The blinds look great and I love that they are cordless.  They move up and down easily with just one hand. The wand is still there to adjust the louvers.  Installation was standard, however, make sure you are placing the brackets in the appropriate place.  There are certain places on the housing that will not accept the bracket. We had to move our brackets to make it work.  The valance is permanently attached which I loved.  The edge of each blind has a lip on it to help keep out light from between the blinds.  Although these are "room darkening" I don't think they made the room any darker than standard blinds.