“Honeywell” – is a name synonymous with every household in the USA, as they have a wide range of home automation products for different purposes. If you recall correctly, Honeywell was the #1 market leader in “thermostats” 10 years ago (for a very long period), until the arrival of Nest and Ecobee. Unlike new-generation companies like Nest & Ecobee, Honeywell has a very wide range of thermostat models – serving line voltage heating systems and low voltage systems alike. They also have thermostat models suitable for different budgets, starting from as low as 30 USD (basic programmable thermostats). In this guide, we are reviewing “Honeywell RTH9585WF” – which is one of the best-selling WiFi thermostat models suitable for low voltage (24 volts) systems like central furnaces, boilers, or heat pumps.

A little background story!

Honeywell RTH9585WF is actually a newer version of its best-selling predecessor Honeywell RTH9580WF, with some added features & a better display. The old version RTH9580WF is still available in the market for purchase, but we believe it would be wise to choose the new version RTH9585WF  (Honeywell might withdraw the old version in the future). Let’s go deep into the features of Honeywell RTH9585WF.

Honeywell RTH9585WF Thermostat – Review

The key highlight of Honeywell RTH9585WF is its big-sized touchscreen display – where you can see the weather data quite visibly. The big display also facilitates easy on-device programming. Apart from this highlight feature, RTH9585WF incorporates all essential features of a smart thermostat except “self-learning” or “auto programming”.

This best-selling model has all essential features like #energy savings – where you can expect annual savings in the range of 10% (on energy usage bills), #WiFi enabled control – where you can control this thermostat from anywhere in the world using a mobile app (you can change temperature, programs, create a new schedule, get energy reports and more), #voice control  – where you can control the device with your voice through smart hubs like Apple Homekit, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and other popular smart home devices.

Honeywell RTH9585WF has an inbuilt learning technology named “Smart Response” – which controls energy usage very well and keeps your home in a comfortable atmosphere. This algorithm learns from heating/cooling cycles and adjusts itself. This technology also ensures the pet’s safe temperature & operation of the thermostat.

The Design

Popular thermostat models like Nest (T3 and E) and Ecobee (4 and 3 Lite) follow an intuitive design – where they just blend into your room interiors. They are sleek, and minimal in size – where one can easily catch the modern, trendy gadget design principles in Nest & Ecobee models. However, our model Honeywell RTH9585WF follows a very conventional design approach – with a box-style design, big in size, and a big touchscreen display. The big touchscreen is a plus as it helps people with vision problems to program the device easily. The display background color can also be changed (choose from preset colors ) to match your interiors.

The Touchscreen Display

RTH9585WF Thermostat
Honeywell RTH9585WF – Features

The display home screen has temperature and humidity (indoor & outdoor separate),  time, and temperature change options (up & down arrows). You can change the temperature setting by touching the up/down arrow. The display has other screens (tabs) namely Fan, Mode & Settings – all of which can be accessed using touch. The display also has the option to see a full-day weather forecast (a 5-day forecast is available on the mobile app).

It is really a matter of individual preference when it comes to choosing the design. I personally know homeowners who switched from Nest to Honeywell RTH9585WF just because of the bigger display (his wife had vision problems and she preferred a bigger display). If you prefer a sleek, minimal design go for the Nest or Ecobee models, whereas if you prefer a bigger screen – go for RTH9585WF.

Compatibility of RTH9585WF Thermostat

The golden rule one should keep in mind while shopping for a thermostat is ” Check compatibility with your home HVAC system before you add to cart” Any thermostat model, be it Nest or Ecobee or Honeywell is not compatible with all types of HVAC systems. There are different types of HVAC systems in use, and the most common ones are single-stage or double-stage central furnaces, boilers, or heat pumps ( generally known as 24-volt systems or low-voltage systems). Read our comprehensive guide on Single stage and Multi-stage HVAC systems to gain a better understanding.

Note: We’ve crafted a Thermostat compatibility guide – where we cover detailed compatibility data of different popular thermostat models.

Apart from the popular low voltage systems, there are also line voltage systems (running on 120 volts/240 volts). Our model Honeywell RTH9585WF is not compatible with line voltage systems.

The Features of RTH9585WF

As we’ve seen the most important points about Honeywell RTH9585WF, let’s dig deep into all the features of RTH9585WF quickly.

#1 WiFi Enabled – You can control this thermostat using your home WiFi and mobile app (from anywhere in the world). The thermostat should be connected to your home WiFi network or a smart home hub (like Apple Homekit or Amazon Alexa) to facilitate mobile app-based control.

