WiFi Thermostats
 

My 'temporary' work rental unit needs a new thermostat, I want to upgrade to something I can adjust remotely.

I am away a LOT, so (reportedly) the Nest is terrible for 'HOLD', and that's a non starter.

Anyone have a 'great' thermostat?

C-wire is not an issue for me. I do not want to spend $250....that seems excessive.

7 Best Wi-Fi Thermostats 2018

I have the Sensi, works pretty good, not very intuitive but after dinking around with it got it programmed. Haven't tried working it from a remote location but at home you can operate via WIFI.
However tech support sucks, we had a power outage and the thermostats lost the ability to connect with my phone. Tried to set it up and kept getting "this thermostat is already registered, please delete it from your account and try again"
Except I never set up an account with them... after going around and around I finally asked tech support if the could delete the thermostat from there end... and they did... why they didn't offer that option in the first place I don't know.

I was going to return it and get a Kono but I like the look and touch screen on the Sensi... oh and even when it crashed in the blackout it kept it's settings and could be operated manually, only the phone app stopped connecting.

When you say the Nest is terrible for HOLD what do you mean ? The house we purchased has a Nest brand thermostat and my wife and I both adjust it remotely with our phones . Seems to work fine we have been in the house over a year now.

I don't hand out my house keys to groups of strangers on the internet for a reason.

Apparently it is difficult to leave it set at any temperature for a week straight.

Two coworkers have the Nest, and they both hate it. They can't get it stay 'set back'.

I have been looking at getting the Ecobee for our house, but have no first hand knowledge of how wel it works.

We leave our Nest at the same setting sometimes for weeks or months at the same temp it never varies . Modern electronics can be finicky .

I looked at that too... can't confirm but I think the ecobee works through a home smart hub not WIFI

Also the prices on that link are whack, my Sensi was I think around $165 at Home D and the ecobee 3 is way less if you don't want the voice comand option.

I was told it’s accurate to +/- 3 degrees, vs a Honeywell at +/- 1
No personal experience - anecdotal only.

We have Ecobee and it works well. We don't have a home hub, it's all done via wi-fi. What I like are the ability to set it remotely, and the multiple schedule events that can be programmed per day. Although it limits you to Home, Away, and Night settings, I haven't used the limit on the number of times I can program to change between these per day. Set up is easy, with comfort temperatures for each setting. It can send you alerts if the temperature or humidity reach your determined thresholds. It can also be set with geofencing to turn the heat on as you approach the house within a set radius if you wish. The ability to add additional room sensors is a bonus and something I want to look at later once we reconfigure our HVAC.

I only have experience with the nest, so I can't say whether it is better or worse than others, but I think they are great. I had one for 4 years in my last house and I have 2 now.

It will hold a temp if you set a program. There is a setting to automatically detect that you are aware (using your phone location). If you disable that, you can keep it at a consistent setting. You can also just set the "away" temp to something reasonable and keep it in the range you want.

I'm betting that the people who are having the issues you mention are suffering from operator error.

Haven't found one that works for more than about 5 hours with my wood stove.....Not sure what the problem is???????????

I have 2 nests. Mine work great. You can either leave it on very simple modes or higher levels of automation. I use all the functions remotely from my phone but my wife can just walk up to the control and adjust the temp up or down with a turn of the dial. You can code it so kids/guests/wives can't change it even at the wall unit. I have a hybrid system, heat pump with propane backup and I can remotely change the temp at which the propane comes on, great if I all of a sudden need to heat the house up quickly from a lower temp. I like pulling up the history for each day on my phone so I know if something funky is going on. I bought the first one 5 years ago. Worth every penny.

I went with the Honeywell Lyric. It was $120 at Lowe’s. Easy to use App and scheduling. Great unit.

Why are people so willing to put remote control access and ultra fine tuning of their personal lives on the internet?

Heating a house is like a freight train.

Get a heat audit and insulate your home first.
Get a two-stage furnace with a high SEER and adjust flue vents to rooms where you spend time.
Set your thermostat at 60-65deg and bump it up for a few hours whenever needed.
It's that simple.

For the win.

I can understand the need for some people to check on the home via wifi. If they are away a lot, checking the temperature is a comfort when the outdoor temperature drops well below the freezing point.
I have a fairly simple White Rodgers "Big Blue" two stage H/C stat with fan control.
It is a programmable setback stat and works well. I have no desire to have a connected thermostat. Allows you to program maximum and minimum setpoints for heating and cooling that cannot be over ridden by people who believe that thermostats are like gas pedals. Turning it up to 90 doesn't heat the house up any faster, it just makes it hotter.
The one I have now is the second of the same type. I had tried a Honeywell T'stat for a brief time and returned it as its canned programming resulted in the furnace cycling unpredictably. It was an adaptive thermostat but apparently it was a slow learner...
I have a York furnace in the house now. Two stage heat, variable supply fan. Very nice and effective furnace and so far, trouble free. (touch wood)...

Or you might live in a rental, be away for long periods of time, and live in a very cold climate.

Or you might be preparing your house for sale, and agent says you need to have better looking/more modern thermostat.

Both apply to me.

I fully understand other people have a very different life style than I do. That is a very good thing.

With that said, our thermostat is 20+ years old, and has a simple manual program, lower the temp at night (in winter, raise it in summer) when we are in bed. Back to normal temps a little before I get up.

My wife is retire and I work from home. One of us is at home most of the time. If we go out, it is just for a one or two hour trip. The house can't change temps that fast.

I simple see no reason to put my thermostat, refrigerator, washing machine or any appliance at all, on the net. And I love technology. I was sending Fidomail on the Fidonet long before the internet come to be, in the days of 300 baud dial up. I have had more than one personal computer at home all the time since the 1980s.

Everyone is different. I went away for a week and came back to a non working thermostat during the winter. The pipes were a couple hours away from freezing. There was ice in the upstairs toilet bowl. Knowing the status of my hvac, I can always send my neighbor over to take care of an issue. Just the remote feature is worth it to me but everything else is nice to have. It's not for everyone. If it was just my wife, she would have the old fashioned round unit.