I don't write many reviews but I noticed a lot of confusion around the Alexa functionality in the reviews here, so I thought I'd clarify a few points so others didn't need to spend as much time as I had spent linking to Alexa.

First, the shade itself is fantastic. It definitely is black-out. Some light of course escapes from the sides but they tell you to allow for this in your measurements if you go with the outside mount like I did. The motor is not loud at all, in fact I think it's slightly quieter than some of the bigger name brands friends of mine have. It does at a couple points make what I can only describe as a slight grinding noise when raising or lowering the shade but not a huge bother.

Installation is not complicated, but if you have a wide blind like mine, you will probably want a second set of hands to help hold it in place while you level it and mark your drill holes, since a level mount is critical.

As for Alexa, I ordered the P440 smart motor, which supports the ZigBee protocol. What this means is that you either will need a separate ZigBee hub to connect it to your Wi-Fi, or one of the Amazon Echo models that has a ZigBee hub embedded in it. So, some of the older descriptions say the shade is only supported by three Alexa models, but there are I believe five or more now. I for example purchased the Amazon Echo 4 (not on the older descriptions as supported). Just ensure that whatever model you buy includes a ZigBee hub. Pairing the motor is then as simple as pressing the small reset button on the end of the shade four times, followed one long 3-second press, which will pulse the shade once, and then it's in pairing mode. (This is shown in the instruction manual, but it's a little confusing to decipher.) At this point, ask Alexa to "find new devices" and she'll find it after a few seconds via her built-in ZigBee Hub.

One note: The commands to "Open the shade" (or whatever name you give it), or "close the shade," do not work. Rather you have to say to what length specifically, so "close the shade to 100%" will put it all the way down, and "open the shade to 0%" will open it all the way. It cannot support fractions of percentages, so if you set a custom open or close point, it won't be able to stop at that spot with the voice command unless it's on a round number percentage. For example, my custom close point is about 97.5% of the length, but I have to choose 97% or 98% with this feature.

However, the capability to establish a routine is extremely helpful. Now when I wake up and ask Alexa to "start my day," this includes opening the shade. I also set it to close the shade about 20 minutes after sunset each day, which it will compute and activate automatically.

Don't let the other reviews and questions confuse you. As of at least November 2020, the Yoolax shades with the P440 smart motor DO support Alexa models that have a built-in Zigbee hub, with easy setup.

All in all, very happy with this purchase.

I love my new motorized blind! It's quiet and fit exactly as I measured. There is a definite learning curve to ordering and installing, however.

In ordering, order the exact size that you want - the company does not make adjustments to the size you put in your order, it's best you make the adjustment yourself. For instance, for an outside mount, I measured the exact height and width of the window opening. Then I added 6" to the height and 6" to the width to get the measurement for my order (the extra 3" per side is what Yoolax recommended for an outside mount. The company will message you and ask you to verify the measurement as an added precaution. The measurement you put in the order is the exact measurement your blind will be, so if you have doubts, you can message Yoolax through Amazon. I found them to be responsive and answered all my questions within 24 hours. Also, if you purchased samples for your blinds, Yoolax will refund you the price of your samples upon ordering which is nice.

I received the item within a few weeks of ordering - was quicker than I expected, so that was great. The installation of the blind was very simple. The directions were easy to follow. I installed the blind (84" width) by myself. The remote control worked from the beginning and is easy to use. The color/fabric I chose works perfectly with my room, so I am very happy.

So my biggest issue was integrating with Alexa. There was a big learning curve in getting the blind to work with Alexa without purchasing an additional hub (the whole reason I ordered this blind). I had to order a specific Alexa Echo Spot - I thought I could use any recent version of Alexa Echo, but no, you must use the 4th generation (it costs about $100). It took two tries to get the right Alexa equipment, but then Alexa did not recognize the blind controls. This led me to contact Yoolax again. They had me reset the blinds, and once I did that, I was able to use Alexa with the blinds. So this was not a quick setup - it took a couple of weeks to really fine tune Alexa to work with my blind.

Now that I have everything set up correctly, I think this was a good buy and I would purchase blinds from Yoolax again. The price point is so much better than the Lutron Serena Shades at 3 times the price (which I also have). Lutron Shades are hard-wired or run with batteries whereas Yoolax Shades are charged. You charge it once and you get about 100+ uses before you need to charge it again. I just hope it lasts!

We bought this custom shade because during the summer, the heat and light coming through this very tall arched window in our foyer was unbearable. Our upstairs landing was staying very hot all day. This has been perfect so far. The temperature difference in our house has changed drastically. This color is Jacquard Coffee and we have cream trim on all our moldings and it goes perfectly. The other side that faces the outside is white. It was super easy to install. The remote works perfectly. We plan on using an extension cord on a ladder to charge it when the time comes. We have no complaints. It was more expensive than we anticipated BUT, I do think it will be worth it.

