New ZemiSmart Roller Shade Driver w/ Matter over Thread
ZemiSmart is starting 2025 with something of interest to those looking for something that ticks a few important boxes. Those would be Matter, Thread, and a retrofit device for roller shade blinds.
The ZemiSmart Matter over Thread Roller Shade Driver (MT25B) uses – as the name makes clear – Matter over Thread. This means that along with working well on all smart home platforms, it also doesn’t need to be added to Tuya’s own smart home platform for any initial setup, as was the case with older ZemiSmart devices.
Retrofit roller blind motors aren’t anything new by any means, and even when it comes to Apple Home compatible models, Aqara released its own Zigbee-based model a while ago now. However, for some reason only known to Aqara themselves, their product has so far never been released in North America. ZemiSmart’s own model will be made available to all consumers, and without any of the region restrictions Aqara products are known for. Add to this no requirement for a propriety hub (aside from requiring a Matter Controller and Thread Border Router), and it’s easy to see why this could be a popular device.
ZemiSmart’s offering also takes a slight diversion when it comes to the design. Whilst it still works in the same way, i.e. a motor with a cog that pulls a beaded chain back or forth to open and close your blinds, this model also comes with a large circular button on the front. This circular button does in fact act as a button to stop or start the motor, but it also acts as a rotary dial to adjust the position of the blinds and the speed of the motor, with three speeds available. It doesn’t allow you to manually turn the blinds however, as it’s not mechanically connected to the motor as such.
The motor comes with a set of three cogs to work with beaded chains of different types, so it’ll work with beads between 3~6mm in diameter. The internal battery offers 6400mAh, so it should work anywhere up to 6 months before requiring a recharge, which is achieved via a USB-C port on the underside of the unit.
If you are a Tuya user, then it can still work in that ecosystem if you have ZemiSmart’s own Matter bridge, the M1 (review HERE, video HERE) which is both a Matter Controller for the Tuya ecosystem, as well as containing a Thread Border Router.
The ZemiSmart Matter over Thread Blind Driver (MT25B) is available now, directly from ZemiSmart’s own online store The price (plus shipping) is currently being offered at 32% OFF the list price, bringing it to US$97.92, but with our exclusive code HNVVIP26, you can get an additional US$26 OFF.
