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MySa Thermostat Review – Smart WiFi Thermostat for Baseboard Heaters

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For so long until 2017, a proper smart thermostat was not available for baseboard heaters and line voltage based heating systems.  In 2017, MySa thermostat was launched in the market – which is a smart thermostat exclusively designed for line voltage heating systems like baseboard heaters, fan forced heaters, convectors and for radiant ceiling heaters. MySa comes packed with a lot of smart features like WiFi connectivity, internet based control using apps, voice control by interfacing to smart home hubs (Alexa, Homekit, Google Home etc), energy reports and a lot more. 

Thermostats were really “old school” till 2011, and many households were using a simple digital programmable or manual thermostat variant. A revolution was started when Nest labs first introduced smart thermostats in 2011. Since then, lots of new smart and internet connected models like Ecobee, Honeywell RTH9585WF, and Emerson Sensi has gained popularity.

All these revolutions were happening in low voltage thermostat models suitable for central furnaces, heat pumps and central boiler systems. No innovation was happening in thermostats for line volt systems like baseboard heaters until 2017, and Empowered Homes Ltd (headquartered in Canada) put an end to this by launching its  innovative smart thermostat Mysa for line volt systems.

In a nutshell, Mysa is currently the best WiFi enabled smart thermostat for line voltage systems, which can be controlled via internet, has a user friendly mobile app, can be interfaced to smart home hubs for voice control, and is compatible with 120/240 volts, delivering a max output power of 3800 watts at 16 amps current.

This beautifully designed 5.7” tall x 3.8” wide x 1.1” thick thermostat comes in soft white rectangular box type structure. This sleek design blends well into any wallpaper and gives a stylish, elegant look to your wall.

The subtle LED light on its surface shows the ambient room temperature and two control UP/DOWN arrows. The controller is cooled by the heat sink that adds to the big size of this thermostat.   

This unit is compatible with the 120V/240V line heating systems like the electric baseboards and supports loads up to 3800Watts.

In order to control the device remotely, you will need to first install the device and then set up the app on your phone.  The app works in both android and iOS devices, and allows you to set up customized comfort from literally anywhere.

The device has self learning abilities and learns your schedule, that is if you have a fixed routine, and programs accordingly for you.

There are quite a few smart, self learning line voltage from Stelpro, ATMOS etc. Here, we shall talk about the features those MYSA smart thermostat posses.

What makes MySa smart thermostat different?

One of the major problems that some of the smart thermostats faced was the lack of proper connectivity and the need for a third party hub. MYSA thermostat has been designed to overcome these issues.

It has relatively good wi-fi connectivity and the MYSA app is also quite user friendly. You need not be a tech guru, to use this app.

Also it works with the popular smart home hubs like Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, IFTTT etc. This means you need not require to install any third party hubs.

Therefore, if all you want in a smart thermostat is that it should work well with its wi-fi connections, MYSA thermostat is the right choice for you.

Design

The Mysa thermostat sports a sleek, modern, yet minimalist rectangular design. It looks like a small white box which may seem a bit thick. It adds to the style quotient of your modern home.  

The display shows current room temperature and two arrows (up/down) to change the temperature setting on device. Temperature and the arrows are displayed using LED, which resembles the dotted displays of the past with a modern outlook. The display is capacitive touchscreen, and the UP/DOWN arrows can be touched to increase or decrease the temperature setting. 

Mysa is a little bulkier in build and the thickness is due to the big heat sink used to cool off the Triac based switching IC. Many conventional thermostats uses relay based switching which is inefficient compared to triac switching. Though the use of triac makes the device bulkier, it gives significant benefits in terms of faster switching, higher efficiency and energy savings. 

The brightness of the display can be adjusted through the mysa app. It can be turned completely off or set to a light in the 10- 100 percent brightness range. It is wired directly to the power supply and hence discards the need of using batteries.

Next thing, which makes a thermostat smart, is its in built sensors. Let us see what this thermostat has to offer in regard to its sensors.

Sensors

If we talk about its in-built sensors, then it is embedded with humidity and temperature sensors. These predict the amount of humidity and temperature of your room. It reflects the measured value on its screen, through a subtle LED light. This helps the thermostat to maintain the temperature of the room.

When the temperature sensor measures the room temperature to a value, which is far from the set value, the thermostat works at a high power. This power is reduced as the room temperature approaches the set value.

The display shows how much power is being used by the thermostat. A single small flame indicates low energy consumption, while 3 small flames indicate highest energy consumption.

The one drawback with this model is that it lacks motion sensor. This effectively means that it does not offer any native geo fencing feature, which is one of the helpful tools in reducing the energy usage.

Talking about the remote sensors, it senses the outside temperature when integrated with the smart hub like IFTTT through the MYSA app on your phone.

Sensor Specs

Temperature Precision: +/- 0.4 F / 0.1 ℃
Humidity: +/- 2%
Control Range: Complete Off, 5-30 ℃

Customised Comfort

MYSA can be controlled from anywhere through its app on any android/iOS device. You can set the temperature and schedule according to your routine, easily through this app. You can set up to a total of 56 temperature set points for the whole week. This means that, if you spread the temperature set points evenly over the week, you can set up to 8 temperature values a day.

You can create zones in your home, by using two or more thermostat which needs to work on same schedule, through the MYSA app. You can create your customized schedule and save it for future. Also, if you have a fixed routine, the MYSA thermostat learns it and implements it accordingly.  Your thermostat will work according to your schedule, and deliver its best performance. In case you need to change the temperature in a particular zone, you can use the “Hold indefinitely” option. This overrides the set temperature to the new value.

Energy Saver

When you invest in such a high priced smart thermostat, you need to know if its worth the price. A smart thermostat is placed in your smart home, to help you save energy in a smart way. So, you have to choose a thermostat which would help you for the same.

How this smart thermostat aids in saving the energy? Well. it generates real time energy usage reports which lets you check where and how much energy is being wasted. This helps you in generating an optimal schedule that not only suits your life style, but also your pocket.

Another cool feature is its easy to activate, vacation mode. If you are going away on a vacation, then set the vacation mode on. The thermostat will work accordingly.

There is also an option to cut off the supply between the thermostat and the heater. This means, you can use the thermostat only when it is needed.

The MYSA app also estimates how much energy bill you will have to pay, according to the energy usage.

Compatibility & Tech Specs

MySa is a line voltage/high voltage thermostat that works with 110 volt or 220 volt systems. 

MySa thermostat is compatible with most of the line voltage heating systems like:

  • Electric baseboard heater,
  • Convectors (short cycle),
  • Fan-forced convectors (long-cycle),
  • Radiant ceiling heating
  • Self-contained hydronic baseboards.

Note: MySa thermostat can not be used with low voltage systems like Central furnace based systems, boiler heating systems, heat pumps or any other system that comes under low voltage operation.  

Electrical Ratings
  • Output – up to 3,800 Watts (maximum)
  • Voltage – 120V / 240V AC
  • Max Current – 16 Amperes 

MySa Installation

First of all, MySa is a high voltage/line voltage thermostat. If you don’t have prior experience in handling electrical wiring, you should not try to install a line voltage thermostat yourself. You’d be better off calling a qualified electrical technician to do the installation for you.  Otherwise, if you have enough basic technical knowledge about electrical systems, and if you’ve done some electrical installations before, you can easily install a MySa thermostat following the well explained installation guide.

MySa has published a demo installation video in Youtube. You may watch if you want to get an idea of MySa thermostat installation.

The beautiful hardware features accompanied with the basic smart thermostat features makes this thermostat a good choice. Before wrapping up this review, here are the pros and cons of the product listed briefly.

Pros

  • Sleek, robust design
  • Reliable wireless connectivity
  • Temperature and humidity sensors with high precision
  • Schedule up to 56 temperature points, that is around 8 temperature set points for each day
  • Works really well and in sync with popular smart home hubs like the Apple Homekit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa and IFTTT.
  • Voice control via smart home hubs.
  • Use of TRAIC Integrated circuit instead of a relay helps the thermostat to heat up at different intensities, which in turn increases the thermostat efficiency
  • Energy usage reports available in mobile app helps in proper energy use monitoring and save energy by taking necessary action.
  • Quick set of the vacation mode
  • Supports multi zone feature

Cons

  • Lack of motion sensor.
  • No native Geofencing, which is quite useful in reducing the energy consumption.
  • Does not support Samsung smartthings hub as of now.
  • Use of large heat sink for the TRAIC IC makes the product thick and bulky.

To wrap up, MySa is currently the best line voltage thermostat with WiFi feature for systems like baseboard heaters. If you’re serious about WiFi feature, you should not look beyond MySa as its wireless connectivity is very reliable. Also, there are not many choices for line volt thermostats with WiFi feature and a well designed mobile application. Though there are models like Stelpro KI, they require third party hubs like an Z wave controller to connect to home WiFi network or internet. And the mobile app for Stelpro model is substandard. Overall, MySa is really a winner & the best choice (if you’ve enough budget) as a modern, smart line voltage thermostat.

