The first port of call for many smart home users is a connected thermostat - and for good reason. Gaining better control over the heating of your home is not just a huge gain for convenience. You can save a lot of money by heating your home more efficiently and there is no better feeling than warming up during your ship and getting home to a warm house.
There are plenty of options for those looking for a top smart thermostat. Perhaps best known is Nest, which dominated the space since 2013 and has now been completely subsumed by Google. But several traditional rivals, including Hive and Honeywell, have managed to capture important chunks of the action, while competitors such as Ecobee have won quickly.
Read on for our list of the best smart thermostats available, followed by a detailed presentation of everything you need to know about choosing your perfect system.
Read on for our selection of the best intelligent thermostat systems, fully tested in our homes and apartments.
Buy Now: Amazon, ecobee.com | $ 249
The nest may be the biggest name in smart thermostats, but with its latest offering, Ecobee proves that it is worth sharing the spotlight. In fact, with its latest SmartThermostat, we believe that Ecobee has finally become the new reigning champion.
Ecobee SmartThermostat is its new pilot thermostat, and the most unique feature is built into Alexa. It's the Amazon Echo in the world of thermostats. Yes, Ecobee4 also had it, but thanks to an improved speaker it is now louder and clearer. There is a small LED light at the top of the Ecobee that produces the iconic green-blue hue of Alexa. And, well, Alexa behaves just like Alexa here - respecting your commands and answering questions - but she can control the thermostat itself.
Even better, the Ecobee SmartThermostat is compatible with all major platforms: HomeKit, SmartThings, Google Assistant, IFTTT. If you are building a smart home, make sure it fits right.
Ecobee comes with a lot of smart programming features, including some that use external sensors and your smartphone to tell when someone comes home, where they are in the house, and adjusts accordingly. It can manage the temperature of a house in such a way as to concentrate its efforts on occupied rooms and leave rooms that are not. There is a room sensor packed with the thermostat, but you can buy more separately for other rooms.
Ecobee is compatible with most residential heating and cooling systems in North America, but not with high-voltage systems. Setup is easy if you already have a C wire installed - it took us about 15 minutes - otherwise you can use the built-in power extension kit, but this is more complicated and best installed by a professional.
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Read our full Ecobee SmartThermostat review.
Purchase now: Amazon cuib.com | £ 219
The third-generation pride of Nest Thermostat is that it teaches your behaviors to create a program for you, at the same time, encourages you to stay in certain temperature zones for optimum heating; This will save you money and help you reduce wasted energy.
When using the Nest manually, rather than relying on a program, it can start to form a pattern based on when you like certain temperatures - for yourself and at home. Of course, you can also choose your own programs and there is a correct Radiant True mode that teaches how long it takes the house to reach a certain temperature so that it adjusts its start times based on that.
Key differences explained: Nest Learning Thermostat v Nest Thermostat E
Unlike Tado, Nest did not have area options or individual radiator control - although it is possible to use third-party smart radiator valves alongside Nest, the thermostat simply functions as a maximum temperature regulator (such as be a silent thermostat, with valves connected)).
There is also the nest temperature sensor for only $ 39. You can place it on a shelf or on a wall and it will track the temperature in a certain room, which is important because not all rooms and hallways in your home are at the same temperature. Basically, this allows you to properly heat or cool certain rooms and give priority to some over others.
Nest's Home / Away mode is particularly powerful, especially if you use other Nest products that can detect your locations, such as Nest Protect or any Nest Cams. There are also neat features that go through Nest devices, such as shutting down the system if a Protect detects carbon monoxide.
Nest is now testing a new feature of the thermostat to help identify potential problems with heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. If a potential problem is detected, they will send you an email alert.
For example, your Nest thermostat may notice that it takes longer than normal to cool your home, so there may be a problem with your cooling system.
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Purchase now:Amazon cuib.com | £ 199.
Thermostat E is Nest's "budget" option, and while it sacrifices some of the extra features that make its brother more expensive one of our top picks, most things are still here.
Far from shouting, shiny, high-quality metal nest, the white plastic look of the E helps it blend more into the background, with a polarized glass screen, giving it a beautifully frosted finish. Like the nest, the E detects when you are at home or away and sets the temperature accordingly and also has the ability to set the schedule so you know what to do at any time.
