SwitchBot 3 Curtain 3 review: Overcomplicated

I’m as much a fan of the internet of things (IoT) as the next tech geek, which, to be clear, is a club I proudly consider myself a member of, but the internet of things and the race to automate and connect anything and everything (I’m looking at you, smart toaster) has spawned products whose use cases are more niche than universal. The SwitchBot Curtain Opener 3 is one such product, and in this review I’ll be going over my impressions installing, testing, and using it, as well as the niche use cases I could see this product addressing.

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Price, availability, and specs

The SwitchBot Curtain 3 retails for $90 for one unit, though consider that any middle split curtains that open from the middle out would require two units to work properly. This automated curtain opener can be found on Amazon and directly from the SwitchBot website. The SwitchBot Curtain 3 is basically a small motor on rollers that attaches to your curtain rod. It is available in three styles that encompass your basic curtain rod, U-shape curtain rods, and I-shape curtain rods. The device charges via USB-C and once charged SwitchBot says the battery should last months depending on frequency of use.

What I liked about the SwitchBot Curtain 3

It functions exactly as described

It might sound like faint praise, but the redeeming quality that stuck out the most to me was that the SwitchBot Curtain 3 worked exactly as described. I was a bit skeptical if I’m being honest, as niche home automation devices like the Curtain 3 tend to be more gimmick than function. After connecting the device to the SwitchBot app (more on this later), the software walked me through the calibration process, which once completed, allowed me to open and close my curtains from the app.

Speaking of the app, it allows for a decent level of automation, mostly through the use of schedules. I was able to set the curtains to open in the morning when I typically begin working and then to close each evening once the sun goes down. The app also allows really fine control of the open and close process. I was able to open the curtains as much or as little as I wanted, measured in percent closed within the app’s UI.

What I didn’t like about the SwitchBot Curtain 3

The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze

SwitchBot claims that the installation of Curtain 3 should take as little as 30 seconds, but the reality for me was starkly different. I like to consider myself a generally capable person, and tech-savvy at that, but installing this thing took me almost an hour. I can see how once you’ve done it before, subsequent installations would take a fraction of the time, but the instructions are unclear, the manual’s images barely helpful, and the installation unintuitive at best. Once the device is installed at the far end of your curtain rod, maneuvering the rod itself becomes extremely cumbersome as the weight balance is completely tilted to one side.

If this catches you off-guard as it did me, you might end up scraping your wall and ceiling as I did, so watch out for this or install it with some help. Installation instructions vary wildly by style of curtain, and may include the use of stand-alone clips, or clips connected by beads to function properly, all of which is explained in little detail with images that can be hard to decipher at first glance.

After a cumbersome install, I finally got to start testing the bot. As it began opening my curtains for the first time, I was met with a whiny, rickety, and generally noisy operation. In the advertising materials for this product, SwitchBot shows a setup where you use the Curtain 3 to open your curtains in the morning, peacfully waking you up as sunlight is gradually let into the room. In reality, the noise of the operation would wake you up faster and more aggressively than the gentle morning light. In addition, the sound immediately conjured concerns about whether the SwitchBot Curtain 3 would damage a high-end wooden curtain rod or whether it was going to damage my window shutters over time by rubbing against the wood finish when moving.

Ultimately, I couldn’t see how, for me personally, this would ever be worth it. I measured that it would take me 5 seconds to get up and open or close the curtain manually, whereas the installation alone took me about 45 minutes. Even if I generously dropped that down to 30 minutes, it would take 360 open or close cycles just to break even on my installation time, and in my eyes, the point of automation is to save me time and energy, not cost me more.

Should you buy the SwitchBot Curtain 3?

Even with my own experience being far from ideal, I can definitely see how the SwitchBot Curtain 3 could prove useful in some niche circumstances. Firstly, this would be an amazing product for improvements in accessibility for any users who are otherwise unable to easily open and close their curtains. It also might be worth the installation on extremely tall or long curtains that are otherwise a slog to open and close, though bear in mind you will need to get up there to take the centerpiece of the Curtain 3 down for charging once or twice a year, depending on use. Consideration should also be given to how you like your curtains set when open, because if you secure them with a tie or hook, the SwitchBot Curtain 3 cannot do that for you, and manual interaction with your curtains will still be needed in the end.

If the curtain situation in your home is fairly average, meaning you open and close them from time to time, and it takes you 5-10 seconds to do so, then I struggle to see how a $90 expense, 15-30 minutes of installation, plus charging when needed, all to replace such a simple task is justifiable. If, however, you have a very niche situation that might be served by the SwitchBot Curtain 3, then by all means, pick one up, because it certainly does what it’s designed to do, and I never experienced a malfunction.

Useful but niche

SwitchBot Curtain 3