I've had an ecobee 3 upstairs for about a year now and love it. Really, nothing bad at all to say about it whatsoever (unlike many of the other smarthome things I've used). Actually just ordered a second one for downstairs the other day because Amazon was running a deal where you basically got a free Echo Dot with one. Been meaning to order another for downstairs for awhile now but it hasn't been a big deal since mostly we keep that around the same temp all the time.

At the moment, it's set to ignore the temp at the thermostat and only use the sensor that in the bedroom since the thermostat is on an open air landing and the bedroom is the only upstairs temp we typically care about. Once the second one comes in, I'll probably order an additional couple of sensors and have it average temps over the areas in which it detects motion. It's really quite neat what it can do. Lots of options. My home is mostly open space upstairs and down so I'll probably only ever use a fraction of its capabilities.

I also recently purchased a Smartthings hub and have used it to automatically put the thermostat into "away" mode whenever both the wife and i are away from the house (based on phone gps). Seems to work very well so far and is quicker than relying on all of the motion sensors if you're going to actually be away.

Anyway, that's my endorsement

I have both ecobee3 and Nest. ecobee3 now has better functionality, after firmware updates, but Nest is just such a cool design.

ecobee3 overall would probably be my choice.

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://www.LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

Based on their recommendation (probably their alliance), our HVAC guys installed a Carrier COR at the office. So easy to read and use, had them install one at the house. Love it.

I have a nest gen 1 downstairs and nest gen 2 upstairs.

Now that Google bought them, they are opening up the API to be more open. Like having wink.

I like the nest but haven't used the others. It's easy, makes sense and everyone knows how to turn the temp quick if need be.

EcoBee > Nest

we sell ecobee and they are really nice because the ecobee 3 for instance can use wireless remote sensors where nest do not. They are easy to use. I don't have much experience with Nest, I do know they're owned by google and I've been told they track your habits by your thermostat. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist so I don't really care but other people may

i have icomfort thermostats. really nice. but not sure if that is specific to the lennox signature xc25s that i have or it can be used with any system

I forgot to add, the nest is good for people who are not tech savvy at all. They connect, they learn, they work. Like an iPhone, basic and good.

If you want some customize and change ability etc then ecob is gonna be a good choice.

Just depends on what you want for future etc.

How old is your AC unit(s)?
What is your goal? Saving money, more control, or increased comfort?

I had a new AC unit installed this year and it came with a Nexia thermostat.

Saving money: A+
My electrical bills this summer were cut in half! Granted the thermostat is only a small part of that, but still.

More Control: B
I like the weather reporting and humidity reading. I don't use the wifi control very often. The schedule programming is pretty much like my old thermostat.

Increased comfort: C
Here is where I don't like this thermostat. I have a 2 stage AC unit and the thermostat won't turn on the second stage unless there is a large difference between the configured temperature and the measured temperature. So stage 2 rarely turns on. That is great for cost/efficiency but not so great for comfort when I want to cool the house quickly. So say it is 80 and you want it set to 76. It will take 2 hours before it cools down to 76. If however it is 80 and you want 74 it will cool down in 30 minutes because stage 2 kicks in. I feel like the thermostat should have better programming such that stage 2 kicks in after X amount of time if the temperature isn't decreasing fast enough.

I'm smart enough to turn my thermostat on and off. And not spend too much when it needs replacement.

I have Ecobee3 and Love it! have 3 sensors through out the house and it really helped with the upstairs being hotter or colder then downstairs. Ecobee detects where we are in the house and then pay attention to that temp. Quite nice.. And I can lock it so the wife can't mess with it! =)

JJ

Nest. It is pointless. Maybe my AC sucks but I disabled the auto away and just keep a constant temp. It was taking 4 hours to cool my house back down. It never did the pre cooling that it was supposed to before I got home either. Heating the same thing, granted I have cast iron baseboard water heat.

I have 2 Nest Thermostats and while I am not sure it saves me any money (it may) I use the app all of the time to turn just the fan motor on. Especially when I am in the Theater room with the doors closed it really circulates the air in the house instead of freezing the rest of the house to cool down just one room. I am sure the Ecobee does the same thing but that feature alone makes it far superior to a normal thermostat (and I can do it from my phone or my Home theater remote)
Jamie

I have baseboard hydronic heat as well, no Ac, but my nest pre heats. However with heat like ours and it taking 2-4 hours to bring the heat in the room up over ~5+ degrees. I just leave the house at x temp and only drop over night, then it pre heats in the am. The basement I just keep at 68-70.

