NEST Thermostat thoughts? Experiences?

[JJL]

Hi all

I've been considering getting some of these for my new house. They seem very cool and I've heard great things about them but with that being said, my wife has stumpted me with asking why it's better than our thermostat with a timer?

Her whole arguement is that why would she need something that takes a week/month to learn your schedule when she can just set it on a timer in 15 minutes and it's done forever?

The only thing I could come up with is that Nest can be controled by your iphone/ipad/computer which is kind of cool.

Anything else? I feel like I'm missing something

Help appreciated

[Noonan]

You basically covered it. The app makes it easily programmable but most other thermostats offer that as well, just not as easy to do. Biggest advantage for me is the ability to update it from my phone. We keep it at 60 when we're at work. If I'm leaving early for the day I can start the house heating up before I leave work rather than after I get home.

It took about a week before it "learned" our habits. It now puts itself into away mode when we leave the house. I'm assuming it's based on the motion sensors in the unit but I don't know what criteria it uses to determine when we're not there. The idea is that it saves you energy since it'll go into away mode during a time when the heat is turned up based on the schedule but it knows you're away.

[wantonebad]

Originally Posted by JJL

Hi all

I've been considering getting some of these for my new house. They seem very cool and I've heard great things about them but with that being said, my wife has stumpted me with asking why it's better than our thermostat with a timer?

Her whole arguement is that why would she need something that takes a week/month to learn your schedule when she can just set it on a timer in 15 minutes and it's done forever?

The only thing I could come up with is that Nest can be controled by your iphone/ipad/computer which is kind of cool.

Anything else? I feel like I'm missing something

Help appreciated

I tend to agree with your wife...

[jjnd08]

I have one, and I definitely value the app.

I forgot to change the setting before leaving on vacation, I was glad I had the ability to adjust it from across the country. You can also set or modify your schedule online or over the app.

It also gives you a report of how long your heater/AC ran during each day.

[scottIN]

Got one when they first came out. One of the favorite things in my house. The learning thing is cool, but for me, the big advantage is being able to control it from my phone. Out all day? On the way home, turn off the auto away and warm it up before you get there. Or like when I was on vacation a few weeks ago I was able to check to make sure the heat was still on couple times a day since it was below zero outside. And the energy reporting is pretty cool too - how much it runs every day. Really, everything about it is cool.

Highly recommended...

[daunwaun]

Its always being updated too by google (who now owns it), it monitors your humidity, and you can actually save upto 35% on your heating and cooling costs. While you can just "set" your thermostat its a very ineffective tool to save on your heating/cooling bill.

Also, if you have an older furnace, make an effort to upgrade - a new furnace will save you another 20-30% as well.

Consider getting the nest smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, for $100 (about $50 more than most other top detectors) they will warn you if theres smoke even when you're not home. When paired with the nest thermostat, it will tell the thermostat to shut off the furnace (gas) in case of smoke or fire. Pretty neat! They go in all my homes.

http://www.nest.com/ca/smoke-co-alar...-nest-protect/

Cheers,

Ken

[crew]

I've had one for two years. I bought it when I moved into my new (to me) home. The house came with an old, non-programmable thermostat, so for me the Nest was a no brainier.
I've been very happy with it and I like the Auto Away feature, the usage meter and the remote capabilities it offers.
My friend put in a new furnace last summer and she got something similar called "Nexia". I don't like it nearly as well as I do the Nest. However, when we were on vacation two weeks ago I used her phone to check on her furnace and found her house at 55 degrees! We called her sister who called the hvac company and they found the intake covered with 2' of snow, thus choking the furnace from air. The remote capability saved us from possible damage.

[b06tmm]

When you wake up in a freezing cold house and can just grab your phone/pad and turn up the heat without getting out of bed, I call that a major plus.

I also get an energy usage report every month, like so:





What I don't like is that Google purchased Nest and Drop Cam (I have both) and it's too much information that they know about me.

[77T]

Originally Posted by b06tmm

What I don't like is that Google purchased Nest and Drop Cam (I have both) and it's too much information that they know about me.

I have to agree on that point...

For the OP, your wife and mine must have been trained at the same, "Why do we need that?" center of pure thought...

[overthehill]

I like the nest. Easy to install too. Btw. Grab a Philips hue light kit too;) its cool.

[scottIN]

Yeah, totally forgot about the 'laying in bed, grab my ipad & change the temp' aspect of it. I do that a lot. Last night was in bed reading, was a little warm, popped over to the Nest app and knocked it down a couple degrees.

[Highland Ranger]

read Amazon reviews - doesn't work with all installations - requires power at thermostat.

That aside, lots of stories about the thing going nuts.

I wanted to get one of these as well but:
- don't like the third party connection, they don't need to know what temp it is in my house

- would be pain to install (I don't have power at thermostats)

- Savings would be greatest when going from dumb thermostat with single temp - I'd imagine the savings vs even a basic programmable thermostat with 7 days and 4 settings a day would be nominal if even not distinguishable

- investing in beta tech X five zones in the house = pass

Cool tech, but not for me yet.

[WatchTimes]

If you are in a modern home (built in last 15 years) Nest is GREAT!
Some older home have issues with the wiring required for Nest versus what older HVAC units provided. There are work around for many systems now.
We have two HVAC units for our house and I have a Nest set on both of them!
I travel a decent amount and love how I can get the house warmed up when I land!
Also as mentioned it helps you when freak things happen like Crew mentioned above.
Is it a must for a home? No, its a nice luxury.

[Laszlo]

I was interested in the line of products provided by NEST, but the second I saw and heard the demo on the smoke detector, and the warning announcement dialogue was "Warning, heads-up..." I walked away. Heads-up while my freakin' house is on fire? Who writes this stuff? Hipsters?

[Jfullm42]

Originally Posted by jjnd08

I have one, and I definitely value the app.

I forgot to change the setting before leaving on vacation, I was glad I had the ability to adjust it from across the country. You can also set or modify your schedule online or over the app.

It also gives you a report of how long your heater/AC ran during each day.

I agree completely with this, I have one and love it! I've changed the temp from out of town many times to save money on energy and when we are on our way home I turn it on and it's always a great temp.

It really does learn your habits and adjusts accordingly