How to Choose: Roller vs Zebra vs Cellular

The three systems at a glance

How each one works

Roller

The simplest mechanism in shading: one flat panel on a tube. Everything the shade does, from how much light passes to whether the room darkens, comes from the fabric rather than the mechanism. That is why roller carries the widest fabric range, and why hardware is where the aesthetic decision sits: open roll, curved or square cassette, or fascia, in an aluminum finish or wrapped in the shade fabric.

Interlude zebra

Two fabrics in alternating bands, sheer and solid, moving past each other as the shade operates. Align the sheer bands and filtered daylight comes through with a softened view out; offset them so the solid bands meet and the shade closes for privacy. It is the only one of the three where light control is a continuous adjustment rather than a decision made months earlier at order time. Bands come in two sizes: wide for larger windows, narrow for standard ones.

Cellular

Honeycomb cells hold a pocket of still air between the room and the glass. That trapped air is the point: it is what insulates, and the same structure absorbs sound. Single Cell is the classic honeycomb; Cell-in-Cell is double-layered for higher energy efficiency and blackout options. Cellular also carries the practical extras: Day & Night in one shade, no-drill installation for rentals and delicate surfaces, UV blocking, a dust-resistant treatment, and PVC-free materials.

Light and privacy: the short version

Two things decide this, and only one of them is about the shade.

• Do you want the answer fixed or adjustable? Roller and cellular give one answer, chosen at order time and delivered precisely. Zebra gives both answers from one shade, at the cost of the perfectly even glow a single translucent panel produces. The banding is visible, and it is worth seeing in person before committing.
• Which side is brighter? Privacy is not a property of the fabric alone. A fabric that keeps you invisible in daylight can turn transparent after dark, once the room is lit and the street is not. Street-facing ground floors and bathrooms should be specified for night-time conditions, not daytime ones.

For the full treatment of fabrics, blackout options and side channels, see the Light Control and Privacy Guide.

Insulation and sound

In a Canadian climate this is the tiebreaker on any window that faces the weather. Cellular is the system built for it: the cell structure traps air, which helps hold indoor temperature and reduce energy costs, and Cell-in-Cell layers cells for more of the same. The honeycomb also absorbs sound, which is why cellular turns up in bedrooms on busy streets and in home offices.

Roller and zebra manage solar heat rather than conducted heat. They intercept sunlight before it becomes heat in the room, which matters most on south and west elevations in summer. The two approaches solve different halves of the problem, and a common split on one project is cellular in the coldest rooms and roller everywhere else.

The energy story in full, including UV protection and metalized backing fabrics, is in the Energy Efficiency Guide.

Fabric openness, in actual numbers

Openness factor is the percentage of a fabric's surface that is open weave rather than solid. It is the most useful number in a shade specification, because it sets view-through, glare control and daytime privacy at once, and Sun Glow's sunscreen fabrics publish it directly:

Fabrics outside the sunscreen range are specified by opacity category instead, from transparent through translucent and privacy to opaque or blackout, because a blackout fabric has no openness to quote. Interlude fabrics follow the same four categories, applied to the solid bands.

If you take one thing to a dealer meeting, take the openness or opacity you want per room. Browse the range on the fabric collection page.

Size limits that eliminate options early

Survey the smallest and the largest opening before choosing a system. One of them usually removes an option for you.

Maximum drop on cellular is 96 in. across the range. Roller and Interlude are not limited to one published figure the same way: what a roller shade can span depends on fabric width, tube size, hardware and, if it is motorized, the motor. Send your dealer the width, drop and fabric for any oversized opening and have it checked before the design is fixed.

Room by room

Controls and motorization

All three can be operated without a chain, and all three can be motorized, so controls rarely decide the shade type. They do decide the experience, and one detail decides the order.

• Roller and Interlude share Sun Glow's control range: a chain with the Safety Shield child-safety device, the Zero Gravity weight-balancing spring for oversized or dense shades, and the cordless NEO Chainless System. Both accept Stealth motors.
• Cellular runs cordless, or on its own Stealth motors: a 0.6 Nm motor for single cellular and a 0.8 Nm Dual motor for Day & Night, powered by battery, direct plug or a distribution box.
• Either way, decide before ordering. Motors are specified with the shade and cannot be added to a finished shade later. The Motorization Guide covers the choice in full.

What drives the price

Sun Glow shades are made to order and sold through dealers, so the number comes from your dealer. What is worth knowing is which decisions move it, in roughly descending order:

1. Size and quantity. Width drives fabric, tube and motor selection together; a handful of oversized windows can outweigh a house full of standard ones.
2. Motorization. The largest single line item on most projects, and the one with real tiers.
3. Fabric. The range runs from straightforward everyday fabrics to specialty and designer lines; performance and blackout constructions sit above standard translucents.
4. Construction. Cell-in-Cell sits above Single Cell; Day & Night combines two fabrics in one shade.
5. Hardware. Open roll is the entry point; cassettes and fascias add cost, and a fabric-wrapped cassette adds more than a plain aluminum finish.
6. Extras. Side channels for true room darkening, specialty shapes, control accessories.

A workable way to frame a budget: fix the fabric and opacity per room first, decide which openings genuinely need motorization second, and treat hardware finish as the adjustable line. Fabric and motor choices are permanent; a cassette upgrade is the easiest thing to trade off.

What to bring to your dealer

1. A room-by-room list of windows with rough width and height, including the narrowest and the widest.
2. What each room needs: darkness, privacy, glare control, warmth, or appearance.
3. Which windows are hard to reach or too numerous to operate daily.
4. Whether you want the view preserved during the day, and the openness or opacity you have in mind.
5. Inside or outside mount, and reveal depth where you know it.
6. Anything the shades have to match: trim colour, other treatments, a smart-home platform.

Sun Glow Window Covering Products of Canada Ltd. - Canada's precision window shade manufacturer. Product details on this page are drawn from Sun Glow product documentation and are subject to change; confirm current specifications with your dealer at order time.