Nice design from Hunter Douglas Jason 11 Apr 2006

17 comments Latest by Mark

Instead of just one pull at the bottom of the cord, Hunter Douglas offers an adjustable additional pull which you can place elsewhere on the cord for your blinds. This prevents the issue when the blinds are all the way up and the bottom pull is wrapped on itself at the bottom of the window ledge — making it difficult to adjust the blinds again. In this situation a simple nudge of the additional pull allows easy adjustments without having to step back 2 feet to pick up the slack at the bottom of the cord. Nice thinking.

17 comments so far (Jump to latest)

Paul 11 Apr 06

I think that this is a slightly less-thought-out feature than you’re giving them credit for (my Bali cellular shades have a nearly identical thing). The “adjustable additional pull,” if you’ll examine it a little more closely, is actually the terminus of the multi-stranded, thinner cords that actually operate the blinds. The “bottom pull” is attached via a thicker, braided cord. The position of the “additional pull” is not actually adjustable, since the lengths of the cords on either end of it are fixed.

So really what you have here is a “cord extension,” though the interface between the cord and the extender is nicely shaped so that you can grasp it with your fingers.

A nice feature of the “cord extension” is that you can remove it when you have toddlers that want to try to strangulate themselves on your shade cords. It leaves the upper limit of the cord a little higher out of reach.

Tomas Breen 11 Apr 06

I don’t get it. I’m trying to visualise, but can’t.

Wait. I read it again and get it now.

JF 11 Apr 06

Ahh, Paul, I see what you mean. However, maybe it’s meant to have dual function — it certainly does for me.

Colin 11 Apr 06

I have Hunter Douglas shades, and it’s really worth noting “adjustable” is a little optimistic: By “adjust” they mean “cut off.” If you ever want to adjust it longer again, you get to call the H-D parts department and order a replacement. You’d think with the enormous pulls they’re using today, you could wrap some slack inside the original pull.

Tim Windsor 11 Apr 06

Looks like a tiny CueCat scanner to me!

Jon Maddox 11 Apr 06

@Tim

Thats exactly what i was going to say!

Anonymous Coward 11 Apr 06

Wow ……they have solved a problem that in my 32 years has never been an issue to me.

So if a problem isnt really a problem …does it need solving?

Wouldn’t it be better for hunterdouglas to innovate on blind material that repels dust ? or how about a blind that doesnt kink when my kids grab them? or some way to eliminate one side of the blind going up and the other side down …..

but hey ….that is just me

cheers

scott

scott brooks 11 Apr 06

Wow ……they have solved a problem that in my 32 years has never been an issue to me.

So if a problem isnt really a problem …does it need solving?

Wouldn’t it be better for hunterdouglas to innovate on blind material that repels dust ? or how about a blind that doesnt kink when my kids grab them? or some way to eliminate one side of the blind going up and the other side down …..

but hey ….that is just me

cheers

scott

Another problem 11 Apr 06

Looks like web browsers haven’t solved the problem of a double post.

scott brooks 11 Apr 06

They haven’t figured out how to stop users who forget to put their name and emails in. Dont blame the browser blame the user ….damn ….thats me

but …if my browser had said …hey wait …you forgot you name….nahhh it is a user thing

cheers

Scott

dave 11 Apr 06

What about this am I missing? I don’t think I’ve ever grabbed the little plastic pull on a set of blinds; I always grab the chord.

Julien Couvreur 11 Apr 06

To me the problem and solution described are not very interesting, I’d rather have a way to avoid the cord from resting (in a mess) on the window ledge.
Rather, I would love some solution to store the cord in some place safe, that is “away from the cats”…

Joe 12 Apr 06

Yuck. I would remove the cord extension.

Jeff Nolan 12 Apr 06

I would also prefer they get rid of the cord altogether, now that would be a genuine design improvement. Wait a minute, they did and I bought them. Piece of crap cordless blinds from Hunter Douglas cost 3x as much as the old corded variety, and ended up breaking in 18 months.

Great design on a crappy product still leaves you with a crappy product. The lesson that should be learned is focus on the core and get it right, then worry about the design.

Hunter Douglas blinds salesgirl 26 Apr 06

If you bought Hunter Douglas blinds, they are warranteed for as long as you own them, other than normal wear and tear. Whoever you bought them from should be able to either repair them or have them replaced at no charge to you.

ed 14 May 06

the peanut looking breakaway tassel is a safety feature to prevent kids or animals from getting caught up in them. The single cord is the cord from the breakway tassel to the other tassel is the cord to use to operate the shade. If the cords are too long, cut them to the needed length or use a butterfly to wrap them around.

There are also other features to use to operate your shades. Including cordless operations.
AND the materials made in the hon eycomb line are dust repellant


I have had my shades for over 12 years and not even the cords have broken.