Insulated Window Shades for Vans

Why you Need Window Shades in your Van

Window shades do more than provide privacy and control ambient light, they also help control temperature inside your van. We love seeing nature through our expansive windows, however glass is pretty efficient at transferring heat. This means the interior of the van will gain heat from the sun on hot days and loose heat from the interior when it’s cold out. Our van started life with some DIY window shades, but read-on to see why we now use high quality professional shades made specifically for our van.

You Want Window Shades Because:

window shades provide privacy in your van;
window shades block out sunlight for sleeping;
additional security is provided in urban settings;
a good quality window shade insulates from heat gain/loss through the glass;
can control ambient light for computer-work or when watching projected movies.

Our Experience With Other Brands

If you didn’t know, we’ve been recommending window shades from another manufacturer since 2017. In late 2023 the owners sold the company and shortly thereafter the customer service went severely downhill to the point we could no longer recommend them. After much research and window shades from four different manufacturers, we finally have window shades we can recommend.

Some of the issues we’ve had with the window shades from four different manufacturers include:

- poor customer service and/or communication from the manufacturer
- poor quality materials (stitching was fraying after a few months of use)
- poor build quality (stitching was inconsistent and non-symmetrical)
- straps contained metal buttons as opposed to velcro that would get caught in front doors, compromising the door seals of the van)
- windshield shade that was too floppy to stay in place
- poor fitment with light-leakage through stitching and around edges (one set of shades actually shrank)

We now use window shades from VanEssential. These window shades use automotive-grade insulation for temperature regulation. Strong rare earth magnets are used to hold the shades to the steel of the van surrounding the windows. Velcro straps make storing them a breeze and storage bags keep them tidy in our over-cab shelf. Build quality is excellent, from the materials to the stitching and window coverage.

Shop all VanEssential Products (including bug screens and soft goods)

*cool gray color shown

VanEssential vs our DIY Shades

The first version of window shades in the Karavan were affectionately made by Ken’s mother-in-law. They were constructed in a method common to DIY van builds. Quilted ironing board fabric was used on the window side. A fabric of choice can be chosen for the inside, and the two are sewn together. These window shades were great at providing privacy and they provided some form of insulation. They were great starter shades and provided us insight as to what we wanted in our final set of window shades.

Advantages of the VanEssential Shades over our DIY Shades

- Noticeably lighter than our DIY window shades
- Do not absorb moisture or cooking odors
- Provide much better insulation
- Foldable!
- Very high overall construction quality
- Black material faces outside–windows look deeply tinted as opposed to covered (stealthy)
- Can be ordered with flaps for CRL T-vent and other popular windows to allow window venting

Final Thoughts

We absolutely love the design, construction and functionality of the VanEssential window shades. These come out on top compared to the four other professional window shades we have used in our van. (If you include our DIY shades we are on our fifth set.) We aren’t here to bash other brands, but rest assured we have tried most of the other brands out there.

The shades we’ve had the most issues with from other brands has been the windshield shade. It’s the largest window by far, and many competing products are not stiff enough to stay in place. Even with the windshield visors lowered, some brands sag as much as 8-10 inches in the center of the windshield. As shown below, these fit nicely and stay tight against the windshield. The side window shades work with vans with and without the grab handles that our van is optioned with.

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