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Self Learning Thermostats – How They Save Energy ?

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Owing to the growing energy charges by the energy companies, we always try and look for options that save not only energy but also our pockets. Since the cooling heating system of your home uses up most of the energy,  huge electricity bills can be reduced to some extent by using thermostats to control your heating/cooling system.

Thermostats have come a long way from its basic manual operated models to the self learning models.  Here in this article we give you a brief idea about the self learning thermostats.

Self learning thermostats are the programmable smart ones, where the thermostat is smart enough to learn your routine. It then sets the temperature accordingly, without any external assistance. These smart thermostat is a must have if you are a smart home user.   

Read on to get a brief idea about the benefits of a smart self learning thermostat and also discusses some of the models available in the market.

How learning thermostat save energy?

Thermostats are the controllers of your heating/cooling system. A proper control can thus save you a lot of bucks on the energy bills. With all the advancements going on right now, newer and easy to operate models of thermostat have also been introduced in the market. One such thermostat is a self learning thermostat, which learns from your routine and sets the temperature, on-off time accordingly.

Just teach them the temperature you like and the time at which the temperature change is needed, they will automatically chart out a schedule for you.

You can control it from anywhere, all at just a click away on your phone. Thus, you can tell it turn on the heating while on your commute, to enter into a cosy home after a long tiring day at work.

This smart gadget works on machine learning algorithm, this means for the first few days you have to provide a reference data set. Therefore, for these days you will have to program your own schedule. The thermostat will use its learning algorithm to understand your preferences and then will set a schedule that possibly suits you the best.

The energy and effort both are saved in this process. You need not worry about setting a schedule every time you leave or enter the house. Also, since the heating/cooling system is used only when it is needed, it gives an optimal performance.

Other than this, there are other reasons to invest in these smart learning thermostats. Read on to know more.

Benefits of a learning thermostat

Learning thermostats are programmable types which are designed to be clever enough to learn how and when you use your cooling/heating systems.

Since these are upper-end models in terms of cost, you must know their salient benefits before buying one, to make sure you made a fair choice.  

These days, energy conservation is gaining a lot of attention. In view of this, the prime reason which makes a learning thermostat a great investment is its energy saving nature. Since the cooling/heating systems are turned on only when needed, amount of energy wasted is reduced to a great extent. This therefore makes it an eco-friendly energy saver buy.

There are however, other reasons too that make it a lucrative option to make your home smarter.

Remote control option are available in most of the smart thermostats. The thermostat is linked to your phone through internet. Thus, you can change the temperature from any part of the world as long as you have your phone with you. This adds to the convenience factor of these thermostats.

Connecting these thermostats with your smoke or CO alarms improves the safety of your home. They can send alert messages if any thing goes wrong even if you are away from home.

Most of these thermostats can be integrated with smart home applications such as Ivee, life 360, Google home, Samsung Hub etc.

They can adjust and program your schedule automatically, through their auto program feature. So, you can sit back and enjoy in your room, made cosy without any programming hassles.

They are designed to pay for themselves, as they aid in reducing the energy bills and saving decent amount of bucks for you. Hence, they save you from the huge bills that may sum up due to the unnecessary use of your heating/cooling systems.

The Best Learning Thermostat

If we talk about smart thermostats, it is interesting to know how and what gave the idea to its development. Stuart Lombard, the founder of ecobee in an attempt to reduce the energy bills purchased some already available programmable thermostats. When he releasied that these thermostats did not meet his demands, he invented a smart thermostat which was easy to use and saved considerable amount of energy.

Following the launch of smart thermostats by ecobee, many other companies followed its lead. One such company is NESt, who in the year 2011, launched the first self learning thermostat.

Many Models have been launched since then, which may confuse you to pick the right one for you.

Let us give you a short review of two of the leading thermostat models. This may help you in recognising the features to look for when buying a self learning thermostat.

NEST Learning thermostat

 

 

One of the most advanced nest learning thermostat is the nest thermostat E. Here it comes with a large display, far sight screen and wide compatibility with heating systems.

It not only learns and manages your schedule, it also provides temperature suggestions that help your thermostat to be energy efficient.  In fact you are always encouraged to stay in a leaf zone which means you are in the eco safe zone. You earn a green leaf if you stay in that zone. At the end of the month you will get an email telling you how much leaves you have earned. Sounds great, right?

Also, another interesting feature is that, if you wish to set your program manually without following the one set by the thermostat, it will form pattern based on your choices.

 

The true Radiant mode of this thermostat is another very fascinating feature. It learns the time taken by your home to reach a fixed temperature and sets the time accordingly.

The control can be done not only through nest applications, but also through google assistant, and amazon alexa.  Thus you can integrate the learning thermostat with other smart equipment in your home, and control them through a single application on your phone.

Ecobee Smart Thermostats

The Ecobee smart thermostats are not “self learning” like Nest models. But they are definitely “smart thermostats” with all those high end smart features.

I’ve added Ecobee models (Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite) in this article as an alternative for Nest models (Nest 3rd Gen or Nest E). For any reason, if you don’t prefer Nest thermostats, Ecobee models prove to be a great choice and they are equally good as Nest by all means.

 

 

This Canadian company have grown over the years since its launch. They were the first ones to introduce the smart thermostats. However, the learning feature were incorporated much later.

ECOBEE4 is its flagship thermostat with amazing features has an in-buit Alexa.

Alexa listens and obeys your commands and sets the temperature accordingly.

Even though you can tell this thermostat to turn on and off along with that to automatically set the temperature, it does not learn your behaviours in the same way a nest learning thermostat does.

It however learns when you are away or home through its home/away option. It uses this mode to set the temperatures accordingly, to give optimum performance.

It can be integrated with many platforms such as HomeKit, SmartThings, Google Assistant, IFTTT, which makes it interconnected with other home appliances at your place.

In case of any malfunction, an alert will be send to your mobile.

It learns you are away or home through the inbuilt occupancy detectors, which detect if someone is at home or the home is vacant. It then adjusts the temperature accordingly.

So, if you are looking for a simpler version, where you only need the thermostat to learn whether there is a person at home or not, this ecobee4 option is better for you.

 

Self learning thermostats are not only eco-friendly but pocket friendly too.

Now that you have an idea of what to expect from it, go add this smart gadget to complete your smart home. Their installation process is also does not require an expertise. Once you start seeing how much you have saved on bills, the initial cost will seem worth.

 

 

 

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GeoFencing Thermostats

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Geofencing is a feature offered in most of the smart thermostat models like Nest, Ecobee & other popular thermostats. ‘Geofencing’ feature in a thermostat tracks the homeowners location (via GPS in his/her smartphone) and adjusts the thermostat settings based on the location (away/home). In this article we write about geofencing thermostats – those smart thermostats like Nest, Ecobee, Emerson Sensi, Mysa (line volt), which offer the geofencing feature.

What is geo fencing?

Nowadays owning a smart phone is no big deal and hence most of us have one. The GPS feature of such phones help in tracking your location. This is smartly used by some smart thermostats to deliver optimum performance in terms of reduction in energy consumption through a feature called “geo fencing”.

Geo fencing can be imagined as a virtual fence around your home, the diameter of which you can set.

The thermostats with geo fencing feature, when linked to your smart phone use the GPS to track your position. Once you cross the “virtual” fence, you will be considered to be at home. Now the thermostat will automatically set the temperature according to the input value entered by you.

However, if you are outside the “virtual” fence, you will be considered “out” by thermostat. This will turn down the thermostat and allow the room or home to cool down a bit, which will help in reducing the unnecessary energy usage.   

Why go for a Geofencing Thermostat ?

Well, when you spend some good bucks on a smart thermostat, why not choose a model which gives you comfort and savings at the same time? Let me explain how geo fencing thermostat adds to the luxury of a thermostat.

As already mentioned geo fencing senses your location through the GPS of your phone. Once you enter into your home the thermostat switches on and sets the temperature of your room according to the  pre-programmed schedule.

This means after a long tiring day you would enter into a house that is already cosy and comfortable for you. If you are day in and out all day or if you do not have a fixed schedule, this feature is a must have!

Another benefit is its power saving nature. Once you leave your house, the thermostat moves to away mode, and lets the room’s temperature rise/fall. This means your home HVAC system will work only when it’s needed, thus reducing the power consumption. Obviously, this would be a great relief when you save on your energy bills!

Now that you have clarity about the advantages of geo fencing thermostats, here is a brief review of some of the geo fencing thermostats to help you choose the right one that suits your needs.

