Ziptrak® vs café blinds vs PVC curtains: what is the actual difference?

PVC curtains and roll-downs

The simplest and cheapest option. A clear PVC panel that either drops down and fixes at the bottom, or slides on a track like a curtain — often using caravan awning track with zips down each side.

For a veranda you close over winter and open again in spring, this is perfectly good and considerably cheaper than the alternatives. It is less convenient for daily use, because securing and releasing it is a two-handed job.

• Best for: seasonal enclosure, budget-conscious jobs, sheltered sites
• Operation: manual, fixed at points rather than running in a track
• Weakness: less wind-tolerant, more fiddly day to day

Café blinds

A step up. The blind rolls down and is tensioned at the bottom, usually with straps, buckles, ropes or turnbuckles. The screen is held at the bottom edge but the sides are typically open or only loosely held.

That open edge is the limitation. In wind the blind can billow and flap at the sides, which is noisy, lets weather in, and over time is what wears the blind out.

• Best for: mid-budget, moderately sheltered spaces
• Operation: manual, with fixings to secure at the bottom
• Weakness: unsupported side edges billow in wind

Ziptrak® track-guided screens

The screen runs in a track down both sides, so the whole edge is held for the full height. There are no ropes, zips or buckles — it is spring-balanced, so you push it up or pull it down one-handed and it stops wherever you leave it.

Because the sides are captured, it handles wind far better than an open-edged blind, and it seals the space properly rather than approximately. A centre-lock release secures it fully closed at the bottom.

It is the most expensive of the three, and the reason people pay for it is daily use. If you are opening and closing the space every day, a one-handed operation you can do while carrying something is worth real money. If you close it in April and open it in October, it is probably more system than you need.

• Best for: exposed sites, and spaces you operate daily
• Operation: one-handed, stops at any height, no fixings to undo
• Weakness: cost

One honest caveat about clear PVC

Whichever you choose, clear PVC behaves differently in summer and winter. It expands in heat and contracts in cold, so a screen that is drum-tight on a cold morning will have some slack on a hot afternoon. That is the material, not a fault, and anyone who tells you otherwise is overselling.

It is worth knowing up front because it is the single most common thing people ring about in the first summer.

Choosing

Windy site, or you will use it daily: Ziptrak®. Sheltered site and a seasonal enclosure: PVC curtains will do the job for a fraction of the cost. Café blinds sit between the two and suit a moderately sheltered space with a mid-range budget.

We make and fit all three, so tell us how exposed the space is and how often you would actually be operating it, and we will tell you which one we would put in.