Question

So I know the consensus here is ecobee being the go to thermostat but which one?  

Answer 1

I prefer honeywell

Comments

@yoo I've been thinking about that too. Which one in particular?  

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@bcd I use their basic wifi thermostat, it was like 80 bucks. I have it attached to my snartthings hub which then automates it and controls it. I have nothing against the fancier touch screen thermostats but they aren't worth the money when you consider how much you actually touch and use your thermostat and how much less you use it once you start controlling it through an app on your phone.  

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@yoo that is an extremely good point!  

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@bcd thank you

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Also, honeywell is a well trusted brand. Their stuff is made very well, made to last and with a low failure rate

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You also have to weigh in the dummy factor. most people can not look at a touch screen thermostat and instinctively know how to use it. tbe honeywells look and act like the same thermostats everyone has had for the last 30 years in their homes and the smart control is in the background not overwhelming

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@yoo will that one fully maintain the temps? Meaning if it's nearly freezing in the morning and heat is needed and then it gets to 70s and the house warms up the AC is utilized with no extra input.  

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@bcd I use smartthings to automate that. I have motion sensors and other iot devices spread throughout my home which all have temp sensors. Because my thermostat is a single zone placed near the front door way, its temp reading isn't balanced on its own. Smartthings monitors the temp reading from all the devices in my home and uses that data to adjust the temp based on my comfort levels

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@yoo hell yeah! I was wondering about this too. I'm installing a crap ton of Samsung's multi sensors and was hoping to get them to be feedback for the thermostat

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The cost of a honeywell wifi thermostat and a smartthings hub is still less than a touch screen thernostat you'll never touch and you'll get far more use and enjoyment with your smart home by having the smartthings hub as it connects to all the smart devices in your home and allows you to orchestrate their behavior together even though they're in separate tech ecosystems

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@bcd you're on the right track. Ping me if you need any help. Im working on launching a smart home integration and remodeling company soon and i love helping people in the forums for the experience. I consider myself an expert in it all and I just love helping people

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@yoo so fans of getting down and dirty so to speak with configuring would be wiser to go with the basic Honeywell?  

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@bcd I agree with that, yes it is the wiser choice. You get just as much and a ton more value from going honeywell

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@yoo Honeywell is awesome. I also use Trane Zwave which is rock solid

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I have four zones and three geo-thermal exchanger units, all controlled by Honeywell units. Automation interface is via their Redlink module. Works great, literally set-and-forget. Zero hiccups and nicely integrated support for filter change and battery notifications (for outdoor and indoor temp sensors). To be honest, the only thing I need out of the automation interface is home/away mode changes for vacations. Since we have geo-thermal there's a long recovery time. It does little good to try to be overly stingy with on/off modes. Leave it off for too long and it'll take too long to return to a desired temp. That and consume more energy getting there vs just leaving it on a predictable schedule. My point is it's not really about the thermostat alone, it's about the entire system AND your scheduled needs.  

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@poulard70 smartthings can do that for you

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@yoo I already have it well integrated with Homeseer. I've suffered through various others, including Smart Things (and Vera, and Wink, and ugh, too many to list). Not going backwards.  

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I had three different Honeywells. The first two I owned worked great but the third did not. Their support was absolutely horrendous. I tried repeatedly to get their help, including contacting them with calls and email and they simply never contacted me back. At that time, the iOS app had like an average of 1 or 2 stars. I gave up and moved on. Maybe they have fixed their issues.  

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@yoo soooooo I just realized that we currently have a t4 thermostat. I discovered that the t9 will literally snap right in place. Plus the wife loves the large at a glance numbers and the blue with AC/orange with heat

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@bcd I just going to for worn you yes the t9 may just snap into place but it is not home owner friendly you have to set it up for the type system you have that why for a home owner I really suggest ecobee

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@semitic you are incorrect.  

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@bcd then it'll be easy for you.  

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@yoo yes it will cause I'm a certified hvac technician

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@semitic considering you can barely spell, your comments should be ignored.  

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@yoo lol I'm just giving some friendly advice but if you mess up something I'll be glad to take your money it happens all the time

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@yoo I always have been a man to admit when I was wrong that being said after doing some research I take everything I said back yes the t9 is home owner friendly I as a tech didn't know that this model was available I apologize I just gave the wrong advice I should have done my research Honeywell has been making thermostat for years I see now they are trying to keep up with tech now

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@semitic thats very big of you. Awesome sauce.  

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@semitic I try not to get into arguing antics on social media hence why I stopped responding. I apologize for my comment as well. About me, I am an IT Systems Admin, I have been the IT manager for a new home construction company for the last decade. I may not know how to assemble an HVAC system, but i know the technology very intimately and have a very deep understanding of the impact they have in the homes they're placed in.  

Answer 2

If u have Alexa, the 4, otherwise stick with the 3+ with sensors

Answer 3

Ecobee 5 is the best right now

Answer 4

3 with room sensors

Answer 5

We make very heavy use of Echo devices however, where things are positioned it would be redundant and go largely unutilized to have Alexa integrates into the thermostat. Is that really the only difference?  

Answer 6

If you have SmartThings, just get any z-wave thermostat and the Rboy app - it will allow you to do anything ecobee can do.  