Best Geo fencing thermostats:

The year 2011 witnessed the launch of original nest learning thermostat, which was welcomed by the consumers wholeheartedly. It could learn your daily routine and set heating/cooling schedules for you. Even though it was not the first smart thermostat, it sure paved a way for many other companies to launch smart thermostats. Ever since then the companies are striving to make the thermostat smarter with each passing year. Since this article deals with the geo fencing feature, below are reviews of some thermostats focussing on the same.

We have picked three thermostats to review: Nest, Ecobee and Sensi to guide you to select the apt thermostat for your needs.

Nest Thermostats

 

 

If you own a nest smart thermostat which has “Home/Away assist” then your thermostat offers you the geo-fencing feature.  

In the present market scenario, Nest has thermostats which has implemented the geo fencing in the most effective way. Since it supports multiple accounts, it tracks the location of all the members in the house and turns to away mode only when the last person leaves. This is one of the important advantage of this thermostat.

Some of its pros and cons have been mentioned below:

Pros:

  • Supports multiple accounts
  • Moves to “away mode” automatically when the last person leaves the house and changes the temperature automatically. Similarly moves to “Home” mode when it senses someone is nearing your home.
  • Geo-fencing  can be used in the compatible version of nest thermostat which are Nest Learning Thermostat (flagship model) and Nest Thermostat E (budget model)

  Cons:

  • If you do not have a fixed day in and out schedule, there are chances that geo-fencing feature would interfere with the learning capabilities of the thermostat.
  • In case you need to set radius of the geo fence, this thermostat does not have that option.    

Ecobee Thermostats

 

 

Even though Ecobee has some great models when it comes to smart thermostats, its geo fencing feature still needs much improvement. If you own an android phone, it would be easy for you to configure it through the ecobee app itself. However, if you are on iOS device, you have to configure it through the Apple’s own home kit. This means it would require a hub like an iPad, HomePod etc which will be available at home every time.

After configuring, you still might not be satisfied with its performance. Therefore, even ecobee suggests the use of IFTTT and life 360 to gain optimal experience it.

Pros:

  • If you have an irregular schedule, the ecobee geofencing thermostat will work for you.
  • Use of IFTTT and Life 360 gives an optimal geofencing experience.

Cons:

  • It is found to conflict with the schedule programmed by us, thus creating a lot of inconvenience.
  • If you and your phone are out, you will be considered “away” and thermostat will rise/lower the room’s temperature accordingly. Even if there are people inside the room, their motion wont be enough for the thermostat to be in “home” mode.
  • When you return to your home, the thermostat instead of resuming to the pre-programmed schedule, goes into the “hold” mode. This means if you need to go back to the intended schedule, you will have to flip back. This unnecessarily adds an extra step.

 

Emerson Sensi Thermostats

 

The geo fencing feature of the Sensi thermostat is very basic and easy to use. It works as if it has created a virtual circular fence with a radius of 3 miles around your home. This means if you are within this 3 miles, you will be considered “home”, and “away” in case you are out of this radius. All the members have to use the same login credentials, which can be a drawback.

The pros and cons have been listed below:

Pros:

  • This works even if you do not have a fixed day in , day out timings.
  • Pre-programmed schedule is not a necessity for it.

Cons:

  • Does not work with any other home automation devices other than sensi products.
  • Single account has to be shared with all the members of the house.
  • The fixed radius of 3 miles cannot be altered. This means if you are out all day but within these 3 miles, you will be considered home. This in turn would lead to unnecessary energy consumption.

These thermostats have the geo fencing feature. However, if your thermostat does not have this, you can still avail the geo-fencing through various Smart home hubs.

Geofencing using SmartHome Hubs

If you already have smart thermostat which does not have the geo fencing feature, do not worry! You can still avail this feature using various Smart Home Hubs like IFTTT, Life 360, Apple’s HomeKit etc.

So lets start with the basics, what is smart home hub? It is just another version of IoT, where the home equipments are connected with each other through the internet and can be controlled over your phone.

Some of the popular smart home hubs include IFTTT, Samsung smart things, Apple’s home kit etc.

The IFTTT setup is free and simple. It tracks the location of every member through their phone GPS. It also has the option to set multiple fences. It sets the thermostat to “Away” mode, when the last person leaves the home and resumes the program when the first person enters.

It can be used to control any wi-fi enabled thermostat and is very simple to use.

The Apple’s HomeKit on the other hand can be used only for iOS devices. Also it requires a HomeKit hub that remains at home all day and does not support nest products.

Another most recommended SmartHome Hub is the Samsung’s Smart things. It offers all these features as well.

Let me explain how this works by taking IFTTT smarthome hub as an example.

First, you need to download the IFTTT app on your Android/ iOS phone.

Next turn on the location of your phone, and link your thermostat with this app.

Whenever the app senses that you are in the geo fencing radius, it will send a signal to the thermostat to set up the pre-programmed schedule and make your home nice and comfy.

Wrap Up

Geo fencing has indeed transformed the way thermostats are used. With more and more advancements in the technology and companies thriving to make the best use of the smart home and IoT, geo fencing thermostats have a long way to go. They not only add to your comfort but also help you in saving a huge amount of money while optimally using the power for your HVAC systems.

The SmartHome hubs have made it easy to avail the geo fencing feature for your wi-fi enabled thermostat. It means anyone with a smart phone and a wi-fi smart thermostat can enjoy the benefits of the geo fencing thermostats.

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Google Home Thermostat

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Google Home – is a smart home automation hub which can interconnect different smart gadgets like your smart TV, smart Lights, smart Thermostats and other devices. Once paired, you can control any smart gadget using your voice through Google Home hub. You can initiate many actions with your voice, say play Youtube videos on your smart TV, change temperature setting on your smart thermostat, turn ON/OFF your smart lights, well the possibilities are endless. In this article, we feature Google Home Thermostats – which are nothing but the popular smart/WiFi thermostats compatible with Google Home hub.

Google Home is powered by Google Assistant – which is an AI (artificial intelligence) based smart personal assistant program from Google. If you’ve ever used an android phone, you should be familiar with Google Assistant already. Analyzing your voice and deciding the correct action to take based on your voice is the prime duty of Google Assistant.

If you’ve read our article on Homekit compatible thermostats and Alexa compatible thermostats, you already know how smart home hubs are useful in managing thermostats. You can turn ON/OFF, you can set/change temperatures and do a lot more with your voice, if you pair your smart/wifi thermostat with a smart hub like Google Home or Apple Homekit. A thermostat should have compatibility with the smart home hub (that you’re planning to use) for making use of voice control and other features.

Now that you’ve learned a bit about Google home and its intelligent personal assistant, let’s see the best Google home thermostat models available – their features, their good and bad!  Let’s begin with smart thermostat models having Google home support.

Smart Google Home Thermostats

You may already know Nest – the pioneer in smart thermostats is now owned by Google. When it comes to smart thermostats , there are only 2 choices literally – The Nest thermostat models and Ecobee thermostat models. Both Nest and Ecobee has two smart thermostat models each – a full featured version (Nest T3 and Ecobee 4), and a budget version (Nest E and Ecobee 3 Lite). All the 4 variants are Google home compatible and syncs well with the smart hub. In addition, they are compatible with other smart home hubs like Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings, Wink and more.

Nest thermostat models (Nest T3 and Nest E) goes well with Google Home hub than Ecobee models. Nest (as it is owned by Google) has optimised its thermostats to go well synced with Google home. On the other hand, Ecobee is also equally compatible with Google home but the perfect sync can be found only in Nest model. If you’re giving high priority for a thermostat that syncs well with Google home hub, then you should definitely go for Nest models. If you don’t have any such specific demands, you’re free to choose any one of the thermostats listed below.

#1 Nest 3rd Generation and Nest E

As we wrote above, Nest has two thermostat models – Nest 3rd Gen (the full featured model) and Nest E (the budget model) – both of which are optimised for Google Home smart hub. You can read our detailed review of Nest thermostats to know more about features, compatibility and other essentials.

#2 Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite

Ecobee has two models – Ecobee 4 (the high end model) and Ecobee 3 Lite (the budget version) – both of them are compatible with Google Home hub. You can read our complete review of Ecobee smart thermostats to know in detail about its features, pros, cons, compatibility and more.

WiFi Google Home Thermostats

If you don’t have budget for a high end smart thermostat, your next best option is to go for a wireless/WiFi thermostat. These days, all popular WiFi thermostat models have support for smart home hubs like Google Home, Apple Homekit, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings. Let’s see the best WiFi enabled thermostats compatible with Google home.

#1 Honeywell RTH9585WF

Our #1 choice is Honeywell RTH9585WF – which is one of the best selling WiFi thermostats from Honeywell. You may read our full review of Honeywell RTH9585WF to know in depth about its features, highlights, compatibility and more.

#2 Emerson Sensi ST75

Our #2 choice in Google home compatible WiFI thermostats is Emerson Sensi ST75 – which is a best selling model from the automation expert Emerson. We’ve covered every detail about Emerson Sensi ST75 in our review – where we outline its best features, pros, cons and compatibility with different HVAC systems.