The media could not be loaded. It seems like this is their market from other reviews, but if you have a window that is impossible to reach and needs to be darkened for whatever reason, THESE ARE THE BLINDS FOR YOU. For me, as you can see from the video, it's a gigantic transom window above my door. I LOVE how much light this lets into the house, except for when the sun is low in the winter (this is a south facing window) and I'm blinded sitting on my sofa. I tried a cheap tension rod and valance in this window (since I really only need to cover the top 12" of it to keep the sun from shining directly into my eyes), and because it's so wide (almost 5'), the tension rod would fall down every 2-3 months. The weight was only a semi-sheer valance, but that was too heavy to hold across that width. And putting it back up, at 12' above the floor, was no small project!

These were super-easy to install. 6 screws (3 on each bracket), snap it in, and done. I got the solar panel because why not take advantage of that direct sunlight and not have to stand on the sofa and plug it in, and that was just a plug, press it onto the window with the included adhesive strips, and done. The panel is smallish, but probably plenty to move a blind like this once or twice a day (more than that and you'll probably need to do a plug-in charge every few months...I have a lot of solar-controlled things around the house like lights and a Ring doorbell, so I'm basing my opinion on that). I set it at the "I will not be blinded" level and left it there a week ago, and will probably next move it in March when the sun is out of my face until November, so it should work for me!

I wasn't thrilled with the setup instructions for controlling it, but once I fiddled with it enough, I figured out what channel it was already on with the remote and how to set the upper and lower stop positions (I do actually want it to stop fully up since I will put it fully up once the sun stops blinding me for the year sometime in early March), so it was fine. It took me maybe a half hour of messing with the remote before I figured it out, which wasn't a huge deal to solve a problem I've been struggling with for a few years. I will probably mount the remote next to my fan remote for the living room (it comes with a wall mount and screws/anchors), so I always know where it is and it's 2 steps away from my seat on the couch when I want to change the setting.

I ordered total of 5 of these. First of all, the rolling shades are very good quality. Packing is done very well. Installation is fairly easy. Linking to remote and subsequent programing such as setting the upper and lower limits of the shade is reasonable; some of them, inexplicably took a few more attempts to program successfully; but nonetheless, I eventually was able to to program all of them. The problem I have with the product is the "side tracks" that I ordered with the shades. These go on the inside of the window cove to cover the slight gaps that exist on both side of the shade which leaks sunlight in. The shades are an option buy. In my case, $40 additional for a pair of "side tracks" for each shade. My first shipment of 3 shades: the side tracks came in separate boxes (My guess is they are made from a different manufacturing facility) They were fine. 2 pieces for each, spanning the entire height of the window on each side, with 1 strip of sticky tape that you attach to the inside wall of the window cove. Second set of shades: The side tracks came with sticky tape on both surfaces of each track! One side is meant to go on the wall, making the other side a long strip of red tape exposing to the red front! I tried to remove the the sticky tape, however, the stuff is a permanent tape...it doesn't come off cleanly. The adhesive residue probably will attract dust and insects stuck to it. Not acceptable. The third shipment: the side tracks came in 4 half sized pieces! If you stack them on top of each other they are indeed correct height, however, there will definitely be a gap that sunlight can leak through. Besides, I ordered the full length side tracks, like the ones that came with my first shipment. I will not install 4 side tracks stacked on top of each other; not when I spent over $300 for each shade (my windows are larger 34" x 58"). If they resolve these problems to my satisfaction, I will change my ratings. But, these are shipped from China and it takes about 2 weeks for them to get anything to you. So the whole process is a bit cumbersome.

Update 12/27/2020
So after I contacted the merchant about the problem, I received emails from them, first suggesting I should stack the sidetracks on top of each other. Second email said they just couldn't ship it. UNREAL! After I wrote my 1 star review, I started receiving phone calls from merchant. The guy totally was trying to weasel out of making things right at first, he actually said something about COVID (what the ____ COVID had anything to do with this?), then said shipping company would not accept such a long package last week...etc. I told him my prior shipments with the same length sidetracks shipped just fine. Eventually, he gave in and said that he will ship replacement sidetracks. 2 weeks later, I received the sidetracks...and guess what? They were about an inch longer than what I needed. I know the reason for the mistake: When you order your shades and add the sidetracks with the order, they take into the account the height of the valance and produce the sidetracks the length of your window minus the height of the valance. Since they were shipping my sidetracks without the shades, they just produced 2 side tracks that were about 1.5 inches too long. Not too much of big deal; I used a jigsaw and cut them to the correct length.

I'm pretty sure someone at the merchant was thinking perhaps they could cut shipping cost by putting everything into 1 box. What needed to be done was putting everything in a bigger box, rather than breaking some of the pieces in halves. GEEZ!

All the other blunders I can chalk it up to busy holiday shopping season, overworked workers...etc. The blinds themselves ARE good quality products and have worked well since I installed them. What's really cool is with the remote control, my 5 blinds are perfectly synchronized when I lower/raise them; it just looks "fancy" if you know what I mean. All and all, while I'm happy with my final products, I'm much less likely to buy from this merchant again. $1600+ for 5 blinds, I expected smoother experience.