I ordered the blackout roman shades and loved them. These are not the same. I thought the only difference was the blackout part but that isn't the case. These shades have strings down the back and don't raise up and down as well as the black out cordless roman shades. If you don't plan to operate these shades very much or cover them with your own fabric then you will be ok with them. Buy the blackout shades if you want better quality! There's a steel drum and no strings. A filmy material winds up into the steel drum and it operates very nicely!! There's no steel drum on these shades and I'm not sure what's up in the plastic part where the strings attach to the mechanism. Looks very similar to a corded roman shade. I returned mine and bought another blackout shade.