 inches as the largest standard size, extended coverage works only when the trim spans no more than about 32 to 34 inches. Larger windows need GE's custom shades, which run from 28 to 72 inches wide and up to 110 inches long. Custom shades are made to order, can take up to three weeks before they ship, plus delivery time, and are final sale. That puts them up against Eve's collection, so price both before ordering for a window outside the standard sizes.

No hub, no app, and a code to keep

The motor uses Matter over Thread, so you need a Thread border router for your platform. It pairs with Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa and SmartThings; Home Assistant is not on GE's list. There is no GE app, so schedules, scenes and voice control come from the platform you pair it with. Apple Home users do not get the built-in Adaptive Shading that Eve's app gives its blinds, only the automations Apple Home can run.

Pair the shade in your smart home app before you mount it. The Matter setup code is printed on the motor antenna, so photograph it before the shade goes up, in case you need to pair it again later. Pairing is not always smooth: one of GearBrain's two review shades at first would not respond to its remote or Matter controller, and after GearBrain contacted GE support, a factory reset let it pair normally. The included remote also sets the shade's travel limits, stores a favorite position and can be paired with more than one shade.

Plan for the charging cable

The battery is built into the shade. GE rates it at about six months per charge with one up-and-down cycle a day, so a schedule that also closes the shade at midday is likely to need charging more often. When the motor beeps ten times, the battery needs charging. The magnetic charger attaches at the bracket near the USB port, so you need an outlet within cable reach of the top of the window or a power bank you can leave there overnight. A charge takes at least eight hours, and the shade should not be operated while it charges. When the battery eventually wears out, there is no cell to swap, which is the same weakness as Eve's motors.

Which shade to buy

Buy the GE shade when one of the six widths fits and you want a complete motorized shade without a custom order. Choose the Eve Blinds Collection when the window needs exact dimensions, more width or Eve's Adaptive Shading in Apple Home. If you already like your roller blinds, the Eve MotionBlinds Upgrade Kit motorizes a suitable existing blind for about $220 in the US, without replacing the fabric.