A big omission is Farsight and it is not compatible with as many HVAC systems as the learning model (about 85% versus 95% learning). There is a compatibility checker on the website, so you can see if it supports your system.
This frozen screen is also a smart way to hide the fact that it comes with a lower resolution panel than the nest, although it's still perfectly easy to read current temperatures and targets.
If you live in the UK, you do not have to hang the E on the wall because it comes with a stand, which makes it easy to place it on a table or shelf. This also makes it portable, which means you can get a more accurate measurement of heat in a particular room at a given time - as in the case of the Lyric T6.
The British version of the E comes with Heat Link E, a disc made of material that replaces the existing thermostat using the same harness. Installation is simple, with Nest moving how to replace the old thermostat with Link E.
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Read our full Thermostat E. review
Purchase now: Amazon | $ 179.99/ £ 249 (with hub) in the UK, £ 199 (without hub)
The Hive thermostat itself is best suited for less technical users in smaller homes. First, the battery is powered, so you don't need to plug it in. This is a trap - and the controller will last about six months on a set of four AAs.
Key features include the ability to remotely turn the heater on and off and configure the programs based on room temperature, which is more than most boilers offer. There is also a vacation mode, which stops heating your home until you return, but no longer automates based on the location of your smartphone, such as Nest.
The application is quite easy to use, suitable for those who have reservations regarding the heating. Good additions include the hour-long heat pulse mode, which is designed to mimic the button found on older boiler systems.
Read this: The Complete Guide to the Hive Smart Home
But Hive still lacks features such as localized radiator controls, which means it's not as powerful as rival platforms from Honeywell or Tado. It boasts of heating in several areas, but this means installing more thermostats. Again, it's fine for an upstairs / upstairs layout, but it's not so good for four single bedrooms plus the east and west wing of your house on the mansion beach.
Of course, the need to keep your smart home within the Hive family is affected by platforms like Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Home. Alexa support is a big part of the hive and works well, but support needs to be available for anything else. Hive has Home Hub 360 to control the entire system.
But it is the kind of system that is perfect for non-tech users, it does not shoot when it comes to the ecosystem and, best of all, you will get a reliable engineer to match it.
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Purchase now: Amazon | $ 199.99
T9 Honeywell may be missing some of the competitors' flash, but there are still plenty of reasons to do so. First, it has the best range of sensors, which can track humidity, temperature and presence.
The sensors also work with geo-fences, so you can apply home, away and sleep to specific rooms. The sensors were really responsive to the test and we were pleased to be able to use Alexa and Google Assistant to target them individually; There is no HomeKit support yet, but we are promised it will come.
It's just a shame that these sensors are so unsightly, but at least the thermostat itself is not bad, just a little soft. However, the touch screen functions as a treatment, which shows you the time, current indoor temperature and outdoor temperature.
The T9 supports up to 20 sensors, and if you want, you can tell your system to average the temperature all over, so that the whole house is comfortable or aimed at one. It may even give priority to the rooms where the movement is taking place - handy!
We also really like the adaptive recovery function, which will heat or cool your home a little earlier than you ask for, which means it will reach the desired optimum at the right times.
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Read the full review of the Smart Honeywell Home T9 thermostat.
Purchase now: Amazon tado.com | £ 199.99,
A lesser known system in Germany, Tado straddles the line between a system that addresses those who want the maximum features from their smart thermostat and something quite elegant that will not look out of place in your home.
The diminutive white box acts as a thermostat, but the main work is done on the smartphone. The application allows you to set the temperature remotely and set programs for your home. But things are quickly taking a more technological advantage.
While the geo-location is available on Nest and Hive, it is front and center on Tado. As you head home, Tado will start to heat your home, increasing this level as you get closer to home. It is not a permissible system; it works fine in general, but it fits if you plan to spend the entire day at home because you will have to intervene manually. You can use a sliding scale to manage the aggressiveness of the geo-location or simply turn it off.
Unlike Nest and Hive, Tado offers individual radiator thermostats that will allow you to quickly add areas to your home. It's a quick and inexpensive way to make your heating system much more powerful - but again it will add a level of complexity that you have to manage.
