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The apartment we are renting has a Nest. And it just reeks of solution looking for a problem to me. I've never felt like the Nest is an improvement over what it

by city41 11y ago

The apartment we are renting has a Nest. And it just reeks of solution looking for a problem to me. I've never felt like the Nest is an improvement over what it's replacing. It hit me when I was in bed and wanted to turn the heat up, so I grabbed my phone and launched the Nest app. Not sure what segment of the network was having issues, but it wouldn't connect to the thermostat. After about 3 minutes of fiddling, I got up, turned the heat up on the thermostat itself, and went back to bed. The whole situation was just really dumb.

gherkin0 11y ago
Yeah, I really don't get value of the Nest either. I'd rather just program my schedule myself and have some certainty about it, rather than let some algorithm try to guess. The only smart thermostat feature that's at all tempting to me is the Ecobee's remote sensors (which the Nest doesn't have). I've lived in places where uneven heating is a legitimate problem.
- st3v3r 11y ago
  Not everyone has a set schedule like that, though.
  - gherkin0 11y ago
    Yeah, but I assume it would be even worse at learning those. To handle non-set schedules it would really need to be more reactive, with more sensor data that I believe it actually has.
    - gherkin0 11y ago
      > with more sensor data that I believe it actually has. I missed the edit window: I meant "with more sensor data than I believe it actually has."
- a3n 11y ago
  > remote sensors (which the Nest doesn't have) Maybe each Nest is a remote sensor, and everyone who has one has their house temperature set to the same temp, the result of some super-duper averaging algorithm running on Nest's cloud.
- soylentcola 11y ago
  I've had a Nest for a few years now and it's been pretty good for my uses so far. I can manually set a schedule but I also have the option of just adjusting it as I see fit and letting the Nest "learn" my schedule if I choose. Additionally, it's pretty good at handling things when I'm not around to manually tweak things or something changes. If I'm off one day during the week it detects that I'm at home and doesn't fall back to the "away" schedule/settings and on the flip side, if I'm away at work or somewhere else, when I start my drive home, it can start heating or cooling early so the temp is where I want it when I arrive. It's definitely a bit "gee whiz" but so far I've had no glaring issues with it but I've had several positive ones. My main feature request is the one you mentioned with the remote sensors. I'd love to see them come up with little night-light-sized "Nest Eggs" that you can plug into outlets in different rooms, maybe act as "smart" outlets for whatever you plug into the Nest Egg (my imaginary term, not a real product) in order to manage non-smart lighting or other minor appliances, and help build a more accurate heating/cooling model of the house. If I was working at Nest that would definitely be the new product I'd be pushing for.

by city41 11y ago

gherkin0 11y ago

Yeah, I really don't get value of the Nest either. I'd rather just program my schedule myself and have some certainty about it, rather than let some algorithm try to guess. The only smart thermostat feature that's at all tempting to me is the Ecobee's remote sensors (which the Nest doesn't have). I've lived in places where uneven heating is a legitimate problem.

st3v3r 11y ago
Not everyone has a set schedule like that, though.
- gherkin0 11y ago
  Yeah, but I assume it would be even worse at learning those. To handle non-set schedules it would really need to be more reactive, with more sensor data that I believe it actually has.
  - gherkin0 11y ago
    > with more sensor data that I believe it actually has. I missed the edit window: I meant "with more sensor data than I believe it actually has."
a3n 11y ago
> remote sensors (which the Nest doesn't have) Maybe each Nest is a remote sensor, and everyone who has one has their house temperature set to the same temp, the result of some super-duper averaging algorithm running on Nest's cloud.
soylentcola 11y ago
I've had a Nest for a few years now and it's been pretty good for my uses so far. I can manually set a schedule but I also have the option of just adjusting it as I see fit and letting the Nest "learn" my schedule if I choose. Additionally, it's pretty good at handling things when I'm not around to manually tweak things or something changes. If I'm off one day during the week it detects that I'm at home and doesn't fall back to the "away" schedule/settings and on the flip side, if I'm away at work or somewhere else, when I start my drive home, it can start heating or cooling early so the temp is where I want it when I arrive. It's definitely a bit "gee whiz" but so far I've had no glaring issues with it but I've had several positive ones. My main feature request is the one you mentioned with the remote sensors. I'd love to see them come up with little night-light-sized "Nest Eggs" that you can plug into outlets in different rooms, maybe act as "smart" outlets for whatever you plug into the Nest Egg (my imaginary term, not a real product) in order to manage non-smart lighting or other minor appliances, and help build a more accurate heating/cooling model of the house. If I was working at Nest that would definitely be the new product I'd be pushing for.