Our current one is acting possessed and needs replacing. We currently have a programmable one but it's awful, looking for something that is easy to program. I've been looking at some of the Honeywell models with wifi as they seem to have apps that make it easy to setup but wonder if they are one of those easily hacked IOT items?
Don't want a regular thermostat, sure as hell not paying $300+ for the nest. Anything in between that's solid? Wifi would be nice but certainly not a requirement.
I use a Nest... which was a gift. This along with the Ecobee apparently are more snazz pizzazz than typical thermostats. The Nest also apparently can suffer from inadequate powering due to its power stealing feature not getting enough power to fully charge it, as well as apparently some crazy internal power struggle... but it's not bad if you can find it below $250 (Black Friday/Cyber Monday?).
Per this, thermostats aren't on the list, but that's not saying the Honeywells can't be hacked. I've often heard good things about the Honeywell thermostats, most say they function well, but aren't as pretty as the aforementioned thermostats. (It's a thermostat, not an art piece! ... I might be wrong about that though)
This article mentions a Honeywell wifi enabled "hacking"... but it's not really a hack. Just some jilted lover who had the password to access the thermostat and started messing with the ex. The article mentions that as long as you change the default login information of the device, you're pretty well protected (as can be) from being "hacked", then goes on a schpiel similar to the "don't set your email password as 'password' or '123456789'" articles. The article even mentions Nest as being somewhat resistant to IOT, but nothing is immune to IOT.
Unfortunately, other than telling you I think the Nest/Ecobee bad if you can get a decent deal on it, the Honeywell do seem well regarded, and the IOT concerns on them doesn't seem to be a big deal.
Last edited by DoubleF; 11-14-2016 at 02:26 PM.
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I have the Honeywell Lyric and it works great. Doesn't have all the extra features of the Nest but works for me. The set-up and guide that comes with it are really well done. App is better now that it has gone through a few recent updates.
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Basically it connects to it's own portal which is in my electrical room. The advantage with the pro version is I have 3 other sensors throughout the house. Where the build placed mine it gets direct sunlight for 1-2 hours per day, 2 months per year. This ensures a correct temperature reading.
The ability to set the temperature with an app is key. As much as the idea is that you can the temperature or schedule from anywhere, honestly I do it from bed more often than anything.
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Have nest, would not buy again. Ours has some weird power issue when its on heat and cool that magically disappears when you set it to either heat or cool. Also likes changing the temperature on you automatically to save energy. Set it to 21 in the summer, it will change to 22 at some point, the reverse for winter. Also has max and minimum ranges that are above or below some people's comfort zone. For a google product its a huge piece of junk.
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The ability to set the temperature with an app is key. As much as the idea is that you can the temperature or schedule from anywhere, honestly I do it from bed more often than anything.
I love being able to utilize my phone to control the Thermostat from anywhere. nail on the head regarding using it in bed.
Middle of the night and you set it wrong? Use the phone. Want to artificially boost the temp one morning? Use the phone. Want to sleep in one morning but temp isn't quite right? Yup, phone. Is the thermostat at the temp I want it to be? Use the phone and check. Darn kids not wearing sweaters? Use the phone, then lock them out of the thermostat. (Ok, maybe not the last one for me)
It's also nice to have an eco mode based on location services of your phone, but definitely not a feature as awesome as tweaking the thermostat in bed.
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Have nest, would not buy again. Ours has some weird power issue when its on heat and cool that magically disappears when you set it to either heat or cool. Also likes changing the temperature on you automatically to save energy. Set it to 21 in the summer, it will change to 22 at some point, the reverse for winter. Also has max and minimum ranges that are above or below some people's comfort zone. For a google product its a huge piece of junk.
Crikey, for the price they charge it should be flawless.
Have nest, would not buy again. Ours has some weird power issue when its on heat and cool that magically disappears when you set it to either heat or cool. Also likes changing the temperature on you automatically to save energy. Set it to 21 in the summer, it will change to 22 at some point, the reverse for winter. Also has max and minimum ranges that are above or below some people's comfort zone. For a google product its a huge piece of junk.
I didn't have as many of these issues because I have the later generation, but I do totally understand some of the annoyances you are running into.
The power issue... is it the power stealing issue where it randomly turns on and off heater/AC? Or is it something else? I personally turned off the physical display as I never really need it. Helps to save energy.
The max and minimum part I think can be adjusted in the settings. It's supposed to be a "feature" that helps you save energy by allowing the natural warming and cooling of the house to be integrated in your use of the thermostat (and thus save energy). The current vs target temperature thing is indeed weird especially when you can get up to a 4-6C temp difference and I think the system gets a little weird if it's just heating vs heating + cooling system installed. It does drive me crazy at times that my temps are upwards of 5-6C higher than the target temperature, but since I don't have AC, I don't know what the thermostat can actually do to fix that. I have never really seen my actual temperature more than half a C lower than the target temperature though. https://nest.com/ca/support/article/...et-temperature
From what I hear, Ecobee doesn't have such "issues" with its programming. IMO, a huge part of the annoyance with Nest is that Nest is doing something that most people aren't used to for a thermostat and the thermostat thinking it's smarter than the user. I do agree that the thermostat being this "unpolished" isn't a great feature of an expensive thermostat. It is definitely annoying that because it implements "features" in a way most users aren't used to in a thermostat, some of these "features" might be viewed as a bug. My Nest is working fine for me, but I guess I took some of those annoyances as part of the learning curve. I completely agree with burn_this_city though in the sense that there is a problem if bugs vs features are not an easily distinguishable thing. There have been a few times where I read the manual or look up things online to try and accomplish something, but have no idea what terms to use in a search.
I would however, not hesitate to swap the Nest out if it creates issues when I have AC installed next spring. I don't feel like spending a lot of time to figure it out if something arises.
Last edited by DoubleF; 11-14-2016 at 05:20 PM.
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I got a Nest for free through Direct Energy so maybe check around to see what promotions are out there? I really like the Nest though. Simple to install and has been working great.
I should add for the Honeywell Lyric is the original build didn't have a true schedule programming option, but from a lot of user request they added it in to the app about 6 months ago.
What thermostat are you using?
