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Wifi and/or learning thermostats - your experience and recs?

Posted on 7/16/21 at 12:52 pm
Posted by concrete_tiger
Member since May 2020
5964 posts
Posted on 7/16/21 at 12:52 pm
*posting here on advice from OT crew*

I want to upgrade to at least a Wi-Fi thermostat for the units in our house. Had to reprogram one the other day, and it is a PITA, I really just want to do it via an APP.

Anyone have experience with any of these that you can share?

Reviews are so mixed, there may be 500 five stars, but 100 1 stars on something like a Nest or Honeywell. I always feel like I'll end up being the 1 star guy.

I care less about the device paying for itself as I do just wanting a better mousetrap, so to speak.

Thanks!
Posted by CAD703X
Liberty Island
Member since Jul 2008
77940 posts
Posted on 7/16/21 at 1:10 pm to
i'm 100% on the honeywell wagon. i have had 2 models:





i'm sure you can find someone who had a bad experience who is happy to bitch about them but from my experience honeywell does 2 things very well:

- handles virtually any type of HVAC you have at your home. nothing worse than buying a fancy nest and finding its incompatible with your HVAC configuration. they've been doing this shite for like 100 years so they know how to make a thermostat that works in all situations.

- SOLID AS A ROCK. simple app, you can program schedules or do some fancier stuff with geofencing but mostly you just install it and forget it.

the monthly energy usage reports (month over month and year over year) are also nice.


eta the learning thermostats are kinda shite for my use case since both my wife and i are home almost all hours of the day since i WFH now. its just easier to turn up/down if you're cold or hot than have it try to figure out what you're doing.
This post was edited on 7/16/21 at 1:15 pm
Posted by lsujunky
Down By The River
Member since Jun 2011
2250 posts
Posted on 7/16/21 at 1:29 pm to
I just installed 3 Honeywell T9's with extra room sensors in my house. It's easy to operate from the app. The initial setup has to be done from the thermostat.
Posted by concrete_tiger
Member since May 2020
5964 posts
Posted on 7/16/21 at 1:40 pm to
The ones here are Honeywell T4s, and it looks like the one you show would fit right where we have ours and not even need a different sized plate or any touchup paint.

Old house had one like the top one you posted, it seemed easier to program than the ones we have now. They try to do too much with just a few buttons.
Posted by La Squared
Southwest LA
Member since Feb 2012
470 posts
Posted on 7/16/21 at 1:40 pm to
Have Sensei from Emerson and no complaints after 2 years. I was like you and wanted something for the WiFi capabilities.
Posted by CAD703X
Liberty Island
Member since Jul 2008
77940 posts
Posted on 7/16/21 at 1:48 pm to
quote:

Old house had one like the top one you posted, it seemed easier to program than the ones we have now. They try to do too much with just a few buttons.


i agree UX design isn't honeywell's strong suit
Posted by BabySam
FL
Member since Oct 2010
1504 posts
Posted on 7/16/21 at 3:19 pm to
Installed an ecobee for a buddy at place about an hour away from where they live. He loves it and just ordered 3 more for other properties so wife and kids dont leave with AC on 70
Posted by junkfunky
Member since Jan 2011
33854 posts
Posted on 7/16/21 at 4:26 pm to
quote:

i agree UX design isn't honeywell's strong suit


Looks great in 3rd party interfaces like G-home.

At least they are really good at keeping it simple so integration isn't an issue.
Posted by ibldprplgld
Member since Feb 2008
24951 posts
Posted on 7/16/21 at 4:46 pm to
I have a Nest and I do not like it. The home/away auto assist feature is worse than useless, it actually makes me work to correct its bullshite.

It constantly thinks I’m not home when I am, and when I’m not home, it runs. The auto program feature where it “learns” your routine is enough to make you want to smash it. A few weeks after installing it, it keep throwing the temperature setting all over the place from 68 - 77 with no rhyme or reason.

Additionally, if you manually set the temp, the program will override your setting.