 

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Honeywell RTH9585WF – Thermostat Review

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“Honeywell” – is a name synonymous with every household in 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 budget, starting from as low as 30 USD (basic programmable thermostat). In this guide, we are reviewing “Honeywell RTH9585WF” – which is one of the best selling WiFi thermostat model suitable for low voltage (24 volts) systems like central furnace, 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 future). Lets 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 quiet 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”.

Check Price & View Details

This best selling model has all essential features like #energy savings – where you can expect an 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 mobile app (you can change temperature, programs, create 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 pet safe temperature & operation of the thermostat.

The Design

Popular thermostat models like Nest (T3 and E) and Ecobee (4 and 3 Lite) follows an intuitive design – where they just blend into your room interiors. They are sleek, 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 has 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

The display home screen has temperature and humidity (indoor & outdoor separate),  time, and temperature change option (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 an option to see full day weather forecast (5 day forecast is available on mobile app).

Its 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 sleek, minimal design go for the Nest or Ecobee models, whereas if you prefer bigger screen – go for RTH9585WF.

Compatibility of RTH9585WF Thermostat

The golden rule one should keep in mind while shopping 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, where 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 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 for 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 of the smart home hubs.

#4 Weather Forecast – Daily weather forecast is available on thermostat display screen and 5 Day forecast is available on 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 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 day light 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 over Google.

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

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). The predecessor is more bulky, follows a conventional boxed design (not sleek, curves are not smoothed); whereas the newer model RTH9585WF is sleek, with smooth design on edges. The key highlight is pricing – where the newer model (RTH9585WF) is available for a better price (with discount offers), where as the older model has no discounts available. Apart from design part, and pricing, all other features are same for both RTH9585WF and the older model RTH9580WF.

Emerson Sensi ST75 vs Honeywell RTH9585WF

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 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 “geo-fencing” 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 leader 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 keeps on going with it.

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Alexa Thermostats – Review of Amazon Alexa compatible Thermostats

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If you’ve read our article on “Homekit Thermostats“, you should already know the innovations happening in the home automation industry. The “Big 3” tech giants – Apple, Amazon and Google compete each other with its own flagship home automation hubs – Homekit, Alexa and Google Home respectively. If you’re still wondering what is a home automation hub – this is simply a smart device which interconnects different smart gadgets together into a single hub. You can then control each device using your voice or internet (using mobile apps/browser) as you like. In this article we write about Alexa Thermostats – which are basically thermostats compatible with Amazon Alexa.

Nowadays different companies release smart home products compatible with different home automation hubs like Homekit, Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Wink, IFTTT and  more. The most popular thermostat manufacturers like Honeywell, Nest, Ecobee, Lux, Emerson and all others release their new thermostat models compatible with home automation hubs, equipped with voice control and WiFi connectivity. Thermostats are basically two types – low voltage thermostats and line voltage thermostats. In America, about 90% of homes uses HVAC systems that require low voltage thermostats to control them. Only about 10% of homes uses heating systems that require line voltage thermostats. Both types (line voltage and low voltage) has Alexa compatible thermostat models available. Let’s see them in detail.

Let’s first see “Low voltage thermostats” – which are used for heating/cooling systems like central furnace systems, boiler based systems and heat pump based systems. Line voltage thermostats are used for heating systems that use direct electricity like a baseboard heater system.

Alexa compatible Smart Thermostats

“Smart Thermostats” were the pioneer smart home gadgets that came to market from as early as 2011. Nest released the first smart thermostat in 2011. Later companies like Ecobee joined the party. Smart thermostats come packed with smart features that sets them apart from other smart gadgets.

Smart Thermostats are “self learning” – which means you don’t need to program them manually. They learn your habits and lifestyle patterns using artificial intelligence and finally creates a program/schedule (for thermostat) that best suits your lifestyle. The next important smart feature is “high energy savings” – where smart thermostats save energy like no other thermostat models. Another smart thing is “geo-fencing” – where they track homeowners location and act accordingly. If you’re starting to home from office, “geo-fencing” feature in your thermostat will sense this and sets your thermostat to the most comfortable temperature setting. A feature common to all smart thermostat variants is “WiFi connectivity” and mobile app based control from anywhere in the world via internet. You can do things like turn thermostat ON/OFF, change schedule/program, read energy usage reports, get alerts etc on your mobile app.

#1 Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite

As a “smart thermostat“, both Ecobee & Nest deserves to be #1 by all standards. In this guide about “Amazon Alexa Thermostats” – we choose Ecobee models as #1 for the reason that it goes well with the “Amazon Alexa” device. Both Ecobee models (Ecobee  4 and Ecobee 3 Lite) are well optimized to work in sync with Alexa. Nest thermostats are compatible with Alexa but the performance is not in tune compared to Ecobee devices. Nest thermostats are better optimized for Google Home and Apple Homekit. If you’re looking for a good smart thermostat that works perfectly with Amazon Alexa, you can choose Ecobee with blind eyes.

Ecobee has two models – Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite; where Ecobee 4 – is the full featured model which comes with integrated Amazon Alexa device and an extra room sensor (to manage any hot/cold spots in your home). Ecobee 3 Lite – is the budget model thermostat, which is basically a trimmed version of Ecobee 4. We’ve compared both models in our detailed review of Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite.

#2 Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E

Nest Labs were the pioneer in “smart thermostats” and you can read the full review about Nest thermostats in our article. As I wrote above, both Nest and Ecobee make excellent smart thermostats. In the context of this article (on Amazon Alexa compatible thermostats), we consider Nest #2 because Nest thermostat models (Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E ) are not perfectly optimized for Amazon Alexa. They both (Nest models) are compatible with Amazon Alexa but not as optimized as Ecobee models. Nest thermostats are better optimized for Google Home and Apple Homekit.

As we noted above, Nest has two thermostat models – Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E. Out of these two, Nest 3rd Gen is the full featured model with all functionalities of a smart thermostat (including higher compatibility with different type of HVAC systems). Nest E is the budget model – which is basically a trimmed version of Nest 3rd Gen. Read our full review and comparison of Nest 3rd Gen vs Nest E.

WiFi Enabled Alexa Thermostats

If you don’t have the budget for a high end “smart thermostat” but prefer a model that has WiFi based control and voice control through smart home hubs like Homekit or Amazon Alexa, go for a WiFi enabled thermostat with smart hub compatibility. We’ve found Honeywell RTH9585WF and Emerson Sensi ST75 two great choices as a Homekit compatible WiFi thermostat.

#1 Honeywell RTH9585WF

Honeywell RTH9585WF – is one of the best selling WiFi thermostat out there currently. This model is an upgraded version of Honeywell RTH9580WF – which was #1 best seller for a long period of time. This model is compatible with a lot of HVAC system types and you can check the compatibility in our guide.

#2 Emerson Sensi ST75

Emerson Sensi ST75 – is the next best choice in Homekit compatible WiFi thermostats. We’ve covered the model very detailed in our review of Emerson Sensi ST75 – which you should read if you’re considering this thermostat.

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HomeKit Thermostat – Find the Best Apple HomeKit Thermostat

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“HomeKit” – the smart home hub from Apple, is one of the most popular home automation hubs in USA.  The “Big 3” tech giants – Apple, Google and Amazon compete each other in the “smart home” space. Amazon has “Alexa and Echo”, Google has “Google Home” and Apple has “HomeKit”. All of them are equally popular among the households in USA. In this article, we write about homekit thermostat models – thermostats which can be controlled using Apple homekit.

Apple HomeKit is – #1 in popularity among all the 3 models, as it goes well with people owning the “Apple Ecosystem” – with iPhone, iPad, Mac, iTunes and the Apple watch. If you use more than one Apple product, “HomeKit” should be your obvious smart home hub choice. In this article, we write about HomeKit thermostat models – where we list out different thermostats compatible with the Apple HomeKit.  Let’s see the best homekit thermostats for your smart home.

If you read our article – “Types of Thermostats” – you will understand there are different types of thermostats, say low voltage thermostats (like Ecobee, Nest, Emerson Sensi ST75, Honeywell RTH9585WF) and line voltage thermostats (like MySa, Honeywell and more). Thermostats are also classified based on features, say – Smart thermostats, WiFi thermostats, Programmable thermostats and more. Let’s see which of these thermostat models goes well with Apple HomeKit.

Smart Thermostats for HomeKit

In our opinion, there are only two companies that make truly smart thermostats – Ecobee and Nest. Both companies have two variants each; for Nest – Nest 3rd Generation and Nest E, and for Ecobee – Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite. Nest and Ecobee models are basically low voltage thermostats suitable for low voltage heating/cooling systems like central furnace, heat pumps and central boilers. They are not suitable for line voltage heating systems like baseboard heaters, forced-fan heaters etc. Currently there is only one company, named MySa – that makes smart thermostat for line voltage systems. All these smart thermostat models works well as “Homekit thermostats” – which means they syncs well with Apple Homekit. Let’s quickly brief through the highlight features of each smart thermostat models for Homekit.