Nest. Passes the wife test, looks great and also functions as a thermostat, so it meets all of my requirements.

I use the Nest as well. Switched over from the Honeywell WiFi because it integrates better with my Amazon Echo and my Wink system.

My HVAC also has duct dampers for every feed that control airflow based upon occupancy and time, so that for example at night in the summer, it only cools my upstairs bedroom(s) and shuts off airflow to the other 2 levels. I'm able to tie the occupancy/temperature/humidity sensors in the majority of the rooms to have my system talk to the Nest to make sure that all that works properly (and that my pinballs are kept at a constant temperature/humidity as well)

My s/o loves the Honewell however (she uses it as a stand-alone with the app for her 'droid phone). I actually like the Honeywell a bit better because it's better adapting at time-to-temperature (eg., 74 at 6 pm means to have the house at 74 at 6 p.m., not to start running the air/heat at 6 pm)

I have a Nest......it works.

I'm a set it and leave it guy. 68-73. If the temp rises above 73 the air kicks on, if it drops below 68 the heat kicks on. Done & done.

Ecobee 3 user here. I've used Radiothermostat and Honeywell wifi units as well. I personally think the Ecobee 3 is kinda cheaply made compared to my Honeywell, but the software is where it shines. Home IQ metrics are fantastic and nobody else has anything quite like it. You can really dial things in. As an example, I always thought it was good to let the fan run occasionally to keep the air circulating in the house. At least for my house in a Florida summer, this was not the case. I could see humidity and temp increasing in the Home IQ metrics when I let the fan run intermittently without AC.

The remote sensors are nice for tweaking but I don't use "follow me". I do use IFTTT rules along with Life360 to adjust temp based on family home/away.

Also, I had a somewhat difficult install. MY Ecobee's internal temp sensor would get hot with prolonged usage causing the system to run constantly. I had to install a manual relay to resolve. Ecobee support likes to pretend the overheating issue doesn't exist.

I've found this to be a very reliable unit.

tempcontrol (resized).jpg

In my newer vacation house i use a Honeywell Lyric after a debacle with 2 nests, the lyric is fantastic in remote operation and the app is easy to use. In my older primary residence I was unable to use the lyric due to not being able to string a c-wire easily for power, so instead i purchased a 2gig ct100 which works great with zwave and doesn't require a c-wire, runs off internal batteries, and they have not gone dead in over 9 months.

Be cautious...

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/Tablet/HoustonChronicle/Default.aspx

I have two nests in my house. I recommend ecobee.

I can go on a rant about it if you want. Or you can just buy an ecobee.

If you just want a thermostat that you can control remotely via an app, Emerson makes the sensi. It gets the job done with no fuss and is relatively inexpensive. If ya want one that can give the audits and programs automatically, then yes go with the higher end models. Btw if you are going to change out the whole system. Have the contractor make sure the equipment is sized right for your house. There is such a thing as an oversizing air conditioner.

Do you have fin tube or cast iron? As I understand it hydronic is a brand of fin tube(which is what I installed in my basement recently as the house came with 10 runs of the stuff unopened) and was previously installed in the other half of the basement and the breezeway/garage. Just trying to see how people use the term hydronic. Either way I love my cast iron baserays and would not trade them for the world. I wish the rest of the house used them but they are so goddamn expensive...

All of this is a moot point for those of us with geothermal.

Fin and tube. I looked into using Runtal ones, I like them, but I can reuse my fin/tube with new covers for the basement remodel. When I had issues, I looked at an hvac forum and all water heat systems were called "hydronic" in the forum so, I just use that term. Not sure if it is correct.

Nest is mostly gimmick for non technical people. Ecobee it's the real deal.

Is there any digital thermostat available that allows for fractions of a degree to be set?

I am finding the gimmick portion to be true...

If you use a z-wave compatible thermo similar to my inexpensive 2gig ct100, you can also set up remote sensors and/or run zwave scenes (depending on the zwave hub) to customize your temp settings to the nth degree.

I don't fully understand why it is a gimmick? I mean...its a smart thermostat that looks good and works. As I said above though, it really comes down to what you have in your hvac. I only have radiant heat, that is it. So for me, it works, as it is super simple. But people with 2 stage AC, heat, plus any air movement system, I can see it being lack luster and a more robust unit working better. Kind of need to flush our your info/issues with it....

