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I don't have the Nest, but I have the Ecobee, which is great, especially the wireless connectivity. It's not "I need an exact 23.5 degrees when I get home", bu

I don't have the Nest, but I have the Ecobee, which is great, especially the wireless connectivity. It's not "I need an exact 23.5 degrees when I get home", but rather, "I just left to go vacation. Maybe I should turn my thermostat off" and can do so from my phone, and also, "Looks like I'm getting home a day before I expected. I can turn my heating on so my home won't be freezing when I arrive." Additionally, scheduling on the Ecobee is far, far easier than traditional thermostats.

gregmac 11y ago
I have an Ecobee as well (and a RadioThermostat brand one before that), and find the internet part the least compelling thing about these. My Ecobee: * Has remote sensors that depend on schedule At night it is based on upstairs bedroom temperatures. During the day, it strikes a balance between the front and back of the house. The back of my house is south-facing with lots of windows, and the sun heats it up significantly compared to the front, and it skews the thermostat. The result is that the temperature is more balanced: the south side a bit warmer on sunny days, but front rooms, like my office, are still warm enough. * I can control it from bed Normally the schedule keeps it warmer/cooler at night, but sometimes it needs tweaking, or it's a holiday and we're trying to sleep in (when usually we'd be gone to work), etc. Yes, lazy, but very handy. * Can run fan for minimum x minutes per hour Helps with circulation and the temperature imbalance in my house. * Looks nice * Easier to edit schedules * Runs my whole-house humidifier (and keeps it adjusted based on outside temperature so it's as high as possible without getting frost on the windows) There's other stuff I don't use such as auto home/away, and "follow me", largely because software limitations with scheduling and, for example, at night the sensor is in the baby's room but the baby doesn't move enough to make it think the room is occupied. Like most home automation, it's not about tweaking your house while you're not home: it's about automating it and doing things with software. The fact there is internet connectivity and remote access is just a side-effect. (I realize that's not how most "IoT" companies look at this, but IMHO that's one of the problems).

gregmac 11y ago

I have an Ecobee as well (and a RadioThermostat brand one before that), and find the internet part the least compelling thing about these. My Ecobee: * Has remote sensors that depend on schedule At night it is based on upstairs bedroom temperatures. During the day, it strikes a balance between the front and back of the house. The back of my house is south-facing with lots of windows, and the sun heats it up significantly compared to the front, and it skews the thermostat. The result is that the temperature is more balanced: the south side a bit warmer on sunny days, but front rooms, like my office, are still warm enough. * I can control it from bed Normally the schedule keeps it warmer/cooler at night, but sometimes it needs tweaking, or it's a holiday and we're trying to sleep in (when usually we'd be gone to work), etc. Yes, lazy, but very handy. * Can run fan for minimum x minutes per hour Helps with circulation and the temperature imbalance in my house. * Looks nice * Easier to edit schedules * Runs my whole-house humidifier (and keeps it adjusted based on outside temperature so it's as high as possible without getting frost on the windows) There's other stuff I don't use such as auto home/away, and "follow me", largely because software limitations with scheduling and, for example, at night the sensor is in the baby's room but the baby doesn't move enough to make it think the room is occupied. Like most home automation, it's not about tweaking your house while you're not home: it's about automating it and doing things with software. The fact there is internet connectivity and remote access is just a side-effect. (I realize that's not how most "IoT" companies look at this, but IMHO that's one of the problems).