We had bought some other curtains at a local store that claimed to be blackout. They didn't work at all, and we had to return them. We were a little skeptical sending for these, but they do exactly what they said they would do. We're very happy with them except that we have not been able to get all the packing wrinkles out of them even though we followed the directions on the package and the company's website. Hopefully the wrinkles will eventually go away.