Question

Best wifi thermostat for my shop? I have smartthings and echo plus if that matters.  

Answer 1

Best is nest especially if you want to be able to lock it down.  

Comments

Nest will lock it down for you, that's for sure. hah. I have Nest in one house and Ecobee in another - I like the Ecobee much better. The Ecobee is locked down - it's an airbnb. Mode changes require a PIN.  

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@unclothe1851 I need to know how to do this. Have ecobee 4 in an Airbnb in the desert and need to maintain.  

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@sidney thanks, wish I could do it through the app as I won’t be out to the house for a while.  

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@medin that is why nest is superior.  

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@sidney because you can configure a PIN in the app vs on the device? That’s like preferring a car brand because it has a better window switch. It’s clearly just a security decision that the companies decided to make.  

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@unclothe1851 well I said its superior in that way. Its also superior in compatibility with most ac units. I have installed hundreds of those units amongst others. I find nest is better. But yes is it like comparing a car brand yes it is. Some cars are better than others. I also hate the fact that nest pulled back their api from 3rd party. That is definitely a knock.  

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@sidney The API thing is the reason I will never again recommend them, regardless of compatibility. Even when they had the API open, they didn't allow most integrations to set home/away mode - they wanted to be in charge of all logic that did that. I worked for a Works With Nest partner and they were not easy to deal with.  

Answer 2

Love my Ecobee. Have ST and echo/google home as well.  

Answer 3

If you have smartthings, get a z-wave thermostat, not wifi.  

Answer 4

Ecobee 4 (also 3 Lite). Both work great and room sensors are a nice add.  

Answer 5

Ecobee is the best value for the money. Zwave is more flexible for control strategies. ie I have ceiling fans turn up during cooling. Forget about the Nest hockey puck

Comments

The only reason to go zwave is for local automation. Ecobee does not have a local API.  

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@unclothe1851 There is no limit to what you can do with Zwave other than the limits of your hub.  

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@devilment Len Richardson Certainly - but for people that don't want a dozen automations just for their thermostat, it's nice to have functions built-in. Ecobee will detect whether someone is upstairs via the remote temp/motion sensor it comes with and make sure your setpoint is based on where people are, for instance. Ecobee will let you lock modes or temp values with a PIN (that isn't available on most zwave thermostats) All the fancy home/away stuff, all the fancy energy reporting and notifications of filter replacement based on run hours. The list goes on

Answer 6

I’ve had ecobee for about 2 years now and I have issues with mesh WiFi. Ecobee has even told me the device isn’t designed to change channels. So I constantly have the ecobee going offline.  

Comments

@mandler give it a static IP and   

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Arturs Grablevskis it has one. That’s not the problem. It doesn’t like node steering on the WiFi.  

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Dave, something to do with network setup. It shouldn’t have problems. Why it would even change nodes, mesh points are moved around? I would imagine your Ecobee is set on the wall. Check signal strength of the unit, if it’s poor, you may want to increase it. Rules to change mesh are usually set to 20% signal. However even this jump should be flawless and Ecobee is capable of doing that.  

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Arturs Grablevskis the steering happens as modes get busy streaming to the TV’s. It will move things to nodes that aren’t as busy

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Of course the whole things down right now

Answer 7

I like my ecobee

Answer 8

Ecobee, with technician installation whooping 5 years warranty.  

Answer 9

I really just want phone control. Maybe separate day and night settings. Fan control and such could happen later down the road. Right now the ceiling fan is tied into the light switch.  

Answer 10

I've had both, ecobee seems better. I do miss the nest when I turned my fan on manually it would run for X time then go back to auto. Ecobee you have to physically turn it back either in app, device, or a automation.  

Answer 11

Ecobee is great for your home, but if this is just for the shop, get something cheaper. I suggest the Emerson Sensi. It's very reliable, half the cost of an ecobee, and works with Alexa and SmartThings.  

Answer 12

Honeywell. hands down

Answer 13

I have the ecobee as well. easy to install and works well.  

Answer 14

Ecobee! I’ve installed lots of different brands and heard lots of customer feedback. I own Ecobee.