We had 4 motorised ziptrak awnings installed by Premier Shades just before Christmas last year. We have really noticed the improvement this Summer in how much cooler our house is, but it doesn't feel dark with the awnings down. We deliberately paid the extra to get them automated as we felt we wouldn't use them as much if we had to go outside and wind them up and down. The team at Premier Shades were easy to deal with. They knew their product well and delivered on time as promised.