erod Center Open Motorized Drapery Rod, 80 to 144 Inch, Bronze

The media could not be loaded.  Recently got the smart home bug and wanted a motorized curtain rod I could integrate with my Google Home network. While this rod doesn’t have WiFi or Bluetooth capabilities on it’s own, I figured I could use an IR blaster. I read some terrible reviews on the Erod here and on other sites but with Amazon’s liberal return policy for Prime members, why not give it a try? It’s by far the cheapest motorized curtain option I could find at least for the large wall of windows that I have.PACKAGINGJust like some of the other reviews mentioned, the product arrived in a box that was beat to hell. This is more likely the shipping companies fault and not Amazon’s. Luckily for me, everything was in order and all the parts were still enclosed.BUILD QUALITYOne of the video reviews that I saw on this unit mentioned that it had a poor build quality. I found this to be inaccurate. Yes, if you shake it in your hand it will make noise but that is only because there are lots of moving parts. Once mounted (properly), it was quite a bit more sturdy than my existing static rod.INSTALLATIONI found the installation to be extremely easy. I did have an existing rod that I was replacing so I had an idea of where to place mounting brackets.NOISEOne of the two reasons I can’t give the Erod 5 stars is the noise. It is not quiet. Any louder and I would have returned it. The noise comes out of the motor and also the moving part that pulls the curtain closed.OVERALLGood build quality, attractive enough and the installation is easy installation if your somewhat handy. The only cons would be the noise and the fact that only one end of the curtain is being pulled (one end in each direction) while the rest of the hooks catch the ride. If your curtains are wide you may end up with one side of the curtain bunched up a bit because it didn’t get pulled evenly. It doesn’t really bother me because I only close my curtains before bed.TO INTEGRATE WITH GOOGLE HOMEBuy an IR Blaster. An IR (infared) blaster is a small device that acts as a universal remote that usually has WiFi and/or Bluetooth connectivity. I bought the Broadlink Mini from New Egg for $13. I followed their easy instructions to program the Erod remote control into the device using their (Broadlink’s) app called IHC. I created an open, close and stop curtains routine (separately) linked the app with Google Home and created a custom named routine in Google Home. The last step allowed me to just say “Hey Google, Open the Curtains” instead of having to say “Hey Google, Activate the Open the Curtains.” The IR blaster is sitting behind the large planter and completely out of site.

The media could not be loaded.  I've this BEME erod for a few days and wanted to share my thoughts. Take a look at the video where I highlight some of the issues with the unit. Video quality isn't the best as it's with a cell phone, but I think its okay overall.First and foremost, you cannot beat the value of this unit for its price. You can have the unit installed and working in about 30 minutes about another 30 minutes to mount the curtain / clean up the wiring. I installed the rod in my bedroom so they will be getting daily use. This will be a good test for its longevity.Pros:- Adjustable width gives great flexibility- Easy of install- Everything except for remote batteries are included The descriptions seems to hint they are included, but I did not find them.- Low cost- Customer service at the company responded to an email same dayCons:- Mounting brackets place curtain 4 inches off of the wall at its closest. I'm pretty sensitive to light, so I had to use a dremel to cut down 6 of the parts in order to get a "tighter" installs to the wall. This took an extra hour as it was several test and fit rounds in order to get it as close as I did.- Unit motor is loud. On of my initial thoughts was to use the light as a good way to wake up in the morning. Unfortunately, the motor noise will wake you up before the light does. This is much, much louder than my projector screen (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YTRFEG).- Motor lacks in power / mechanism is not smooth. You can hear the unit "grinding" / having difficulty at some point in the motors cycle. My curtain is relatively light (maybe 7 pounds), you can hear it struggling.- Large light gap created between the erod and curtain when using the curtain clips to hang the curtain. I'm going to try to mount my curtain on these pin on hooks and see if the does the trick: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HJBG8O- No option for hardwire control. This may be necessary for a small percentage of the market, but it would be a very inexpensive to have dry contacts for close, open, and stop- Quality control on the curtain clips seems to be poor as two on my rod had bent pins. I had to get needle nose pliers and coerce them into working.BEME should:- Provide different brackets for flush wall mounting- Source a quieter and stronger motor- Consider having a design change or alternate model where the moving mechanism is on the face of the rod rather than the bottom (turn it 90 degrees). The rod itself would block the light from escaping upward and having the curtains mounted on the front would cover up the rod when they are closed.- Add 4 dry contacts for control through other means than IR. This could be additional revenue as it can be a kit that could connect to a header on the motor.