intelligent thermostat Archives - Best Digital Thermostat Reviews and Buying Guide

Reviews April 29, 2019

Mysa Thermostat Review – Smart WiFi Thermostat for Baseboard Heaters

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.

The birth of Mysa Thermostat

All those new smart & wifi enabled thermostats were 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, when Empowered Homes Ltd (headquartered in Canada) put an end to this by launching its innovative smart thermostat Mysa for line volt systems.

Mysa smart thermostat — Mysa Thermostat and App

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.

Check Price & View Details

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

The subtle LED light on its surface shows the set room temperature and two up/down arrows for temperature control. The controller inside is cooled by the heat sink that adds to the big size of this thermostat.

This unit is compatible with the 110V, 120V, 208V, 220V and 240V line heating systems like the electric baseboards and supports load up to 3800 Watts.

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 literally from anywhere.

Mysa Thermostat Review — Mysa Thermostat App

The device has self learning abilities and learns your schedule to give better suggestion for comfort and energy savings. Unlike Nest (which automatically creates a schedule & improves upon), Mysa uses machine learning to improve upon a schedule that is already set by you initially.

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 TRIAC 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.

Guides February 6, 2019

Self Learning Thermostats – How They Save Energy ?

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.

Guides January 10, 2019

GeoFencing Thermostats

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 homekit. 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.

Guides October 19, 2018

Google Home Thermostat – Optimised well for Google Smart Home

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.

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#2 Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite

Ecobee has two models – Ecobee SmartThermostat (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.

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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.

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#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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We’ve seen 4 thermostat models compatible with Google Home hub.

Reviews September 27, 2018

Honeywell RTH9585WF – Thermostat Review

“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”.

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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.

Mobile App – Honeywell RTH9585WF

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Video Demonstration

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

Comparing RTH9585WF vs RTH9580WF

As I wrote above, Honeywell RTH9585WF is the successor of its best selling WiFi thermostat model Honeywell RTH9580WF (which is still available for purchase). 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.

Guides September 11, 2018

Alexa Thermostats – Guide to find Amazon Alexa compatible Thermostats

If you’ve read our article on “Homekit Thermostats“, you should already know about 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 (with Amazon Echo) 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 connected 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.

Before reviewing Alexa thermostats, let’s learn a bit about Alexa and how it functions. For Alexa to work perfectly, you’ll need an Alexa enabled device in your home. There are many devices with built in Amazon Alexa like the Amazon Echo speakers, or the Alexa Remote for Fire TV stick, or third party products like Harman Allure speakers, or Bose speakers or other products in the market. Ecobee 4 is the only thermostat with built in Amazon Alexa. All other thermostat models are ‘alexa compatible’ but they don’t have built in alexa. You’ll need an alexa enabled device in your home for any ‘alexa compatible’ product to utilise its alexa features & capabilities.

If you’ve any device with built in alexa (like Echo speakers, or other devices), an alexa compatible thermostat (say Emerson Sensi ST75, or Honeywell RTH9585 or Ecobee 3 Lite) will easily integrate with the device. Once integrated, you can control the thermostat using alexa voice commands.

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) have Alexa compatible thermostat models available. Let’s see them in detail.

Let’s first see “Low voltage thermostats” – which are used for hvac 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.

Smart Alexa Thermostats

“Smart Thermostats” are the pioneer smart home gadgets that came to market in the year 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 thermostat models.

All smart thermostat models have voice control facility (enabled via smart home hubs). The most popular smart thermostats are Ecobee & Nest; and both of them are compatible with Alexa. Let’s see other highlight features of smart thermostats

Self Learning – Nest 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.

High Energy Savings -The next important smart feature is “high energy savings” – where smart thermostats save energy like no other thermostat models.

Geofencing – Another smart feature 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.

WiFi connectivity – All smart thermostat models are WiFi enabled and they have 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.