"Smart" Thermostat, tried and true recommendation

[Shanna-like-Banana]

I'm looking for tried and true recommendations from "Smart" Thermostat owners, who actually like their smart thermostat.

Our home has two seperate units that each run off their own thermostat, so I am in the market to install two of them. I'm looking for feedback from ppl who actually have and use the smart features of the thermostats.
I know there are several brands/types on the market now above and beyond just the Nest.
The primary features I want are
- to be able to program/control different hours of the day AND different hours within the days of the week, not just one setting for M-F and another setting for S/S.
- App control functions to change the temp on the way home from school/work/out of town, etc.

I dove into some online reviews of Nest and the Google Home (?) and they greatly varied. It seems as though there are now many versions of both, some only being sold from certain retailers (Lowes/Home Depot) and certain variations sold at a certain time (Black Friday)
Some loved them, but I saw many reviews that the features didn't work as expected and problems with temps not holding without BlueTooth connections (I don't even 100% understand what all the means)

The thermostats we have now are programmable but limited only to a M-F setting and a S/S setting. I need a more expanded schedule and app ability to change/override the program.

We live in the South where summer temps reach above 100 and winter temps can fall to the teens at night.

 

[missnic]

I have the Ecobee 4, and I love it. You can set up any schedule you want - days/hours/etc via the app. I only have one unit, but my Ecobee came with 2 additional wireless sensors that you can put in other rooms, and it reads from them. You can even set up a schedule to read each sensor at various times of the day (for example, I have it set so it reads primarily the bedroom sensor at night and adjusts to that one), and it has 'follow me' feature.. meaning it reads the sensor of the room that is currently occupied.

It also has Alexa built in, for voice control, which I LOOOOOOVE. The only problem we've ever had with it is Alexa randomly disconnecting for whatever reason. No issues with the thermostat itself. We've had it about a year, and paid about $150 at Costco. Costco included the extra room sensors, which aren't cheap.

 

[ArielRae]

We have the Nest E. We scheduled each day of the week and have 3 different temps scheduled for each day for our wake up time, middle of day while away and then bedtime. Love that we can control the temperature while away so we can turn up or down the temperature before we get home so the house is comfortable. Also really love reaching for the phone before getting out of bed to adjust the temperature to a more desired one to get out of bed to.

DH says check with your energy provider they may have rebates or incentives. Some you can buy it thru them or get a rebate for purchasing one.

We bought ours thru Kohl’s. You can use Kohl’s cash and rewards toward it.
https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-3227379/nest-thermostat-e.jsp?prdPV=2

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

We love our Nest

 

[mmbrad02]

We have Nests also and are satisfied with them. We have 4 thermostats, 2 on our main level and 2 in our unfinished basement. We have Nests on both upstairs ones and are very happy with how they work!

 

[Searc]

We have a Honeywell. I love being able to control the temp via the app. You aren't able to turn the unit on/off via the app or change from heating to cooling or cooling to heat...unless I just haven't found it yet. lol

 

[Etonduf]

Another satisfied Nest owner, though not for a long time. I have it set to learn my patterns rather than manually setting a schedule as you describe, but I believe that's easy to do as well. I like that it detects when our phones leave the house and then goes into eco mode, but comes back on when we return.

But what I really wanted to emphasieze is to be sure you check with your utility provider, as mentioned earlier in the thread. It turned out that mine gives both the rebate ($75 off my bill the first month, and $25 on my bill in a year if I'm still using it) and a significant discount on the purchase through their website. I had bought a Nest E on Black Friday and then found out about the discount the next day, so I returned it and bought a regular Nest for the same price through my electrical company. Already got the $75 credit on this month's bill.

 

[unrequited23]

We've had an Ecobee for almost 4 yrs and are really happy. I enjoy that I can adjust the temp from the app when I'm on the go. The only issues we've had have been with our kids wanting to play with/move the sensors. We've placed them out of reach, but I'm short, so sometimes the sensors don't recognize I'm in the room.

 

[Maniacmous]

I have the Nest E and enjoy it very much. Programmable schedule, geofencing (app on your phone recognizes when you're within a certain radius of home and adjusts the temperature so it will be right when you get home), and integrates with their smoke/CO alarms.

 

[CanucksRock]

Another endorsement for the Ecobee 4. We got it because the master bedroom is above the garage, so it always seems to be colder or warmer than the main floor. With the Ecobee, during the day, the house temp is based off the main living area, at night, based off the bedroom temp thanks to the option for additional sensors. The sensors can adjust temp based on the room being occupied also. Lots of options.

 

[Etonduf]

A few people are mentioning the Ecobee sensor feature and I'd encourage you to look into that. Although I ended up with Nest, the ability to base the set temperature on different parts of the house is a strong feature in favor of the Ecobee models. In my case, it wasn't a factor for our house. Conversely, Nest offers learning features that (as far as I know) are not available on the Ecobee. I believe both integrate well with Alexa, as some others also mentioned. And from what I've heard, the Ecobee is a very good, just like Nest.

Report back what you get!

 

[Searc]

Our Honeywell has a geofencing feature but we have opted not to use it at this time.