Comments

I have 8 of the ct-101 thermostats in my house - paid less than $30 each. Been using them for 2 years with some very complex logic and they have done great.  

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Where can you find those? I like that they're battery operated because I don't know if I have a C wire. I should probably look. Amazon is out and I only see 1 refurbished one on The Smartest House

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@hague I respectfully disagree. Ecobee has features not available on any other thermostat. The Smart Room Sensors with Follow Me, Eco Plus in partnership with your utility company , SmartThings Ecobee Suite Manager to mention a few.  

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@mariandi56178 sorry I'm not sure - I bought mine over 2 years ago now. Maybe ebay?  

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Dang. OK. Looks like a great one.  

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@lixivium3 Rboy allows you to use any sensor as the reading on your thermostat and you can also base your setting on motion - pretty sure that covers the first one. The other 2 I have never heard of nor do I know what functionality advantages they offer but I'd love to hear what you're doing with them.  

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Example - one zone of heat in my house is driven by the reading on the thermostat unless my son is sleeping, in which case the temp reading from the motion sensor in his room drives the logic. Other areas of my house, the heat and air are determined by a combination of the mode and whether or not there is motion. For instance, if no humans are home and just the dogs, motion will make the room a few degrees warmer than it would if there were people home.  

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@lixivium3 preferably a real life example of something you do with ecobee that you don't think you could do with Rboy and any old z wave thermostat like what I have.  

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@hague The room sensor functionality cannot be replicated with any sensor that detects temperature. It is an occupancy sensor triggered by motion. When active the thermostat uses the temperature from the sensor to average the temperature in the house only if that sensor is included in the current Comfort Setting. Once motion is no longer detected the sensor begins a 30 minute countdown with the decreasing priority in the average house temperature. At 30 minutes the room/area becomes unoccupied and no longer is part of the average temperature. I have a sensor in every room. Bedrooms are set to the Sleep and Away. I have Peak and Off-Peak with Peak being during the hours that my electric company charges a higher rate so I bump up the cooling setting. Since I’m not usually in the bedroom which faces west and is usually the warmest room during Peak, the thermostat ignores the bedroom temp. I’m in my office M-F during the day so the office where my network and computer equipment located so the office temp is always included. The Ecobee Suite App has several options. If a door is left open for 10 minutes the AC is turned off with Alexa announcing. As soon as the door is closed the AC resumes it’s current Comfort Setting. I have all my ceiling fans synced with Ecobee to run at certain temps and when the thermostat mode is pre- cooling but only if I’m home. If the temperature of my router rises above 90F , the cooling is set to 78F until the router cools down. Heat degrades router performance and over time will damage it. If the outside temperature falls below 78F, the AC turns off with notifications to open doors and windows to cool the house. Definitely a money saver I participate in Eco+ with my utility company. When energy demand is high, they adjust the cooling up two degrees I receive a bill credit for participating. On any day I can cancel for the day. Additionally the utility company paid me $80 for installing Ecobee About an hour prior to the start of peak hours, Ecobee starts cooling the house a couple of degrees below the set point so that the house stays comfortable longer when the cooling set point is raised. Ecobee provides reporting which includes a monthly home efficiency score. The ability to download detailed data to do my own analysis and implement money saving action. My electric costs are down 23% compared to normalized data from the same billing periods of the previous year. Ecobee paid for itself in three months There is a lot more Ecobee can do beyond what I’ve written. Compared to my Nest, it is much smarter.  

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@lixivium3 thank you for the detailed response. I really don't see anything you're doing in your setup that couldn't be replicated in mine (most of it is already). All of my logic is based on motion and ST mode. I don't really understand what the average temperature of the house has to do with anything but I'm sure I could replicate that if I wanted to using webcore. I don't have anything I'm aware of with the local utility company and I don't really need any data to tell me how much I'm saving because I know based on my settings it is significant. There's nothing you mentioned that makes me think I should "upgrade" from my cheap z-wave thermostats that I'm currently missing out on. It sounds like ecobee may make the upfront setup easier and more efficient, but I'm well past that point already.  

Answer 7

If you can find a 3. It is a perfect device but they are hard to find. I have the latest with Alexa disabled

Answer 8

I’m using two of the model 3’s. I think they’re very well designed, both in software interface and hardware/wiring. Quite happy with them.  

Answer 9

I have the eco bee 4 and the 3. And honestly for the amount of time I have to scream Alexa at the 4 you might as well get the 3 with sensors. The 4 doesn’t pick up my Alexa command as often as I’d like it too which is every time. It’s prob just mine tho.  

Answer 10

I have a 4. The Alexa in it is flawless but, the reason I use a smart thermostat is because I don't want to have to interact with it. I set it up at the beginning and I've never touched it since. I can't speak for any others since I've never used them.  

Answer 11

I use the ecobee 4 in my home with no complaints. Have installed many ecobees of all types with no complaints.  

Answer 12

Is their much of a difference between ecobee 3 and ecobee 3 lite

Comments

@pall616 ecobee 3 light does not support humidifiers, dehumidifiers, or ventilators, it can support but does not come with room sensors. It also lacks the built in occupancy sensor. So all and all not to much of a difference

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Sounds perfect just want to turn it on and off plus a delay when we go to bed nothing fancy

Answer 13

Honeywell is the best I've seen for features.