All I really want is a thermostat that can be set at for example 72.5 rather than only 72 and 73. As an example, in the summer 72 is often slightly too cool and 73 slightly too warm.
I don't see how remote sensors are worth much unless you have plural separately controlled units to heat/cool certain areas of the home. The only other practical use to me would be if the thermostat is in a shitty location of the house where the temperature does not represent the temperature of the rooms you actually use. In that case I would shut off vents and open vents around the house to get the temperature regulated. For example, shutting the basement vents in the summer and opening them in the winter.

Anyone here remember the Magic-Stat made by KDS Controls in Michigan? It was in the JS&A catalogs in the early '80's. The same catalogs that had the Bally home pins and the Bally Professional Arcade units.

My home was a test mule for them.

How is it gimmicky? It controls my heating and cooling....automatically. I can control it from "Alexa" or my smartphone app......not that I ever need to.

What are you people doing with your thermostats?

This is a reliable unit as well....

motorola_dynatac (resized).jpg

Well guys as a person that has been in the HVAC industry for over 30 years, I have to chuckle a bit as I read some of the responses. Started out as a repair tech and now I manage a branch for a large HVAC/R wholesaler. The nest is ok for a retail thermostat. Ecobee a bit more advanced but still a retail version with a few more bells and whistles. If you want a basic multistage thermostat with wifi take a look at the Emerson White Rodgers Sensi. For the money one of the best out there just a bit over $100 but very solid and will outlast the nest by far.

If you want better control look at the Honeywell line with Redlink capabilities very solid thermostat with more options than most would need. The biggest obstacle is the best thermostats are not available in the retail market. They must be purchased through a dealer from a wholesaler. As for any 2 stage cooling equipment you are not buying it for savings ie lower operating cost. It is all about comfort longer running time = less humidity = a more comfortable house at a higher temperature. Almost every 2 stage A/C is only unloading 40% or so of the load but still cost the same to operate the compressor. Unless you get one of the newest variable frequency drive units wich are rare in a whole house A/C for now anyway.

As for the term hydronic that refers to any system that uses hot water as its source of heat. Boilers or maybe Geo Thermal water to water heat pumps. And then there are the many manufacturers brands of communication thermostats that are only compatible with their equipment but are made by the major heating control companies. Honeywell, Emerson White Rodgers, and even Ecobee. But anything you buy at the retail level is pared down and has a shorter warranty period than what your contractor can buy.

I a not trying to be a smart eleck but just wanted to pass along some information that I have a lot of experience in. The Nest built in lithium batteries that will die out on you. Eco Bee ok but not as good as you will get from your heating contractor. Emerson White Rodgers Sensi great stat same as your contractor can get very few warranty issues actually 0 since they came out for my store anyway. Even better Honeywells line of thermostats you just need to pick the one that has the features you want.

The issue I have with most of this IOT crap, is that companies just throw in a wifi module without knowing or making the security behind it. So no one knows how safe that device is, or if it opens vulnerabilities in your network.

With high confidence, it is unsafe for your network.

but but i can touch a button and warm my house!

I have a enterprise cisco router w/ firewall etc. I'm worried but not that worried, as I don't really care much. All my important stuff is offline.....

Any recommended wireless CO or smoke detectors that send you alerts? Always wanted to add one in case something happened when we're not home cause of the dogs.

First alert makes a battery operated combo alert for both smoke & CO2, it is zwave only, so you need a zwave hub, been using them in 2 houses for over 6 months , no issues. Last time I checked, no one makes a hard wired model yet.

Good information kuelman. The Sensi has gotten some great reviews, except for some connectivity issues remotely. Have you heard of any of these problems with the company's server that prevent connecting to the thermostat thru the app?

Edit: After doing some more research...this thermostat unfortunately is incompatible with my Comcast router.
http://support.sensicomfort.com/customer/portal/articles/1896596-is-my-router-compatible-with-the-sensi-wi-fi-thermostat-

Maybe I'll check into the Honeywell units. Seems like a lot of work to get this wifi functionality.

Eric

Interesting I know many people that have thier Sensi hooked up to Comcast routers from thier newest X1 platforms to thier older routers. I have had a few that had initial problems with thier app but once signed up no problems whatsoever.

Nest Protect gen 2 is out now, supposedly fixed a lot of issues....pondering getting 1 for the kitchen area as it is easy to turn off when we cook. But....mmmmm still havne't pulled the trigger.