#1 Ecobee 4 & Ecobee 3 Lite

We consider both Nest and Ecobee thermostats equally good by all standards. We’ve reviewed both of them in detail, and you can read them here – Ecobee smart thermostat review and Nest smart thermostat review! We chose Ecobee as #1 because its full featured model (Ecobee 4) comes packed with an extra room sensor (you’ve to buy this room sensor separately for Nest) and Ecobee models don’t require a C-wire (as they have PEN – power extender kit – which can be used if you don’t have C-wire in your home).

Ecobee 4 - View Details

As a smart thermostat, Ecobee thermostats has all necessary features like self learning, high energy savings (Ecobee claims 23% annual energy savings), geo-fencing, WiFi and internet based control, voice control and integration with smart hubs like Apple Homekit, Amazon Alexa, Google Home and more. Ecobee 4 – is the full featured model with built in Amazon Alexa and comes packed with an extra room sensor to manage any hot/cold spots in your home. Ecobee 3 Lite – is the budget model (which is basically a features trimmed version of Ecobee 4) which has all essential features of a smart thermostat but not as good as Ecobee 4.

Ecobee 3 Lite - View Details

The prime difference between Ecobee 4 & Ecobee 3 Lite is compatibility, room sensor and Alexa. Ecobee 4 is compatible with most of the commonly used HVAC systems and supports accessories like humidifiers, ventilators etc. Ecobee 3 Lite does not support accessories and has lesser compatibility compared to Ecobee 4. There is no built in Amazon Alexa for Ecobee 3 Lite and room sensors have to be purchased separately.

#2 Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E

When you write about smart thermostats, an article would be incomplete without mentioning the pioneers – Nest Thermostats. Unfortunately Nest thermostats (Nest E and Nest 3rd Gen) are not compatible with Apple homekit. If you’re serious about your thermostats having homekit compatibility, you should not consider Nest thermostats.

With Nest thermostats ruled out, the best smart homekit thermostat choice is Ecobee 4 or Ecobee 3 Lite.

#3 MySa – Smart Line Voltage Thermostat

MySa – is a smart line voltage thermostat with essential features like energy savings, remote location control via WiFi & internet, mobile app based programming/scheduling , energy reports, geo-fencing and a lot more features. Line voltage systems are basically heating/cooling systems that operate on direct electricity, say 110 volts or 220 volts. They convert electricity directly to heat energy; hence they are usually used in states where electricity costs are comparatively low.

WiFi Enabled Homekit Thermostat Models

If you don’t have the budget for a high end “smart thermostat” but prefer a model that has WiFi based control and voice control through smart home hubs like Homekit or Amazon Alexa, go for a WiFi enabled thermostat with smart hub compatibility. We’ve found Honeywell RTH9585WF and Emerson Sensi ST75 two great choices as a Homekit compatible WiFi thermostat.

#1 Honeywell RTH9585WF

Honeywell RTH9585WF – is one of the best selling WiFi thermostat out there currently. This model is an upgraded version of Honeywell RTH9580WF – which was #1 best seller for a long period of time. This model is compatible with a lot of HVAC system types and you can check the compatibility in our guide. Read our review of Honeywell RTH9585WF – if you’re interested in this model.

#2 Emerson Sensi ST75

Emerson Sensi ST75 – is the next best choice in Homekit compatible WiFi thermostats. We’ve covered the model very detailed in our review of Emerson Sensi ST75 – which you should read if you’re considering this thermostat.

Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E

As we wrote above, Nest thermostats are equally good as Ecobee when counted as a smart thermostat. However, the full featured Nest thermostat – “Nest 3rd Generation” – is compatible with higher number of HVAC system types than Ecobee 4 (the full featured model of Ecobee). Nest 3rd Gen – is compatible even with 4H/2C (4 stages of heating and 2 stages of cooling) type multi stage HVAC systems. You may read our thermostat compatibility guide – where we comprehensively cover compatibility of different popular thermostat models.  Both Nest & Ecobee models are compatible with the most commonly used HVAC system types in America – which is either single stage (furnace/boiler) or heat pump based systems. If you’ve a multi stage system, you will have to check compatibility before deciding on your thermostat model.

Note: As we’ve figured out, Nest thermostats are not compatible with homekit. You can not sync/pair a Nest thermostat (be it Nest E or Nest 3rd Gen) with Apple homekit. According to latest news reports, Nest Labs is considering this feature (homekit compatibility) seriously as the homekit ecosystem has a significant user base. We see lots of requests in the official Nest forum demanding homekit compatibility for Nest thermostats. However, Nest Labs has not made an official declaration whether they will add this feature or not.

If you’ve already invested in the Apple Homekit ecosystem, and you want an excellent smart thermostat compatible with Apple homekit, your #1 choice should be “Ecobee Smart Thermostats“.

Nest is owned by Google and they have better tuned their product for Google Home (their own smart home hub). Nest thermostats are also compatible with Amazon Alexa (only for 1 skill – changing temperature), Samsung SmartThings and IFTTT and they work well with them. 

 

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Emerson Sensi – ST75 – Smart Touchscreen Thermostat with Color Display

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When you hear “smart thermostat” the first names that comes to mind is either Nest or Ecobee.  Nest enjoyed an unrivaled market leadership in smart thermostats for a long period as they were the pioneers. After a few years, Ecobee came with a couple of outstanding smart thermostat models to take share from Nest. Now Emerson has released a really good smart thermostat model – ST75 under its “sensi” series of thermostats.  Emerson is a very reputed company manufacturing automation products for years and has a legacy of 128 years in business. Let’s go deep to know more about Emerson Sensi – ST75 – Smart Thermostat.

Emerson Sensi – ST75 Smart Thermostat 

The key highlight about Emerson Sensi ST75 is that it offers all essential features of a smart thermostat on a budget price. Sensi ST75 offers all major features of a smart thermostat like #energy savings – where energy & money is saved by running  the hvac system at max efficiency, #geo-fencing – where the location of homeowners are tracked and rooms are preheated when the homeowner nears home from office or far away places, #voice control enabled and works with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Assistant. Apart from this 7 day scheduling and smartphone app based control (using WiFi and internet) are provided just as good as Nest & Ecobee.

The main drawback is lack of “self learning” unlike a Nest or Ecobee model. You’ve to program the thermostat yourself based on your preferences (Nest & Ecobee are self learning and they program themselves automatically). Another key point is size of thermostat and display – which is definitely bigger & bulky than Nest & Ecobee (which are sleek and round). But bigger display has its own advantages (easy to setup and program) and some homeowners really prefer thermostats with bigger display.

Sensi ST75 Compatibility Guide

The key fact to check before buying any thermostat is compatibility with your home HVAC system. You should be informed that some thermostats do not support certain HVAC system types. Let’s see the compatibility guide for Emerson Sensi ST75 thermostat.

Central Furnace/Boilers – Supports upto 2 stages of Heating (W/E, W2) and 2 stage of Cooling (Y, Y2)

Heat Pumps – Supports heat pumps and heat pumps with auxiliary/emergency heating (O/B, W/E, W2)

Fan – (G) and Power – (C, RH, RC)

C-Wire Requirement – “C Wire” or common wire is required for this thermostat. If your home wiring doesn’t have c-wire, Sensi ST75 can not be used in your home.

Note: Sensi has a compatibility checker tool in their website. Please make use of it and check compatibility.

Highlight Features

Energy Savings – is the key highlight feature of Sensi ST75, just like Nest and Ecobee. Though Nest and Ecobee declared their energy savings to be 13% and 23% respectively, Sensi has not made any official number based claims. We can assume it to less than Nest (13%) for the time being.

Geofencing – is a smart feature in Nest and Ecobee. Now Sensi also adds the same! Geofencing is nothing but tracking a homeowner using his mobile phone and adjusting the home temperature after he leaves and before he arrives.

Voice Control & Smart Hub Integrations – Compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Wink, Apple Homekit

Flexible Scheduling – Set the program using the thermostat touch screen or using the mobile app. 7 day programmable and set a unique schedule for each day that fits your lifestyle.

Wrap Up!

Sensi ST75 is a budget friendly, value for money thermostat that suits any homeowner. Two key points against this models is lack of “self learning” and the inability to interface extra room sensors. Both Nest and Ecobee can be interfaced with extra room sensors to mange any cold spots in your home. Apart from that, Sensi ST75 is a great choice.

