4 ms·

I don't much care if police or fire is dispatched while we're out of the house. That's what insurance is for. I much prefer having the ability to monitor myself

by ssmoot 10y ago

I don't much care if police or fire is dispatched while we're out of the house. That's what insurance is for. I much prefer having the ability to monitor myself without an exorbitant monthly fee (I'm guessing it varies, but in my area it's typically about $100/month). It's mostly just to ensure I didn't drive off and leave the garage door open again anyways. I bought several high-end 5 or 7 day programmable thermostats. Looking at Home Depot right now most of those are still pushing $200. And they're "Indiglo" pieces of junk that will be almost entirely illegible in a year's time IME. The Honeywell Lyric for example can't turn on/off the fan on the device. You also can't schedule on the device. Need the app for that. And the app appears broken for a lot of users. Nest just got a lot of things right. My only real complaint is the scheduling UX is kinda goofy. But it does work, and it's much quicker than any other I've tried. Otherwise it does everything I want and it's saved me money. That's a convenience and utility worth paying a bit more for to me. This stuff mostly comes down to saving money to me. In the same way I buy my iPhone outright and spend $45/month for a 5Gb/unlimited-minutes phone plan, I like the idea of spending a bit more up-front to be more liquid later. But back to thermostats. After reading the reviews this morning, unless you want to buy into a Kickstarter or something (with it's own risks), the market still seems to be mostly "garbage" IMO. Maybe the Ecobee is a decent Nest alternative? I dunno. I've had my Nest for about 5 years now. It's paid for itself. Hopefully I don't have to find out what else is out there anytime soon.

vonmoltke 10y ago
> I don't much care if police or fire is dispatched while we're out of the house. That's what insurance is for. I much prefer having the ability to monitor myself without an exorbitant monthly fee (I'm guessing it varies, but in my area it's typically about $100/month). It's mostly just to ensure I didn't drive off and leave the garage door open again anyways. I care, because it's the reason I have a security system in the first place. I don't care much for a system that simply tells me if I left a door open. Also, there are things insurance can't replace. I'd rather pay for the risk reduction of having a monitored system then have to go through losing a bunch of personally important but otherwise middling value stuff again. BTW, I only pay $58/month for full monitoring (burglar and fire), and could cut it to about $40/month if I shopped around. > I bought several high-end 5 or 7 day programmable thermostats. Looking at Home Depot right now most of those are still pushing $200. And they're "Indiglo" pieces of junk that will be almost entirely illegible in a year's time IME. I don't buy high-end thermostats. I put a $50 Honeywell (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Honeywell-5-2-Day-Programmable-Thermostat-with-Backlight-RTH6350D/202216464 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Honeywell-5-2-Day-Programmable-Th...) in my mom's house and it has worked flawlessly for six years. I have the same basic thermostat in my own house, though that one is almost 20 years old. If it failed, I would get another one of those $50 Honeywells (or build my own). I'm not going to buy anything in Home Depots "WiFi" or "Touch Screen" categories until those come way down in price. > The Honeywell Lyric for example can't turn on/off the fan on the device. You also can't schedule on the device. Need the app for that. And the app appears broken for a lot of users. The Lyric is a piece of shit and I would never buy it. > But back to thermostats. After reading the reviews this morning, unless you want to buy into a Kickstarter or something (with it's own risks), the market still seems to be mostly "garbage" IMO. Maybe the Ecobee is a decent Nest alternative? I dunno. I've had my Nest for about 5 years now. It's paid for itself. Hopefully I don't have to find out what else is out there anytime soon. I think I understand your "garbage" comment now. You are only looking at the advanced, connected thermostats. In that case, I agree that everything in that segment except Nest is crap. Thing is, I don't care about that segment at all. Other than remote control I don't see anything any of those thermostats give me over standard 5-2 programmables that justifies the extra $200.
- ssmoot 10y ago
  > I care And that's cool for you. My MIL is the same way. Wouldn't live without a security system. I'm not one of those people so I don't want to pay those prices. > BTW, I only pay $58/month for full monitoring (burglar and fire), and could cut it to about $40/month if I shopped around. I live in a house in a relatively high-crime area of Dallas. It's not that cheap for me according to what neighbors say. But anything at all really is too much for me I suppose so eh. > I don't buy high-end thermostats. Ok... well, then in my poorly insulated 1970's home in Dallas I'd probably be spending an extra $50+ every month during the summer cooling the house when I don't need to. Thinking about it I suppose the value is highly variable on your home and location. Yes, who doesn't love the old dial thermostats? That's some of the charm of the Nest's design I suppose. But efficiency isn't their strong suit. And I like being able to adjust the thermostat in the dark on my way to bed without turning on the lights. I don't find much value in doing anything online however. I'd be perfectly happy with a Nest that only did the scheduling and motion sensing without any of the "OMG you can turn on the heat on your way home from work!" stuff. I don't mind being less than optimally comfortable for an hour or so while my A/C warms/cools the house once we get home. If Nest started charging for it I certainly wouldn't pay for it. But that's just my experience.

