Magnetic or sliding fly screen
Updated: October 2026
You searched for a sliding fly screen and the first amazon.co.uk rows are curtains. A magnetic cloth hangs and splits when you walk through. A sliding or pleated screen moves aside and stays aside. The only product in our nine that tries to be that second thing is the CESOF accordion, at about £79.99, with a thin shared review file. Prices are on the [fly screen sliding door comparison](/hub/door-and-window-security/fly-screen-sliding-door). Peter F. updated this on 20 October 2026 from amazon.co.uk listings and UK makers’ prices. We did not install a track. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.
You searched for a sliding fly screen and the first amazon.co.uk rows are curtains. A magnetic cloth hangs and splits when you walk through. A sliding or pleated screen moves aside and stays aside.
You searched for a sliding fly screen and the first amazon.co.uk rows are curtains. A magnetic cloth hangs and splits when you walk through. A sliding or pleated screen moves aside and stays aside. The only product in our nine that tries to be that second thing is the CESOF accordion, at about £79.99, with a thin shared review file. Prices are on the fly screen sliding door comparison. Peter F. updated this on 20 October 2026 from amazon.co.uk listings and UK makers’ prices. We did not install a track. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Screen type | Closure | Hands-free walk-through | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  DIKER Diker magnetic 120 cm | Magnetic curtain | Magnetic strip | Yes | 9.2 | about £19.98 | View offer |
| Best value |  SMALUCK Smaluck magnetic 90 cm | Magnetic curtain | Centre magnets | Yes | 8.5 | about £9.99 | View offer |
 CESOF CESOF retractable black | Retractable accordion | Track and a built-in lock | No | 6.8 | about £79.99 | View offer |
On this page
Three different objects
A magnetic fly screen is a split curtain. Magnets along the centre close it after you pass, and hook-and-loop holds the edges to the frame. You walk through it. You do not slide it. An accordion, which is what the CESOF listing is, folds the mesh to one side inside its own frame. A pleated screen or a single sliding panel, as Streme and other UK makers sell them, runs on a track: the mesh pulls across and stows, or a panel parks over the fixed pane. Home Fair Blinds notes that a pleated screen stays where you leave it, while a roller is sprung and wants to rewind. A fly curtain does neither. It hangs and flaps. The curtain is for people crossing one opening all day. The accordion is a framed fold, still limited by that particular kit. The pleated or sliding panel is for a patio where the mesh has to clear the doorway and stay clear. If your search said sliding and the photograph shows a centre seam, you are looking at the first object. A French door you cross with shopping in both hands is the curtain’s job, inside the cloth width. A 2 m slider you want fully open while you eat outside is the panel’s job.
When the curtain is enough
Buy the curtain when people will walk through one opening the cloth can span. The widest stated fit here is TheFitLife’s up to 152 × 203 cm. Diker’s 120 × 200 cm cloth, with an 8 cm and 6 cm overlap, aims at about 112 × 194 cm. Smaluck and Hofudon sit under 90 cm clear. Inside those limits a curtain at about £9.99 to about £28.99 needs no track. Flyscreen Queen says a magnetic seal holds in a normal breeze and flaps on an exposed site. A sheltered French door is the curtain’s case. A windy upper balcony is where the hem lifts. A dog that should pass can learn the seam. A cat that must stay in will learn it too. For everyone else: the cloth covers the opening, people use the door all day, and the tape can come down in autumn. Name the cloth on the best fly screen for a patio door page rather than starting with a track quote.
What the CESOF listing is, and is not
CESOF sells black (B0GRR7NRHK) and white (B0GRR5MKYY), both about £79.99 and about 10 kg, both claiming a custom size and a lock. Each page shows 4.4 from 31 reviews, and the texts match, so count them once. It is the only framed product we kept. It is not a Streme pleated screen. Reviews say the instructions were missing and that the screen can stop the room door closing. The listing says no-drill and also mentions basic tools. The lock is not a PAS 24 rating. The height claim of up to 137 inches is the seller’s figure, and we did not verify it on a UK door. For a slider wider than 152 cm, compare maker prices. Streme’s DIY sliding kit starts at £196, made-to-measure sliding at £286, and a pleated single at £395. Flyscreenmaxx lists a slim pleated door from £197.10. Those are not amazon.co.uk totals. Pay about £79.99 only if you accept that thin file and the existing door still closes.