You will also have to deal with a configuration that is more labor intensive than the hive. Before an engineer could be called, a number of pre-registrations were required and we had to deal with Tado's assistance to verify that our new boiler was compatible, which lasted a week. The engineer who came to install the system failed to explain the application or how it worked - and, inexplicably, could not or would not fit the radiator valves. Again, this is not a problem for confident users, but I would not recommend it to anyone who is not particularly smart at home.
But payment is a multitude of smart compatibility. Try Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit for size control - only Ecobee offers the same level of ubiquity in systems, which essentially controls your configuration in the future.
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Purchase now: Amazon honeywell.com | From £ 179
The Honeywell Lyric T6 is not the most comprehensive heating regulator connected to Honeywell - this honor belongs to the 12-zone Evohome, which sings altogether. But what the T6 offers is plenty of bang for its buck and plenty of features evolved from one of the biggest names in the smart thermostat game.
There are actually two versions of Honeywell's latest smart thermostat - the regular T6 and the T6R - and both can be moved around the house (meaning they aren't wall-mounted). It means a little more flexibility with the slightly more expensive T6R, but, as with all thermostats, you should place it in a room that best tells the story of your home's average temperature.
Like Tado, many of the best features with the Lyric T6 are centered around the geo-location, using your smartphone to check your location and see if the heating needs to be turned on or off. The manual function of the geofencing area in the Lyric application is excellent, allowing you to determine your own locations far and away. After all, a kilometer from home can mean a long walk or a quick two minute bus ride.
Like Nest and Tado, the Lyric T6 is "smart" and will start to warm up in time to reach what it thinks will be the desired temperature at the right time (using the optimized start function), which means that you don't you will suddenly feel the sensation. cold and, more importantly, saving money by not wasting energy. However, there is no learning with the lyric; everything is based on what you tell him to do - depending on the state of your home, away or sleep.
Planning is great within the application, although annoyingly you can't (at least easily) have the geofencing and programming options that work concurrently.
The Lyric app is about the simplest I've encountered, with a large wheel representing a temperature controller and large clear buttons to enter and exit different settings. However, we found it to be somewhat unpleasant during our testing, the system being disassociated from a user account on several occasions. Any issues I had were on Android, though - on iOS it was perfect.
Lyric T6 was the first connected thermostat to launch in the UK with HomeKit support, and the device works very well with Alexa and Google Assistant - and there are plenty of IFTTT recipes out there if you want more than just voice commands. for temperature change.
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The key feature of any smart thermostat is to provide you with remote control heating, anywhere in the world, via your smartphone. But there is more than one offer.
Many traditional heating systems require a nasty plastic thermostat, and some have no thermostatic control, which means that users put the heating on when they are cold, make the house too hot and turn it off again. It's a huge waste. You can set up the timer control and inevitably forget to turn it off when you are away and heat the house unnecessarily.
Here the smart thermostats prove their value.
First of all, they work thermostatically, allowing you to set the optimum temperature for your home, which should save you a cash outage. You can then create appropriate programs, start and stop your heating remotely, and make sure it is turned off properly when you go on vacation.
Some also come with optional sensors that can be placed around the house to target the temperature in specific rooms - but you can still get many benefits if you don't have external sensors.
While tech companies like Nest have really started this trend, established HVAC systems have now become afraid of not being left behind; now you can find smart thermostats, such as Honeywell and Bosch.
The smart home is a rapidly evolving place, and the thermostats are just one piece of the puzzle. You may want to control lighting, heating, security and a number of devices inside the home. So, an essential consideration is how you can make sure that your things will work together.
Before you do anything, you need to understand how your current system is connected. The good news is that most smart thermostats are compatible with heating and cooling systems in at least two stages, but pay more attention to the specific, because your system is bigger than that.
Get up to speed: Smart home ecosystems explained
The bad news is that not all of them will work with all other equipment, such as heat pumps and ventilation systems. So, consider what you have in your home and whether a smart thermostat will really benefit you.
It's worth taking into consideration the control provided by your configuration. A simpler system will give you complete control of the home, while others will allow you to get as much granulation as the temperature control in each individual room (if you buy sensors and relevant regulators). Some are more practical and others learn your weekly habits or use geofencing to try to make the whole experience as practical as possible.
Apple users will want to look at HomeKit integrations, while others will want to make sure you can control your thermostat through Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. If you have to control the lights through your smartphone, but heating and cooling using a different application - well, that will become irritating.
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