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WiFi Thermostats – Your Guide to Find the Best WiFi Thermostat

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We used to live in a “wired” world before, but things are changing and we are heading towards a “wireless” world now. The internet changed our world like none has ever dreamed. We live in a “highly connected” world now, that you can control your home in Washington DC sitting in Miami beach! The first internet connected WiFi thermostat was Nest smart thermostat – which was released in 2011. Later Ecobee and Honeywell came up with WiFi enabled thermostat models in the market. In this guide, we review WiFi thermostats or wireless thermostats which can be controlled over internet using mobile apps.

Why Go for a WiFi Thermostat?

WiFi Thermostat benefits
Benefits of WiFi Thermostat

#Control from anywhere – A WiFi thermostat can be controlled through internet from anywhere in the world.  Set/change the temperature, turn thermostat ON/OFF, set a new program/schedule – you can do this all while you’re away using your smartphone.

#Accurate Weather Prediction – A WiFi thermostat (when connected to internet) fetches local weather information from the internet and sends specific alerts to the home owner’s mobile phone.

#Everything on Mobile Apps – Get temperature/humidity levels, weekly/monthly energy usage reports, alert messages all on your smartphone mobile app.

#Geo-fencing – Smart WiFi thermostat models have Geo-fencing feature, which tracks the home owner’s location and adjusts the temperature automatically, when he/she nears home (from the office or an away place)

Wireless/WiFi thermostats are available for all the different types of home heating systems – be it a furnace based system or a heat pump system or a boiler heating system. WiFi enabled thermostat models are available even for the not so common electricity powered line voltage heating systems like a baseboard heater.  Let’s see the best wireless WiFi thermostat models in each category!

WiFi Enabled Smart Thermostats

Let’s begin with smart WiFi thermostats – which offers innovative features like self learning, geofencing, voice control, high energy savings, auto programs and much more. All smart thermostat models have WiFi feature and they can be connected to the internet via your home WiFi. We’ve shortlisted 2 best WiFi smart thermostat models for you to choose from.

#1 Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite

Ecobee is a new generation home automation company (just like Nest), and they have two flagship smart thermostat models – Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite. Out of these 2 best selling models, Ecobee 4 is the full featured version with full features of a smart thermostat. Ecobee 3 Lite is a budget model (priced affordably) and is basically a trimmed down version of Ecobee 4. We’ve reviewed both thermostats detailed in our article – Ecobee Smart Thermostat Review.

Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite – both models are wireless and home WiFi compatible. You can connect them to your home WiFi network and control them using the Ecobee mobile app. Ecobee4 is a wireless room sensor thermostat, as it comes with an extra room sensor (which is interfaced wireless to thermostat).

A quick review of important technical specs about wireless/internet connectivity of Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 lite is furnished below. If you’ve Ecobee WiFi thermostat in mind, you’d get detailed tech spec from our review of Ecobee thermostats.

#2 Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E

Nest is the pioneer in smart thermostat models and they have Nest 3rd Gen (the full featured model) and Nest E (the budget friendly model). Nest & Ecobee are equally competent thermostat models, and you can choose any one after reading through individual reviews. We’ve covered Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E in detail – where we cover full features of both Nest thermostat models, compatibility and comparison between Nest E and Nest 3rd Gen.

Both Nest models – Nest E and Nest 3rd Gen are wireless/WiFi smart thermostats. Unlike Ecobee4, the full featured Nest 3rd Gen doesn’t come with a wireless room sensor. However, you can purchase additional wireless room sensors from Nest and interface it with your thermostat. You can read such technical details by following our individual reviews of Nest and Ecobee.

A quick nutshell of important tech specs regarding WiFi and wireless connectivity of Nest E and Nest 3rd Gen is furnished below. If you’re seriously considering Nest wifi thermostats, we encourage you to go through our detailed review of Nest thermostats.

 

Wireless/ WiFi Digital Programmable Thermostats

Smart thermostats makes our life so easier with its high end features & functions, but they are high priced. If you don’t have the budget for a smart wireless thermostat, choose an affordable wireless/WiFi digital programmable thermostat. These are basically the popular 7 Day or 5 Day programmable digital thermostats equipped with wireless and WiFi capability. You can control these thermostats via internet using your mobile phones (using the apps installed) – like you can turn ON/OFF, change temperature settings, change program schedule etc.

We’ve shortlisted 3 best wireless/WiFi enabled digital programmable thermostats for you ti choose from. Read through our list and see the highlights of each model.

#1 Honeywell RTH9585WF – WiFi 7 Day Programmable Thermostat

Honeywell is still a leader in thermostat market (they enjoyed unchallenged position until the arrival of Nest and Ecobee), though they are only 3rd or 4th in smart thermostat rankings (Honeywell has a smart thermostat model named Lyric – which is not very popular compared to Nest and Ecobee). RTH9585WF – is a WiFi 7 Day programmable thermostat from Honeywell with color touch screen display and Alexa enabled voice control.

If you don’t wish to pay high price for a smart thermostat, and still would like to avail modern features like WiFi connectivity, control via smartphone apps, voice based control and similar features, Honeywell RTH9585WF is a great choice within your budget. We have reviewed Honewell RTH9585WF in detail – read our review to know more about this amazing WiFi thermostat from Honeywell.

#2 Emerson Sensi – ST75

Sensi ST75 is an affordable smart thermostat with all essential features except “self learning” or the auto programming feature. We’ve covered review of Sensi ST75 in detail – where you can find full details about its features, HVAC compatibility and much more.

Sensi ST75 is a WiFi thermostat which houses all the necessary and essential features of a modern day thermostat but it lacks the supreme “self learning” of smart thermostats. We’ve put together a table showing all the important tech spec regarding wireless/internet connectivity of sensi ST75.  If you’ve Sensi ST75 in mind, we recommend you read our full review of Emerson Sensi ST75 and make your mind.

#3 Honeywell RTH6580WF – Budget Friendly WiFi Programmable Thermostat

RTH6580WF is an economical, budget friendly wireless programmable thermostat from Honeywell. This is one of the best selling and popular thermostat models out there with almost all essential features. The key features include Alexa enabled voice control, 7 Day programmable, 4 programming modes, and can be interfaced with smart hubs like Apple Homekit, Google Assistant and Samsung SmartThings.

#4 Emerson Sensi – ST55 – DIY Wireless Thermostat

Sensi ST55 from Emerson is an affordable DIY WiFi thermostat with all essential features. If you can pay a few more bucks, we would advise you to choose the newer version Seni ST75 instead of ST55

Line Voltage- Wireless Thermostat

Line voltage thermostats are used for heating/cooling systems running on line voltage (120 or 240 volts). An example would be baseboard heaters – where direct electricity is converted to heat energy. Only about 10% of homes in America uses line voltage based systems. A majority (that is about 90%) of homes uses low voltage systems like a central furnace or a boiler or heat pump based systems. The key info here is that a line voltage heating/cooling system requires a thermostat that runs on line voltage. You can not use a low voltage thermostat (like Nest or Ecobee or Sensi) with a line voltage heating system. You may read our complete guide on Line Voltage Thermostats to see different wireless/WiFi high voltage thermostat models.

#1 MySa – Line Voltage WiFi Thermostat

If you’re looking for a line voltage thermostat with WiFi feature (for systems like baseboard heaters or convectors or fan forced heaters), you don’t need to look beyond MySa smart line voltage thermostat. MySa has all modern features required for a line volt thermostat, like WiFi based control (set schedules, turn ON/OFF, change temperature etc), voice control when interfaced with smart home hubs like Alexa, Google Home, Apple homekit etc.

MySa also comes with an app for iphone and android smartphones which can be used to set schedules, analyse energy usage reports, and can be use to control your thermostat from anywhere in the world (when it is connected to internet via your home WiFi). You can read our full review of MySa line voltage thermostat.

Heat Pump – WiFi Thermostat Models

Heat pumps are common in most of the homes in USA. Some of the homes use heat pumps with auxiliary/emergency heating. If you’ve a heat pump with aux/emergency heating, make sure the thermostat you choose supports the same (be informed some thermostat models doesn’t support auxiliary heating).

Furnace & Boiler – WiFi Thermostat

As we’ve written before, 90% of Americas runs on central furnace or boiler based systems or heat pump based HVAC systems. All these 3 systems are low voltage HVAC systems. We’ve reviewed right thermostat models for each of these systems individually in our guides – say Guide to Choose Furnace Thermostat or our Guide to Choose Boiler Thermostat. We’re listing handpicked wireless thermostat models for furnace & boiler based systems here.

#1 Ecobee 4 & Ecobee 3 Lite – are excellent choice as WiFi thermostat for central furnace based or boiler based systems. They are compatible upto 2 stages of heating.

#2 Nest 3rd Gen & Nest E – are the next best (or as equally best as Ecobee models) choice as WiFi thermostat for furnace/boiler based systems.

