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Lutron's new smart blinds listen to Siri (pictures)

Serena Remote Controlled Shades boast quite a few features, and a high price of admission.

David Priest
David Priest is an award-winning writer and editor who formerly covered home security for CNET.
David Priest
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1 of 10 Chris Monroe/CNET

Lutron's Serena Shades offer plenty of smarts for a hefty price tag, beginning at $350. See if the features are worth the cost of admission.

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2 of 10 Chris Monroe/CNET

Using the Lutron app, you can schedule scenes for your shades to follow. Those scenes can even be activated automatically when you enter or leave the house, thanks to the mostly reliable Geofencing technology.

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3 of 10 Chris Monroe/CNET

You can always control the shades using a Pico Remote, which sends them messages directly with a proprietary communication protocol.

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4 of 10 Chris Monroe/CNET

The Caseta Smart Bridge will set you back $150, but it integrates the Serena Shades with other HomeKit devices.

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Serena Shades are available for order now, and their pricing varies based on window sizes and material preferences. For more details, check out the full review.

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The Serena Shades also swivel downward to allow for easy access to their batteries. That way, replacing batteries won't require you to remove the whole shade from the window.

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7 of 10 Screenshot by David Priest/CNET

The app has the same control functions as the remote, but it will reach the shades from anywhere, thanks to the Caseta Bridge.

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8 of 10 Screenshot by David Priest/CNET

Scenes in the Lutron app can make multiple products work in concert. The one problem is, those scenes can't be activated by Siri, since they aren't the same as HomeKit Scenes.

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9 of 10 Screenshot by David Priest/CNET

The Lutron Caseta app allows you to control any of the HomeKit or non-HomeKit products that interface with Serena Shades. From the front page, you can manually toggle them all.

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10 of 10 Screenshot by David Priest/CNET

The app includes other helpful features, like the Today Widget, which will show up on the Today pull-down menu on your iPhone or iPad. That way, commands are more easily accessed without having to enter and exit the app when you want to control your blinds.

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