Klaus
11-27-2012, 12:50 PM
Purchased a Nest Thermostat for the new house a month ago and after having it in use for a couple weeks here is my quick review.
I have only used it for heating so I can't comment on the AC features that are supposed to save money with turning the AC off early and using the fan to save energy. The main features on the Nest is the built in Wifi that allows you to connect to it with your phone/tablet or PC and easily change settings. I have really enjoyed watching the temp from work and having the ability to turn down the heat if I forgot to before I left the house. It also gives you a report for the previous days that shows amount of usage and when you moved the temp during the day.
http://urbanpeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/nest-thermostat-4.jpg
Auto away feature monitors if you are home by using two motion detectors. If it doesn't detect movement after a few hours it puts it into auto away (you set the temp it will default to). I find it somewhat useful but have only seen it kick in once and my thermostat is located in a location that might not see a ton of traffic so I could see it possibly setting auto away when I am still home.
http://wpuploads.appadvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/nest20.jpg
Auto schedule is a feature that also monitors your changing of the temp and attempts to auto program itself with your schedule. It takes a couple weeks to learn your schedule before it sets itself. Mine just set itself last night.... I would say it got most of the schedule wrong BUT the last two weeks haven't been typical with moving in and the holiday. I turned the auto schedule off and just set my own. I think that the biggest downfall of the normal programmable thermostat was how hard it was to set up a schedule. On the Nest it's super easy to set it up and change.
http://www.fastcodesign.com/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2012/10/1670913-inline-web-schedule.jpg
Overall I am happy so far but I would like to see Nest add some new features like the outside temp and some other display options. You input your zip code and it knows your location and the outside temp on the PC interface would be nice to take advantage of the nice screen to show some other options.
Pros:
Easy operation from smart phone, tablet, or PC.
Setting a schedule is super easy.
Monitoring usage is a nice feature.
Looks awesome and the 2.0 version is super slim
Cons:
Price ($199 is super high end for programmable thermostats but some studies show you could pay for it in under a year with savings)
Auto away won't work well if your thermostat is in a out of the way place
Auto schedule might not work as well as advertised
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L8TkhHgkBsg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
I have only used it for heating so I can't comment on the AC features that are supposed to save money with turning the AC off early and using the fan to save energy. The main features on the Nest is the built in Wifi that allows you to connect to it with your phone/tablet or PC and easily change settings. I have really enjoyed watching the temp from work and having the ability to turn down the heat if I forgot to before I left the house. It also gives you a report for the previous days that shows amount of usage and when you moved the temp during the day.
http://urbanpeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/nest-thermostat-4.jpg
Auto away feature monitors if you are home by using two motion detectors. If it doesn't detect movement after a few hours it puts it into auto away (you set the temp it will default to). I find it somewhat useful but have only seen it kick in once and my thermostat is located in a location that might not see a ton of traffic so I could see it possibly setting auto away when I am still home.
http://wpuploads.appadvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/nest20.jpg
Auto schedule is a feature that also monitors your changing of the temp and attempts to auto program itself with your schedule. It takes a couple weeks to learn your schedule before it sets itself. Mine just set itself last night.... I would say it got most of the schedule wrong BUT the last two weeks haven't been typical with moving in and the holiday. I turned the auto schedule off and just set my own. I think that the biggest downfall of the normal programmable thermostat was how hard it was to set up a schedule. On the Nest it's super easy to set it up and change.
http://www.fastcodesign.com/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2012/10/1670913-inline-web-schedule.jpg
Overall I am happy so far but I would like to see Nest add some new features like the outside temp and some other display options. You input your zip code and it knows your location and the outside temp on the PC interface would be nice to take advantage of the nice screen to show some other options.
Pros:
Easy operation from smart phone, tablet, or PC.
Setting a schedule is super easy.
Monitoring usage is a nice feature.
Looks awesome and the 2.0 version is super slim
Cons:
Price ($199 is super high end for programmable thermostats but some studies show you could pay for it in under a year with savings)
Auto away won't work well if your thermostat is in a out of the way place
Auto schedule might not work as well as advertised
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L8TkhHgkBsg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>