by ssmoot 10y ago

vonmoltke 10y ago

> I don't much care if police or fire is dispatched while we're out of the house. That's what insurance is for. I much prefer having the ability to monitor myself without an exorbitant monthly fee (I'm guessing it varies, but in my area it's typically about $100/month). It's mostly just to ensure I didn't drive off and leave the garage door open again anyways. I care, because it's the reason I have a security system in the first place. I don't care much for a system that simply tells me if I left a door open. Also, there are things insurance can't replace. I'd rather pay for the risk reduction of having a monitored system then have to go through losing a bunch of personally important but otherwise middling value stuff again. BTW, I only pay $58/month for full monitoring (burglar and fire), and could cut it to about $40/month if I shopped around. > I bought several high-end 5 or 7 day programmable thermostats. Looking at Home Depot right now most of those are still pushing $200. And they're "Indiglo" pieces of junk that will be almost entirely illegible in a year's time IME. I don't buy high-end thermostats. I put a $50 Honeywell (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Honeywell-5-2-Day-Programmable-Thermostat-with-Backlight-RTH6350D/202216464 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Honeywell-5-2-Day-Programmable-Th...) in my mom's house and it has worked flawlessly for six years. I have the same basic thermostat in my own house, though that one is almost 20 years old. If it failed, I would get another one of those $50 Honeywells (or build my own). I'm not going to buy anything in Home Depots "WiFi" or "Touch Screen" categories until those come way down in price. > The Honeywell Lyric for example can't turn on/off the fan on the device. You also can't schedule on the device. Need the app for that. And the app appears broken for a lot of users. The Lyric is a piece of shit and I would never buy it. > But back to thermostats. After reading the reviews this morning, unless you want to buy into a Kickstarter or something (with it's own risks), the market still seems to be mostly "garbage" IMO. Maybe the Ecobee is a decent Nest alternative? I dunno. I've had my Nest for about 5 years now. It's paid for itself. Hopefully I don't have to find out what else is out there anytime soon. I think I understand your "garbage" comment now. You are only looking at the advanced, connected thermostats. In that case, I agree that everything in that segment except Nest is crap. Thing is, I don't care about that segment at all. Other than remote control I don't see anything any of those thermostats give me over standard 5-2 programmables that justifies the extra $200.

ssmoot 10y ago
> I care And that's cool for you. My MIL is the same way. Wouldn't live without a security system. I'm not one of those people so I don't want to pay those prices. > BTW, I only pay $58/month for full monitoring (burglar and fire), and could cut it to about $40/month if I shopped around. I live in a house in a relatively high-crime area of Dallas. It's not that cheap for me according to what neighbors say. But anything at all really is too much for me I suppose so eh. > I don't buy high-end thermostats. Ok... well, then in my poorly insulated 1970's home in Dallas I'd probably be spending an extra $50+ every month during the summer cooling the house when I don't need to. Thinking about it I suppose the value is highly variable on your home and location. Yes, who doesn't love the old dial thermostats? That's some of the charm of the Nest's design I suppose. But efficiency isn't their strong suit. And I like being able to adjust the thermostat in the dark on my way to bed without turning on the lights. I don't find much value in doing anything online however. I'd be perfectly happy with a Nest that only did the scheduling and motion sensing without any of the "OMG you can turn on the heat on your way home from work!" stuff. I don't mind being less than optimally comfortable for an hour or so while my A/C warms/cools the house once we get home. If Nest started charging for it I certainly wouldn't pay for it. But that's just my experience.