Wireless/WiFi Underfloor/Radial Heating Thermostat

If you’re a little curious here, “underfloor heating” is used in homes to heat the floor surface. A heating system (either insulated electric wire based or hydronic/hot water based) is installed under the floor to heat the floors evenly during winter. Underfloor heating systems are common in homes located in places with extreme winter conditions. We’ve reviewed different models of underfloor heating thermostats – and we’ve covered some wireless underfloor heating thermostats as well. We’re listing one of the best wireless thermostat model for underfloor heating below.

Wrap Up!

We believe, you’ve been benefited by reading through our wireless thermostat reviews. Choosing the right thermostat for your home requires intense research, like identifying your current HVAC system, your current wiring type, which type of new thermostat you need and so on. We crafted our website ThermostatGuide – as an authentic resource on thermostats helping people buy the right thermostat. We intend to help you choose the best wireless/WiFi thermostat with this article and we believed we’ve been of help for you in your research.

FAQ - Frequent Questions!

Is my heating/cooling system (HVAC) compatible with WiFi thermostat?

Compatibility of a thermostat varies with different models. Compatibility of Nest is not the same as that of Ecobee or Honeywell. You should read the compatibility specification of the wifi thermostat model you prefer. We’ve clearly written about compatibility in the individual review of each thermostat.

Will my WiFi thermostat work without Internet or WiFi ?

Any WiFi thermostat model will serve its core function – that is controlling your HVAC (heating/cooling) system and regulating temperature without any internet connectivity or an active WiFi connection. They use the already set schedule/program to maintain temperature. An active WiFi connection is only needed when you want to control the thermostat (say change temperature setting or schedule) from an away place over internet (using your mobile phone). Also some advanced features like live weather tracking and geo fencing would need an active WiFi/internet connectivity.

Can I connect WiFi thermostat to Smart Hubs like Alexa, Homekit ?

Most of the best wifi thermostat models like Ecobee4, Ecobee 3 Lite, Nest 3rd Gen, Nest E, Emerson Sensi ST75, Honeywell RTH9585 can be integrated with smart hubs like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple Homekit, Amazon Echo etc. Some models are compatible with other smart hubs like Samsung SmartThings, Wink. Integrating with a smart hub enables you to control your thermostat using your voice.

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Nest Thermostat Review – Nest 3rd Generation vs Nest E Comparison

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The Learning Thermostat – Nest!

The Nest Smart Thermostats are manufactured by Nest Labs – an innovative company owned by Google currently. If you like stories, Nest Labs was started in 2010 by two Apple employees, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers. The idea for an innovative, internet connected thermostat first sparked on Tony Fadell; when he was building a vacation home and found all the available thermostats inadequate. Driven by the idea, Fadell roped in Rogers to start Nest Labs in their garage. The first product Nest Learning Thermostat (1st Gen) was released in 2011 – and the product took off in no time. People really loved the new Nest smart thermostat – which was self learning, automatic and can be controlled via internet.

Nest released  2nd Gen thermostats with much improved design and features on October 2012. The company had grew from 0 to nearly 250 employees by this period. On January 14, Google acquired Nest Labs for USD 3.2 Billions in cash deal. So that’s the story about Nest in a nutshell – the first smart thermostat manufacturer.

Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E

Nest currently has two thermostat models – Nest 3rd Generation and Nest E. Both of them are smart thermostats, where Nest 3rd Gen is the full featured model and Nest E is basically a budget model (a trimmed down version of Nest 3rd Gen).

Check Price & View Details

The key difference between Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E thermostats is in compatibility, build quality and some features like display and color choices. You may read the complete comparison of Nest 3rd Gen vs Nest E give below.

Nest Thermostat Review
Nest E and Nest 3rd Generation Thermostat

Nest E and Nest 3rd Generation smart thermostats have many key features in common. They both are “self learning” – which means they program themselves automatically after installation. Nest E and Nest 3rd Gen – both are designed to give high energy savings, and they can pay for themselves within 2 or 3 years of installation (this will vary with your energy usage). WiFi connectivity is enabled for both models and they can be controlled from anywhere via Internet. They learn your living habits & patterns to re adjust the schedules themselves. Extra room sensors (temperatures sensors) can be interfaced with both Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E models – to manage any hot/cold spots in different rooms in your home.Voice control and Smart home integrations ( Apple Homekit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa) is enabled in both models of Nest thermostat.

In a nutshell, Nest 3rd Gen is compatible with different types of HVAC systems (covers nearly 95% of HVAC systems in USA), even with multi stage systems having 3 or 4 stages. Nest E is compatible with only 85% of HVAC systems, and when it comes to multi stage – Nest E covers upto 2 stages of heating/cooling only. Read our complete Nest thermostat compatibility guide to get more info. 

Nest 3rd Generation – Review

As you know, “Nest 3rd Generation” – is the full featured smart thermostat model from Nest. Apart from the key features mentioned above (common for Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E), what makes Nest 3rd Gen unique is its compatibility with more number of HVAC systems. Nest 3rd Gen also comes in different ring colors (choose from Copper, Stainless Steel, Black, and White colors) – where you can choose a color that best fits your interiors. Nest 3rd Gen also has unique features like “FarSight” – which lights up the display (to show temperature, time and weather) when someone is spotted in the room.  Let’s go deep into features of Nest 3rd Gen thermostat.

Features of Nest 3rd Gen Thermostat

As I said, Nest 3rd Gen is a true smart thermostat with a load of useful features. Many of these “smart features” are common to Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E. Let’s see all of them in detail.

Self Learning – is the highlight feature of both Nest thermostat models – Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E. You don’t need to program your thermostat by manually inputting temperature schedules. Instead, just install your Nest 3rd Gen or Nest E and leave it alone. The Nest thermostat will start building patterns based on your lifestyle/living habits and programs itself.

The “self learning” feature is built on top of sophisticated artificial intelligence software, that it understands when you’re sleeping (adjusts the temperature for a good nights sleep), when you wake up (adjusts temperature for a warm morning), when you go away to office (moves itself to eco mode to give you max energy savings) and more.

Note: If you prefer a custom schedule over the “self learning” feature, you can program Nest thermostats using the Nest App – the mobile app for android/iOS devices.

Energy Savings  – is the next key feature of Nest smart thermostats. Both models (Nest E and Nest 3rd Gen) are built to provide high energy savings by controlling your HVAC system to operate at maximum efficiency. As claimed by Nest, both thermostats are capable of giving an energy savings of 12% on heating bills and 15% on cooling bills. These numbers would vary with regions, types of HVAC and a lot other factors. I believe, anyone can expect a savings rate in the range of 8% to 15% on annual energy bills.

Paying for itself – if you look at a white paper in Nest, they claim a Nest thermostat can pay for itself in 2 years time frame. Nest claims an average savings in the range of $100 to $150 annually.

Nest E and Nest 3rd Gen are both “ENERGY STAR CERTIFIED” thermostat models. “ENERGY STAR” is a certification provided in USA (backed by government) for products that save energy and protect environment.

Voice Control & Smart Hubs – Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E can be controlled using your voice. To enable voice control, you need to interface your thermostat to a smart home hub like Apple HomeKit. Both Nest thermostats are compatible with all popular smart hubs like Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, IFTTT and more.You can change temperature settings, turn ON/OFF, and do many other things using voice control. The key benefit here is, you don’t need to depend on your mobile app to adjust temperature or do some action on your thermostat.

WiFi Connectivity & The Nest App – Does it sound cool to control your home thermostat sitting in your office chair ? Both Nest models are equipped with WiFi connectivity and can be controlled over internet using the Nest mobile App.

Energy Reports – helps to analyse your home energy usage. “Daily energy usage” is monitored and displayed on the Nest App. Reports are created every month showing analysis & patterns of energy usage.Based on the report, you can adjust your living habits or schedules to save more energy in coming months. Energy reports are available for both Nest E and Nest 3rd Gen models alike.

Extra Room Sensors – you can interface extra room sensors (you’ve to buy separate) with both Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E thermostats. You can install separate room sensors in individual rooms, say your kids room or master bedroom or wherever you prefer. This way you can manage any hot/cold spots in your home. A zoned hvac management system can be built using a single Nest thermostat and a couple of extra room sensors.

Unique Features of Nest 3rd Gen Model

All of the features discussed above are common to both Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E models. Now let’s see what makes Nest 3rd Gen model unique and premium.

FarSight – is a feature unique to Nest 3rd Gen model. “FarSight” activates the sleeping display whenever someone’s presence is detected on the installed room. Nest detects any human presence within 20 feet radius of the installed location.

Bigger Display – Nest 3rd Gen has a bigger display with high resolution. The screen is 40% larger compared to Nest 2nd Gen model and the display is clear, bright and sharp.

Ring Colors – Nest 3rd Gen gives you 4 choices in ring colors – Copper, Stainless Steel, White and Black colors. You can choose one that best suits your home interiors.

