Mini blinds versus Day/Night shades

[masonga]

My wife wants to replace the mini blinds in our TT with the stock day/night shades.

I'd like to hear what peoples opinions on these two types of shades are before I invest any money to buy new shades.

Do you have a preference, and if so why do you like one over the other?

Thanks!

[08flagvlite]

I personally like the day/nights because they don't bend or rattle, and they are easy to operate. Also, no cords to dangle down for babies to grab!

[bsmall]

We love ours, have not had any problems to speak of yet.... They go up and down with ease. I think that they look better than the mini blinds do. About the only drawback would be as the shades age they will be harder to clean than the mini blinds.

[wnytaxman]

We swapped out our accordian style day/night shades for the Roll Ease type of shades on a pull chain. they work great and you don't have the uneven draw of the accordian style or the broken strings.

[masonga]

Not heard of roll ease...do you have suggestions or a link to them so I could check them out? Are they intended for RV and TT or home use?

[andes2]

If you like it dark in the morning (5AM) then the roll blinds are better. We had them in our last 2 trailers and now we have the day/night shades. New trailer is much brighter inside. However now we have so many windows we can't justify the cost. We bought sleep masks instead.

[wnytaxman]

Here is the website for Roll Ease.

http://www.rollease.com/

[SaskCampers]

Our new V-Lite has the day/night shades and I prefer them over the min blinds in our old Edgewater. The new ones are far more kid tolerant as the first time our 2 year old grand daughter was in the Edgewater she bent one of the blinds trying to look throught it by grabbing the middle and pulling. That can't happen with the day night ones. And those little plastic clips that hold them in place don't take much to bend to the point of useless.

[Joe Falco]

I may be in the minority. Our old trailer had mini-blinds, the current one has day/night shades. My Wife loves the day/nights, I personally hate them. I prefer mini-blinds. I think they look more home-like.

Joe

[MikeInColo]

I'm gonna have to chime in on the side of day/night shades. Our old camper had a couple of blinds and they banged around too much. Day/nights are easier to use.

[MtnGuy]

My vote is for the day/night shades.

[Willis]

Just got a 2010 Flagstaff 829RGSS and I have to say that so far I like the day/night shades compared to the mini-blinds I've always had before. For some reason FR still put mini-blinds on the kitchen window (perhaps for fire code) and in the bathroom. Not sure why there except maybe possible moisture issues?

I hope this isn't off-topic, but I also took down all those silly fake "curtains" that are attached with velcro and like the look much better. I think those are just something else to collect dust and get in the way while operating the shades.

[08flagvlite]

I fully understand "why the mini blinds in the kitchen". The greasy air and general cooking splatter so close to the blinds, and the fire possibilities due to their close proximity is more than likely their reasoning. As for the bathroom, ???? Randy

[akcampr]

We took out our day/night shades and put in insulated fabric roll up shades for warmth and light blocking. It is either warm and light all night, or cold and dark here, so the day/night shades didn't cut it for us.

[danneva]

I will prefer for mini blinds. Other says by having blinds, it will lead to energy savings throughout your home. Heating and cooling costs will come down dramatically. By having mini blinds, it will create a more insulated type of window.

[kvtaylor]

I am afraid I agree with another member. we have day/nite blinds in our Georgetown. Two of them are coming apart (strings broken). I think we will replace them with miniblinds when they go completly. Their too expensive to repair.

[caper]

You can use a high quality fishing line to repair the strings on the day night shades. It is an easy fix at a low cost.


2008 3001W Windjammer
2007 Ford F150
Full timers have been in TT since April 15

[rockwood06]

The day/night shades are adjustable, if you find that they are tight to move then you need to loosen the two bottom screws on both sides of the blinds at the bottom of the window and adjust the tension on the strings.