Wind and the floor
Wind gets behind a curtain hem and holds the seam open. A framed screen stays where the track puts it, so a panel suits a windy door and a curtain suits a calmer one that people use all day. A bottom rail seals the mesh and also puts a bar on the threshold. No Fly Zone notes that a sliding screen can be specified without one. That matters for a wheelchair, a trolley, or an opening you would leave by in a fire. A magnetic curtain has no floor bar, and it also has no seal beyond the hem, so a low draught still gets in. If the mesh must park aside and the threshold must stay flush, ask a fitter for a low profile. Leave the only escape route clear of a temporary track.
Common questions
Does a magnetic fly screen slide?
It does not. The cloth stays fixed to the frame on hook-and-loop, and the centre opens when you push the magnets apart. They close again if the top was hung square and the cloth is wide enough. Nothing in the curtain runs on a wheel. If the product you pictured moves to the left and stays there while you carry a tray through, you want a sliding panel, a pleated screen, or an accordion.
What actually slides on a patio door?
On a specialist screen, a mesh panel parks over the fixed pane, or a pleated mesh pulls across and stows in a cassette. Streme prices a DIY sliding kit from £196 and a pleated single from £395. An accordion such as the CESOF folds inside a frame you mount in the doorway. A roller screen is sprung and wants to rewind, so it does not stay half open the way a pleated screen can. The magnetic curtains in this set do none of those things.
Is the £79.99 CESOF a pleated screen?
It is an accordion-style retractable screen in an aluminium frame, sold in black and white at about £79.99. A pleated patio screen from a UK maker is a made-to-measure track, often from about £197 and up to £395 for a single. The CESOF pages claim a custom size and a lock, weigh about 10 kg, and share one set of 31 reviews. Treat it as a light framed fold with a short review file, not as a fitter’s pleated door.
Why do the black and white CESOF pages show the same reviews?
Both listings show 4.4 from 31 reviews, and the review texts match. They are one shared file on two colour pages. Adding the counts would pretend you had read 62 experiences. Read them once, and weigh the comments that the instructions were missing and that the screen can stop the existing door from closing. Colour is a finish. It is not a second test.
Will a curtain cope with wind on an upper balcony?
In a light breeze, sometimes. On a balcony that faces the wind, poorly. Flyscreen Queen says a magnetic seal holds in ordinary conditions and flaps on an exposed site, where a panel is steadier. If your door is several floors up on the weather side, expect the hem to lift and the seam to stand open. A framed screen that latches shut is the more sensible object there, if the fixing suits that frame.
Do I need a floor track, and will it trip someone?
A curtain does not use a floor track. A sliding or pleated screen might, and some can be ordered without a bottom rail. A rail across the threshold will catch a foot, a wheelchair, or a trolley. If this doorway is the escape route, or someone cannot step over a bar, specify a flush threshold before you buy from a photograph. A magnetic curtain avoids the bar and also avoids a proper seal at floor level.
When should I leave this Amazon set?
Leave it when the clear opening is wider than 152 cm, when the mesh must park to one side and stay there, or when the door is exposed enough that a hem will not stay shut. The curtain is the better buy when the opening fits the cloth and people walk through all day. The CESOF accordion is a maybe, and only if you accept the shared 31 reviews and a door that must still close. Past that, a specialist sliding or pleated screen is the matching product.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources used for this comparison. Listings checked 19 October 2026.
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 9 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, Annex II (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- West Lothian Council FH03: insect-proof screening for doors and windows (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 1 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Streme: fly screens for doors (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Streme: how to measure a patio sliding screen kit (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Streme: which mesh and fixings for a patio sliding screen (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Flyscreen Queen: fly screens for patio doors (retrieved 19 October 2026)