Dustin bought a set of Eclipse light blocking curtains at Kmart, but woke up the next day to a well-lit room and some gently glowing windows. The picture Dustin took of the curtains looks an awful lot like the “normal” ones in the official product shot.
I recently needed to buy some new curtains for my bedroom. My old “curtains” were some pieces of thick black cloth that I had sewn a pocket on one side to go on a curtain rod. They were great at blocking out the light during the day if I wanted to sleep, but the thing is that they were black, and I wanted something a little nicer looking.
I had seen these blackout curtains in Walmart and Kmart a few times, and decided to check them out. The Kmart in our area usually has some good sales, so I headed there to see what they had. I ended up buying some Eclipse “Kent” curtains there for I think $12 per panel.
These things claim to block out over 99% of light, and somehow reduce noise by up to 40%. They also have some other unrealistic claims about saving on energy and heating and such, but that wasn’t really my concern. Now I knew that the 99% light blockage sounded a little optimistic, but I would have been satisfied if it would just cut out most of the light.
So I put them up that evening and went to bed thinking I would wake up to a nice dark room.
Didn’t happen. The attached photo shows how much light these things really “block.” Remember too, that photo is exposed for the window, so the room kinda goes dark, which makes it look a little bit darker than it actually is in the room.
The thing that really bugs me about this is the fact that they look like a decent product at first, have pretty big displays in the stores, and make some pretty bold claims that are complete B.S. Here’s a link to their website so you can see what they claim.What do you think? These things block out more like 2% of the light. Some of the curtains go for as much as $30+ per panel, so I thought I’d let others know that these things are a complete waste of money. I’m going back to my homemade crappy black curtains.
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I’m betting that Walmart “value engineered” something out in order to have that product in their store, just like we’ve heard and seen on so many products. I would go buy them from another store if possible and see if they’re any different.
My mom had blackout curtains for me when I was little because I was scared of lightning. I know there is a product out there that works because mine did…
Part, but not all, of the problem here is that the OP does not have enough panels. Add two more panels and there will be more light reduction because of the folds in the fabric.
Still… They’re pretty thin for light-blocking curtains.
Part of it appears – to my humble eyes – that the curtains in the product shot are open (that is, folded together) while the OP’s shot is clearly while they are closed (flat). I think the product shot could be construed as misleading.
I got some black-out curtains on Amazon that are 50 bucks a panel and they work great. They aren’t lined with that thick backing- so they’re not like ugly hotel curtains and they drape pretty well. I admit they glow just a little when the morning sun beats down on them, but they keep the room pretty damn dark. I got the orange ones and I love them.
The brand is “Best Home Fashion” – they have some instructions that make me believe they hail from China.
Good luck.
I picked up some light blocking/thermal drapes at jcpenney awhile back for around this price range that work great. Something definitely isn’t right with these.
i recently bought some of these panels as well for my bedroom. The window in my room is situated so that the sun comes up in the morning and glares right in…
to give Eclipse credt, I bought the Thermaback curtians and i am very happy with them, they block almost all the light except from the edges where the curtian doesnt seal to the wall.
I didnt go cheap and pay $12 for them, they cost me about $25 from walmart – but i feel that this guy is just mad because he got what he paid for.
If you want some blackout curtains, call Alaska. That is a state that knows the business of blackout curtains.
I have these exact curtains. The look lit up, but the room stays pretty dark. My wife works nights and seems to like them.
I have some of these. Darker colors block more light than lighter ones. But my main motivation was saving energy and they do seem to help that. With a set of these over the largest windows in the house, the temperature stays a lot more consistent throughout the house, and in most parts, stays a couple of degrees cooler now.
I’m sure if I had new windows they wouldn’t make as much of a difference, but a new window costs $200 (minimum), versus $60 for enough of these curtains to insulate the old one. So I’ll buy the curtains and save my pennies to get windows later.
For windows this wide you need at least two more panels.
So I ended up taking the curtains back to Kmart last night, and the girl at the customer service desk said that I was the second person who had returned the exact same kind of curtains and said that they didn’t block the light. Who knows, maybe they were missing the backing, maybe an error in production.
I bought black-out drapes from Penney’s catalog about 10 years ago and they make the room as dark as a cave! They were reasonably priced, as I recall, and are in excellent shape after all this time.
Buy blackout cloth. It’s white, incredibly cheap and can be purchased by the yard at any fabric store. It will block 100% of light. Sew it on the back of any normal curtains and you’re good to go.
I have five windows in my bedroom that I use brown Eclipse curtains on, and they work really well. I do use them in conjunction with blinds. The blinds did little to keep my room dark. With the curtains, my room stays dark all day.
Kmart linens are pretty crappy. Thin, badly made, likely to fall apart. Look in one of those stores that gets department store castoffs, like Ross or TJ Maxx. Or go to Linens and Things.