I ended up disabling every “feature” on the damn thing and the only smart feature I use is to check/adjust the temp of the house when I’m not home and the dog is.

TL;DR: Nest sucks and is maddening, do not get a Nest.
Posted by dakarx
Member since Sep 2018
6818 posts
Posted on 7/16/21 at 6:54 pm to
Bought a Nest to integrate with Vivint security system... it worked great, until Google bought Nest...aside from totally breaking the integration, now Google is harvesting all the data collected. Going back back the ugly square Vivint T-stat.
Posted by pwejr88
Red Stick
Member since Apr 2007
36153 posts
Posted on 7/16/21 at 8:32 pm to
Got two Nests.

Love them. Install was a breeze and the app is perfect. Turn off the settings you don’t like, turn on the ones you want. They’re great.
Posted by MDB
Baton Rouge
Member since Nov 2019
3062 posts
Posted on 7/17/21 at 1:12 am to
I’ve read tales from Texas how governments and power companies are hacking in to WiFi thermostats to lower or raise temps if there is a shortage of power.

Another set of Big Brother’s Eyes watching you.

Posted by Joshjrn
Baton Rouge
Member since Dec 2008
26975 posts
Posted on 7/17/21 at 7:57 am to
quote:

I’ve read tales from Texas how governments and power companies are hacking in to WiFi thermostats to lower or raise temps if there is a shortage of power.

Another set of Big Brother’s Eyes watching you.


You read that people who signed up for a discount on their service in return for allowing the utility company to turn their thermostats warmer during periods of power shortages… had exactly that happen, and they flipped out.

Anyway, Nest was already installed in this house when I bought it. I found the learning features annoying, so I turned them all off. It’s now a dumb thermostat that I can control from my phone anywhere in the world. I love it.
This post was edited on 7/17/21 at 7:58 am
Posted by JPLSU1981
Baton Rouge
Member since Oct 2005
26233 posts
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:11 pm to
I have 3 nest thermostats. Love them

Like others, I have turned off the schedule learning feature. It was annoying

What I do like: controlling from phone/ Home-Away feature, and just the general look of the thermostat itself
Posted by Joshjrn
Baton Rouge
Member since Dec 2008
26975 posts
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:18 pm to
I was amused by the something like three angry warning messages during the process of turning that shite off, all different flavors of "you're an idiot for doing this". My thermostat was so fricking mad at me
Posted by TigerGman
Center of the Universe
Member since Sep 2006
11173 posts
Posted on 7/17/21 at 2:03 pm to
Have 5 nests. They're great.
Posted by pwejr88
Red Stick
Member since Apr 2007
36153 posts
Posted on 7/17/21 at 2:20 pm to
quote:


I’ve read tales from Texas how governments and power companies are hacking in to WiFi thermostats to lower or raise temps if there is a shortage of power.

Another set of Big Brother’s Eyes watching you


Those people signed up for that nonsense. Gov’t can’t just hack your wifi
Posted by SG_Geaux
1 Post
Member since Aug 2004
77927 posts
Posted on 7/17/21 at 10:15 pm to
Have has Nest. Currently have Ecobee.

Happy with both
Posted by ArkLaTexTiger
Houston
Member since Nov 2009
2461 posts
Posted on 7/18/21 at 7:52 am to
I had a Honeywell programmable thermostat and wanted to add wifi. I called my HVAC installer and asked for a recommendation and they recommended that I stay with Honeywell. I installed Honeywell's basic wifi unit and have been happy with it.
Posted by AUjim
America
Member since Dec 2012
3662 posts
Posted on 7/20/21 at 8:14 am to
I'm like most of yall-I ONLY want the WIFI/app controlled capability. I have no desire for anything to try and 'learn' our behavior.

ONE MORE THING- Do any of your thermostats allow you to manually set the on/off temperature differential? When we moved in, the thermostats we had were dialed in very specifically....and wouldn't allow any change. Units were kicking on and off every couple minutes.
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