Higher Compatibility – Nest 3rd Gen is compatible with almost 95% of HVAC system types used in USA. Nest thermostats goes well with central furnace systems, boiler based systems, Heat pumps with or without auxiliary heating, and systems with central air conditioning – which are the most common used HVAC system types in USA.

Note: Nest thermostats (both Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E) are not compatible with line voltage systems like baseboard heater, convection heaters and forced fan heaters.

Secure Boot Technology: Ensures that the Nest software is running alone, by blocking all unwanted or  malicious software. It  also safeguards your data and hence protects your privacy.

Remote Control: Controlling the thermostat from anywhere is possible using your mobile phone, laptop or tablet using application making it very user friendly.

Alerts: Gives alert when something goes wrong.

 

Energy Efficiency: The Green leaf function helps you to identify when the thermostat is working in the energy efficient mode.

Geo-fencing: Sets temperature by learning your location with the help of your Smartphone.

To prevent overheating, they have “Heads-up” feature that will turn off the device to prevent overheating. This feature also helps to save energy.

Installation is pretty easy as it takes hardly 30 minutes for the entire procedure.

Pros

Pros

  • The  green leaf icon lights up when the thermostat is in energy saving mode. This feature helps us to reduce energy consumption.
  • Takes minimal time for installation.
  • Bigger display with greater resolution giving sharp and clear reading.
  • Enhanced learning capability.

Cons

Cons

  • Nest Gen 3 has no remote sensors, hence the thermostat monitors only the temperature near it.

Inshort

This version of Nest offers some great features as like updation from near field technology to far field technology. The improved resolution and bigger display gives more clarity to the readings. It is considered to be the easiest model to install and works with many Smart Home Partners. It supports water boilers and comes in different colour options. Works with Alexa for voice control. It is great choice for every home giving a very attractive appearance.

C Wire Requirement for Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E

C wire requirement for Nest 3rd generation and Nest ENest claims that, both its thermostat models Nest 3rd Generation and Nest E will work without a C wire or the common wire in most systems. But this claim is far from reality! Many buyers have posted reviews stating Nest will run into power issues when used without a C wire. The common problem reported is the thermostat turning Off due to lack of continuous power supply.

So if you don’t have a c wire/common wire in your current setup, you may solve the c wire problem by using a c wire adapter (an external transformer or a furnace adapter). The take away here is, if you’ve a c wire/common wire already in place, you’re perfect. You just need to install the Nest thermostat and it will work perfect. If you don’t have a c wire, you may install the Nest thermostat along with a c wire adapter and the thermostat will work perfectly.

Nest E Review

It is the latest model of Nest thermostat, launched in 2017. It comes with a new simplified design with almost all features and is cheaper in price. They look much plainer rather than having a big metal Ring with a bright screen. Nest E thermostat looks duller with Plain White puck and they really can’t be noticed easily. All you need to do is setting the thermostat in the initial few weeks and then the rest will be taken care by its own built-in intelligence. Frosted glass tops the display making the display look dimmer. It has a simpler interface. Like all other Nest thermostats, E version can be connected to internet and can be controlled using mobile application. Using your phone and other sensors, Nest E can easily identify whether you are at home or not and thereby sets temperature accordingly. It helps to save about 12% on heating and 15% on cooling bills each year. The only difference from other thermostats is that it doesn’t have ‘farsight’ feature which enables you to know the time and temperature by turning the display on automatically when you are around. E version is compatible with almost 85% of heating or cooling devices at your home. Like all other thermostats, E has sensors to detect motion, humidity, proximity and temperature and can also integrate with third party services like Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant or Apple’s HomeKit . Few of its main features are:

  • Remote Control:  You can control the thermostats from anywhere using your mobile phone, laptop or tablet using application making it very user friendly.
  • Energy History: They help you to know how much you save on your energy bills and also provide awareness on how to save more.
  • Fault Alerts:  Nest can indicate if any of your HVAC systems that are connected to the thermostat goes faulty. Hence you can identify and rectify the faulty system.
  • Nest Leaf: The display lights up when the temperature setting you have chosen is an energy efficient one. This feature clearly helps you to identify if you are on the right setting.
  • Scheduling: Set the thermostat in the initial few weeks of purchase as per your requirement, later on the thermostat itself will learn your schedule and sets the temperature accordingly but providing you with the choice of changing it anytime from anywhere.
  • Sensors: The sensors added to it help you to identify temperatures of different rooms and enables you to set priority accordingly.
  • Away Mode: With the help of motion sensors and by studying your current location with the help of your mobile phone, the thermostat can turn itself off after ensuring you are away.
  • Easy Installation: Its simple structure made the installation part easier and it hardly takes around 30 minutes to install Nest E.
  • Attractive Design: The display is topped with glass giving it a frosted look and thereby it blends beautifully to where it is affixed. One can hardly notice it especially when it is off.
  • Alexa Enabled: You can just talk to your Echo or Dot regarding temperature settings and the thermostat responds accordingly.

Pros

Pros

  • They can study your routine
  • Very attractive model
  • Compatible with most of the HVAC devices
  • It can be programmed to set desired temperature
  • Simple installation
  • Simplified design where you can twist the dial to adjust the temperature
  • Reduced price but  offers all important features
  • They have pre-cooling or pre-heating features

Cons

Cons

  • Fails to support certain HVAC systems
  • Absence of farfield technology
  • Blurred display can cause inconvenience for people with vision problems

Inshort

The strength of Nest E is mainly its simplicity to use and its simple design at a reduced price. The Nest Thermostat E box contains the thermostat, back plate with wire terminals, two mounting screws, optional mounting plate and a detailed installation guide book. Its display hides all unnecessary readings making the display look neat and jus displaying the temperature in a bigger size. Except for its inability to support some of the HVAC systems, it is great for your home offering you get all the important features at a reduced price.

Nest Thermostat Comparison

We’ve seen the features & spec of both Nest E and Nest 3rd Generation thermostats. Nest E and Nest Generation 3 -both look almost the same with almost similar features. Your choice can mainly depend on the budget or the appearance. Both have similar learning routine and uses Nest App. There are only slight variations which will be discussed below. So let’s begin Nest thermostat comparison!

Nest E Vs Nest 3rd Gen 

    • Price: E is much cheaper as it is made of plastic and not metal like the other versions. Hence it is definitely a budget model.
    • Design and Appearance: E has an inferior display. It has a frosted glass over the dial giving a dimmer reading. Whereas Nest 3 has a bigger screen with greater resolution giving a sharper and clear reading. The frosted display of E blends the thermostat beautifully with the wall giving it a very classy look. Nest 3 comes in 3 different colours unlike E which is white.
    • Farsight : Nest 3 has this feature which wakes up the display when it senses your presence near the thermostat and shows you the information you prefers to see. E lacks this feature even if it has this same motion sensing sensors. This  cannot be considered as a major drawback.
  • Compatibility with HVAC systems: Nest 3 is compatible with more HVAC units when compared with E. Say if Nest 3 goes well with 95% HVAC units, then for E it will be around 85%. Nest compatibility tool helps you to check compatibility with your devices.
  • Pre-set scheduling: This feature comes with E which helps you to save money instantly. You can also reprogram it using Nest App or using Smart Home Assistance.
  • Sensors: Nest 3 comes with few more sensors than E.

Below table shows a quick overview of the similarities and difference among the two

 

Category Nest Gen 3 Nest E
Size 3.25 in diameter

1.21 in thickness

 3.19 in diameter

1.14 in thickness
Display Superior Display

3.25 in diameter

480 x 480 px resolution

 Inferior Display

1.76 in diameter

320 x 320 px resolution
Sensors Temperature(10 nos)

Humidity

Near-field activity

Far-field activity

Ambient light

 Temperature

Humidity

Proximity/ Occupancy

Ambient light
Connectivity 802.11b/g/n @2.4GHz
802.11a/n @5GHz
802.15.4 @2.4GHz
Bluetooth LE		 802.11b/g/n @2.4GHz
802.11a/n @5GHz
802.15.4 @2.4GHz
Bluetooth LE
Features Auto-Scheduling
Airwave
Nest Leaf
Auto-Away
Energy History
Time to Temperature
System Match
Early On
Heat Pump Balance
FarSight
Water / Boiler control		 Auto-Schedule
Airwave
Nest Leaf
Auto-Away
Energy History
Time to Temperature
System Match
Early On
Heat Pump Balance
Water / Boiler control
Price More Less
Material used for making Metal Polycarbonate
Appearance Easily noticeable Blends really well with the walls
Far-sight feature Yes No
Compatibility with HVAC systems Compatible with 95% of HVAC Systems Compatible with only 85% of HVAC Systems

 

Conclusion

To wind up, it is very much clear that both versions of Nest aren’t much different except for very few features. So either Nest E or Nest gen 3 is going to make your home smarter, ensuring a comfortable atmosphere all around.

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