 

[wenrob]

We've had an Ecobee for almost 4 yrs and are really happy. I enjoy that I can adjust the temp from the app when I'm on the go. The only issues we've had have been with our kids wanting to play with/move the sensors. We've placed them out of reach, but I'm short, so sometimes the sensors don't recognize I'm in the room.

My DH put double sided taped Velcro on ours and we stuck them to the wall.

We have Ecobee 3s I believe. I like them though I know I’m not using them to their full potential. The “follow me” feature seemed to kick the heat on every ten minutes so I turned that off. There is just not enough predictability with my family to make consistent schedules so I tend to adjust manually with the app. I did not realize you could set for particular sensors (mine uses an average of all.) I’ll have to look into that for summer.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

I have the Ecobee 4, and I love it. You can set up any schedule you want - days/hours/etc via the app. I only have one unit, but my Ecobee came with 2 additional wireless sensors that you can put in other rooms, and it reads from them. You can even set up a schedule to read each sensor at various times of the day (for example, I have it set so it reads primarily the bedroom sensor at night and adjusts to that one), and it has 'follow me' feature.. meaning it reads the sensor of the room that is currently occupied.

It also has Alexa built in, for voice control, which I LOOOOOOVE. The only problem we've ever had with it is Alexa randomly disconnecting for whatever reason. No issues with the thermostat itself. We've had it about a year, and paid about $150 at Costco. Costco included the extra room sensors, which aren't cheap.

This sounds like it would be a good fit for what I'm looking for. I did see some homes needing the additional sensors and I believe ours would be one of them. Thank you for the info

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

DH says check with your energy provider they may have rebates or incentives. Some you can buy it thru them or get a rebate for purchasing one.

We bought ours thru Kohl’s. You can use Kohl’s cash and rewards toward it.
https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-3227379/nest-thermostat-e.jsp?prdPV=2

Thats a great point, it didn't even cross my mind to check with them. Thank you!

 

[Mom24Princesses]

We have 2 Nests. I love them. We were given the first in 12/16 and then I bought the second.

 

[missnic]

This sounds like it would be a good fit for what I'm looking for. I did see some homes needing the additional sensors and I believe ours would be one of them. Thank you for the info

yeah, we have 2 stories and the upstairs is always warmer than downstairs. It really helps.

 

[LJSquishy]

I've had an Ecobee for almost 4 years and love it. We chose it because of the room sensors. We have 5 sensors in addition to the main unit. We have a two story house and during the day base the average temp off of the main floor and office (husband works from home), and at night base it off of the temp of the bedrooms. I didn't want a Nest "learning" one because one day we want it warmer and the next day not. I didn't want it trying to predict what we wanted and changing on its own. When we have guests stay over, we adjust the nighttime temp to the temp they like (which is usually warmer than we like). If you're all gone during the day you can make it so it uses less heat/ac until a certain time and it will make sure your house is at your set temp by the time you get home. We don't use that feature because even if we're gone for a few hours, we have pets that we want to be comfortable

 

[_19disnA]

Our most recent 2 homes were equipped with programmable thermostats that did not connect to the internet. We thought they work great and you can program individual days separately along with storing various programs. It lets you program to turn up the heat about 1 hr before you expect to get home during the winter and similarly turn down the A/C during the summer. If you have a seldom used guest bedroom, you can simply close the door and/or adjust the outlet for that room. If you have an older home where the windows or insulation aren't as good or perhaps have an older A/C & furnace that has trouble keeping up, then these devices will probably be of less value to you.

Good luck if your complicated programmable system has issues and you have to spend a frustrating hour on the phone with some off-shore non-English speaking help desk person. You might also have trouble finding a service person who will come out to your house if something goes wrong. Lately it seems service people can't be bothered with small jobs.

 

[Etonduf]

Our most recent 2 homes were equipped with programmable thermostats that did not connect to the internet. We thought they work great and you can program individual days separately along with storing various programs. It lets you program to turn up the heat about 1 hr before you expect to get home during the winter and similarly turn down the A/C during the summer. If you have a seldom used guest bedroom, you can simply close the door and/or adjust the outlet for that room. If you have an older home where the windows or insulation aren't as good or perhaps have an older A/C & furnace that has trouble keeping up, then these devices will probably be of less value to you.

Good luck if your complicated programmable system has issues and you have to spend a frustrating hour on the phone with some off-shore non-English speaking help desk person. You might also have trouble finding a service person who will come out to your house if something goes wrong. Lately it seems service people can't be bothered with small jobs.

While this is certainly an important (and much cheaper!) option, the OP specifically mentioned wanting a connected smart thermostat to replace existing programmable thermostats, so the replies are along those lines.

As with any product, smart thermostat customer service experiences seem to vary a lot, but so do experiences with "dumb" programmable thermostats, and I certainly wouldn't expect the manufacturer of any thermostat to send out a service technician to address a problem. OP would need to find a local HVAC service technician for that kind of work. Although I found Nest installation an easy 30-minute process (and I'm no handyman!), my AC service company installs thermostats for a reasonable price if I had needed it.

I found that Nest provides very extensive information and videos to assist with installation, all integrated into the app as a step-by-step guide; and I'm sure Ecobee is the same. My last programmable thermostat came with a single sheet of paper folded down smaller than a business card and stuffed in the box.