As far as saving energy with day/night shades, I did a test in Myrtle Beach two years ago in July and I posted the results on the forum.
To make it short and sweet of the results, I found that if you close the windows off with just the "night" portion of the shades the temperature will increase at the windows by 10 degrees.
The test was performed on a sunny day with temperature in the 90's, the a/c system that came with my rig was a 13,500 BTU unit and it could not keep up with demand.
I replace the 13,500 BTU Dometic unit with a Carrier 15,000 BTU unit and my wife made curtains to match the decor of the camper, this was all done prior to our trip to the same place a year later at the same time, with this change the temperatures were greatly reduce and the a/c actually satisfied and cycled normally.
Dark colors will attract heat and if you notice, that most camper are white on the out side with white roofs, this helps reduce the heat load on the camper.

Now to the best of my knowledge there are two types of day/night shades, the style that most of us have where the are the same color on both sides and then the type that our friends have that came with there Jayco, there's are dark on the inside but they are white on the out side (window side) these are actually insulated and they do not increase the heat load at the windows like mine do.....Now I am talking about the "night portion of the shade".

Mini blinds are not bad but metal blinds will hold the heat and radiate into the room, we have found with them closed, that if you turn them up from the inside the sun light will not heat up the floor or allow the sun light to penetrate between the openings of the blinds.

When you have about 275 sq ft of camper and you try to condition the space in 90 degree temperatures (out side air)or(ambient temperatures) all that heat is trying to fill the inside of the camper, heat moves to cold, so when ever you can reduce the heat load of any space then this will allow the equipment to operate easier, the more slide outs you have and the more windows and doors you have the greater the heat gain.
In the A/C world every thing is based on "Heat Gain or Heat Loss" but there are many more factors for consideration.....I need to stop.....I would like to apologize for getting carried away here.

[bryanne7]

Originally Posted by rockwood06

The day/night shades are adjustable, if you find that they are tight to move then you need to loosen the two bottom screws on both sides of the blinds at the bottom of the window and adjust the tension on the strings.

As far as saving energy with day/night shades, I did a test in Myrtle Beach two years ago in July and I posted the results on the forum.
To make it short and sweet of the results, I found that if you close the windows off with just the "night" portion of the shades the temperature will increase at the windows by 10 degrees.
The test was performed on a sunny day with temperature in the 90's, the a/c system that came with my rig was a 13,500 BTU unit and it could not keep up with demand.
I replace the 13,500 BTU Dometic unit with a Carrier 15,000 BTU unit and my wife made curtains to match the decor of the camper, this was all done prior to our trip to the same place a year later at the same time, with this change the temperatures were greatly reduce and the a/c actually satisfied and cycled normally.
Dark colors will attract heat and if you notice, that most camper are white on the out side with white roofs, this helps reduce the heat load on the camper.

Now to the best of my knowledge there are two types of day/night shades, the style that most of us have where the are the same color on both sides and then the type that our friends have that came with there Jayco, there's are dark on the inside but they are white on the out side (window side) these are actually insulated and they do not increase the heat load at the windows like mine do.....Now I am talking about the "night portion of the shade".

Mini blinds are not bad but metal blinds will hold the heat and radiate into the room, we have found with them closed, that if you turn them up from the inside the sun light will not heat up the floor or allow the sun light to penetrate between the openings of the blinds.

When you have about 275 sq ft of camper and you try to condition the space in 90 degree temperatures (out side air)or(ambient temperatures) all that heat is trying to fill the inside of the camper, heat moves to cold, so when ever you can reduce the heat load of any space then this will allow the equipment to operate easier, the more slide outs you have and the more windows and doors you have the greater the heat gain.
In the A/C world every thing is based on "Heat Gain or Heat Loss" but there are many more factors for consideration.....I need to stop.....I would like to apologize for getting carried away here.

great information, the rockwood we are looking at has the same window coverings, I love the tests you did. What can you tell me about the towing qualities of rockwood. The trailer is high compared to the surveyor which has a low center of gravity, both have torsion suspension. Any thoughts

[The_Stuff]

i think its the day/night blinds i have on all but one window. they are accordian and have tension wires to the bottom where the window sits. they work nice actually. had to re-adjust the one over the bed because it became loose and wouldnt stay up. turned out it just needed slacked then re tightened. there is springs in the bottom bar apparently!