#2 Smart Response Technology – is an inbuilt learning algorithm in RTH9585WF, which learns heating/cooling cycles and adjusts itself to serve the right temperature to home inmates.

#3 Voice Control – works well with voice-based smart home hubs like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple Homekit. Voice-based control of RTH9585WF is possible if you interface the thermostat to any of the smart home hubs.

#4 Weather Forecast – Daily weather forecast is available on the thermostat display screen and 5 Day forecast is available on the mobile app.

#5 Auto Alerts – for extreme temperatures, replacement of filters, and other essentials.

#6 Password Lock – enable partial/full lock to protect your schedule settings from accidental changes by children or guests in your home. A “Full Lock” ensures nothing changes and a “Partial Lock” allows a change of temperature only.

#7 Energy Savings – we’ve already mentioned this above. You can expect an annual savings of 10% or more on energy bills (for heating/cooling).

#8 Auto Updates – for daylight savings, 12/24 hour time format, and multi-language supports.

#9 On-Screen Help – The help button on-screen helps you solve your problems without surfing Google.

#10 ENERGYSTAR Certified – which means RTH9585WF is designed on energy-saving principles documented by Energystar – the US government-backed agency for energy certification.

Mobile App – Honeywell RTH9585WF

We’ve seen all the essential features offered by Honeywell RTH9585WF. Now let’s do a review of the ‘Honeywell Total Connect Comfort‘ app – which is the android/iPhone app to manage any WiFi-enabled Honeywell thermostat model.

You can download the respective app from Play Store (Android) or from Apple App Store (iPhone/Apple devices). The app offers a variety of controls & features.

# Control your thermostat – You can adjust temperatures, set values for the heater and cooler separately (adjust the settings), control the humidifier/dehumidifier, control the fan, and set/program schedules.

#Manage Multiple Thermostats – You can add multiple thermostats (in a single home) and group them together under your home name.

#Manage Multiple Homes/Offices – If you’ve two or more homes/offices, you can create groups for each location and add multiple thermostats under each location.

#Weather Forecasts – The app displays 5-day weather forecasts, which will help you to set your heating/cooling schedules accordingly.

#Control Humidifier/Dehumidifier – If your HVAC system has a humidifier/dehumidifier, and your thermostat has features for them, you can control both devices from the app.

Note: Honeywell RTH9585WF ( the model under review) does not support accessories like humidifiers/dehumidifiers. However, this model supports ‘Fan’ in an HVAC system and you can control this from the app.

Video Demonstration

The video below is a demonstration of Honeywell RTH9585WF, created by the company itself. You’ll get a good idea of how it looks, the interior aesthetics, and app-based control.

Comparing RTH9585WF vs RTH9580WF

As I wrote above, Honeywell RTH9585WF is the successor of its best-selling WiFi thermostat model Honeywell RTH9580WF (which is still available for purchase). Honeywell RTH9580WF is bulkier, and follows a conventional boxed design (not sleek, curves are not smoothed); whereas the newer model RTH9585WF is sleek, with a smooth design on the edges. The key highlight is pricing – where the newer model (RTH9585WF) is available for a better price (with discount offers), whereas the older model has no discounts available. Apart from the design part, and pricing, all other features are the same for both RTH9585WF and the older model RTH9580WF.

Emerson Sensi ST75 vs Honeywell RTH9585WF

The main difference between Sensi ST75 and Honeywell RTH9585WF is that the Sensi thermostat has a more stylish, modern design, higher energy savings, comes with geofencing features, and an HD touchscreen.

Emerson Sensi ST75 – is a great WiFi thermostat model, comparable to Honeywell RTH9585WF by all means. Sensi ST75 follows a much better design approach compared to RTH9585WF, as the model is trendy, stylish, more minimal, and sleek than RTH9585WF. The pricing (list price) is almost the same for both models, where the discounts offered may vary from time to time.

When it comes to features, Sensi ST75 is the clear winner as it provides a “geofencing” feature. RTH9585WF has no “geo-fencing” feature. Also, Sensi ST75 claims to provide energy savings in the range of 13% to 23%; whereas RTH9585WF claims nearly 10% energy savings. Sensi ST75 has an HD touchscreen display, whereas RTH9585WF comes with a normal touchscreen display.

Though Sensi ST75 seems to win over Honeywell RTH9585WF, we consider both thermostats are equally good. Honeywell has a high reputation as one of the market leaders in thermostats. They make different models of thermostats and serve different types of heating/cooling systems. Emerson, on the other hand, has no wide range of thermostat models like Honeywell. Sensi ST75 is their best seller and they keep on going with it.

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