[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by 8sPOT

I like the ecobee because it comes with a remote sensor you can place anywhere in your home. The unit tries to accommodate for the sensor and the temperature at the thermostat. Neat little feature.

Also really easy to setup or change the schedule. I find it it be quite user friendly and the unit and the sensor can detect motion so I can see if my son is in the house or not, aka poor mans security feature.

I have a gen 2 nest. The Nest has sensors now. They're $50 a piece which is comparable to the Ecobee sensors. The Nest ones only detect temperature though, so if the Ecobee ones can do motion as well, that's obviously better. No humidity or motion as far as I know. The transition of use between sensors is also divided into 4 quarters of the day for scheduling which is kinda dumb (every 6:00 or 12:00). But at least I can manually use the sensor over the thermostat at specific times. No idea if more specific control of sensors are available in later gen Nests or if it will be a future update.

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

We went with the Ecobee 3, Ecobee had a refurbished thermostat program on their website. Ecobee 3 had just been replaced by the Ecobee 4 which I didn’t want as the Alexa integration wasn’t worth the added cost, plus it didn’t have Echo Spacial Perception so it would have intercepted “Alexa” commands from our Echo Dots/Echo Show. Also didn’t want the Ecobee 3 Lite because the house has a humidifier.

Sadly, the refurb models didn’t qualify for the rebate program. But I have the 3, with three room sensors and we couldn’t be happier with it. Even have it integrated with SmartThings so the house knows when we’re out and goes into Away mode, and detects when we’re within 1 KM of home and puts it back into Home mode. Also I really like the reminders for filter changes and HVAC servicing, one less thing to remember.

I like the white, clean aesthetic of the Nest E but Ecobee wins it for me on features and third party extensibility.

Do you have any experience with the Nest or any idea if either of these two thermostats play well with one another? My brother has the Ecobee and he says it works well enough and whatnot, but he hates the interface. No idea why, but he seems to imply that there are things about it that nag him as a software engineer.

I am tempted to offer a straight swap of my Nest + sensors for his Ecobee and so that I can learn how it works and see if it plays nice with a Nest parallel to it (dual furnace/thermostat at new place). I originally acquired another Nest as I hear they communicate well with each other, but I wouldn't be opposed to trying both.

I agree about the filter reminders. I love that feature on the Nest as well.

Originally Posted by Aleks

I've had both, started with a nest when they came out around 8 years ago, pretty quickly swapped that for an Ecobee in a straight across trade with someone. That ecobee has been still running without an issue since then. The limiting factor for the nest for me was the lack of remote sensors, being a shift worker and in a house with my bedroom on the S/SW facing side it would never get the bedroom to a comfortable temp without having to figure out how cold to make the rest of the house when the AC was on. I bought an extra sensor pack and have only remote sensors doing the averaging (not the main sensor because its in the front hallway). Also does follow me/occupancy sensing. I set a custom mode for when I'm daysleeping to only use the bedroom sensor and ignore the others and I'm comfortable.

I was a really early adopter by almost a decade so sadly no rebate. I suppose I could have reinstalled my old thermostat and had them come in and do the install they were doing a couple years ago and sold it but that wouldn't be fair

The Nest has sensors now which might negate the difference slightly, but to me, they seem really rudimentary vs the Ecobee sensors. What are your opinions on how well the sensors work for the Nest and what differences between the Nest and Ecobee were the most jarring to you?

I've also heard complaints vice versa Ecobee and Nest about interfaces. Do you have a down and dirty pros and cons about each? I have tried to read up on the differences and many of the explanations aren't super helpful IMO as it seems obvious that many individuals are often parroting things they hear rather than discuss actual practical things they know about the units.


I just sent in my application for the rebate. Now to wait 6-8 weeks.