Nest Thermostat (house, to buy, theater)

[texas7]

Just saw yet another commercial for Reliant and that Nest thermostat. So what is the big deal about that? Anyone have it and what is so great about it?

[ethanw]

Neat automation with good intelligence built in. It can save some serious money

Originally Posted by texas7

Just saw yet another commercial for Reliant and that Nest thermostat. So what is the big deal about that? Anyone have it and what is so great about it?

[predatorprey]

just pay it out pocket upfront and forgo the contract and surcharge

[lhafer]

We bought ours a few months ago, and love it. It "learns" your settings, so after a while, you really don't have to mess with it anymore.

[PedroMartinez]

When it first came out, it was fairly pricey. I went with the Filtrete programmable Wi-Fi thermostat for $99 (which at the time was $250 cheaper - but Nest has dropped since then) because I needed to buy two for my dual zone system.

I know what temperature I want my house at when I'm at home and when I'm away; therefore, I just programmed it. I can also control it and set it for "away" from my iPhone or my computer.

From my limited knowledge, it does appear as though the NEST thermostat is better in some regards, but it was definitely not worth the additional $500 (at the time) for what I would receive.

I haven't seen the app for the NEST, but the Filtrete app is very easy to use and takes me about 6 seconds to adjust the temperature from the time I pick up the phone (this includes click the button, swiping the unlock, choosing the app - which is on my first screen - and changing the temp). I just timed it, lol.

Side note/funny story - if you are familiar with the site "First World Problems", I almost entered my "problem" a couple of months ago. I was watching a movie in my home theater, and my internet service was down. I was a little warm so I picked up my phone to lower the temperature. Since the internet was down, I couldn't do it from my phone. I was very annoyed that I had to pause the movie, leave the theater room and walk 20 feet down the hall to reduce the temperature. I then realized this and laughed at myself.

[jasonamd]

The savings with the Nest won't be that much if any if you already use a programmable thermostat. Also there have been a lot of reports (read the Nest forums) about the temperature not being accurate. Some research shows that it is only accurate within 4 degrees, usually reading lower than actual, which means the indoor temperature will be higher than what it is set to. Which if it is that far off, could easily account for some of the energy savings.

Depending on your energy usage, if you get it through the Reliant plan, you could end up paying quite a bit more for it since the plan it comes with has higher rates. Anytime an electric company offers something free...it isn't really free. Same goes with the free nights and weekends plans. You pay higher rates the rest of the time.

[alidoremi]

We've had the Nest thermostat for a year now. I give it mixed reviews.

I love that I can be gone for a long period of time and on my way home I can set it for the temp I want so that the house is cool when I get home.

What I don't like is how the device learns your settings. I guess if you work all day and have a very typical pattern of being home at certain times and being gone at certain times then it's fine. But my life isn't like that. So I might be home and notice that the AC hasn't turned on for 3 hours and it's getting warm; then I manually have to change the temp. I find myself doing this several times a day. I think, though, that you can turn the 'learning' setting off and just program it like a regular thermostat.

I've also thought that the temps read lower than what they should. With my old thermostat we would keep it at 78 during the day; with the Nest, 78 is too warm and we need to turn it down to 76. But my husband thinks it's that the old thermostat wasn't accurate.

[Cbink]

Is it able to keep the house at a set range and automatically switch between heating and cooling modes? I have a programmable thermostat at the moment but although you can set the ranges of upper and lower limits it's either in heat or cool mode and can't automatically switch. Not an issue in the summer but there are times in the spring where I'm switching between heating and cooling and it seems it would be a simple thing for a programmable thermostat to do since it's all digital.

I'd be interested in it if it could do that, otherwise it doesn't really give me any more functionality than I have at present.

[jasonamd]

Originally Posted by Cbink

Is it able to keep the house at a set range and automatically switch between heating and cooling modes? I have a programmable thermostat at the moment but although you can set the ranges of upper and lower limits it's either in heat or cool mode and can't automatically switch. Not an issue in the summer but there are times in the spring where I'm switching between heating and cooling and it seems it would be a simple thing for a programmable thermostat to do since it's all digital.

I'd be interested in it if it could do that, otherwise it doesn't really give me any more functionality than I have at present.

It didn't originally have the feature (called auto changeover) but they added it in a software update. Most programmable thermostats have the feature but is disabled by default and is usually hidden in the installer menus if it does have it.

One feature the Nest does not have is a hold setting.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by jasonamd

It didn't originally have the feature (called auto changeover) but they added it in a software update. Most programmable thermostats have the feature but is disabled by default and is usually hidden in the installer menus if it does have it.

One feature the Nest does not have is a hold setting.

If you have dual zone and a wife, be careful enabling this.