As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I have been a Nest customer for the past seven years. I put him a second generation Nest when I built my house in 2013 and added a second nest a few years later for our upstairs unit. I have been using Starling Home Hub for the past six weeks to activate HomeKit support for these products, but recently I have changed my bottom nest with the SmartThermostat ecobee. After a few weeks of use, I am ready to compare and decide which drive has the best HomeKit integration. ecobee vs. Nest: which is the best smart thermostat?

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Despite the fact that Nest doesn't have support for HomeKit, it's still an incredible thermostat. The hardware is reliable, the software helps you save money, and the iPhone application is very well executed. Other than the lack of native HomeKit support, I have no complaints about the Nest thermostat.

the ecobee vs Nest installation process

Both ecobee and Nest have thought through the installation process for customers. Both include easy-to-follow instructions that are intended for the end-user of the installation. In complicated settings, you may need to hire an HVAC technician, but otherwise, if you follow the included guides, you will be up and running in the shortest time.

A key difference between the two models is that of the ecobee require a common thread in which Nest does not. You may be thinking, this is a benefit for Nest. In reality, it is a bad design. Without a common thread, Nest does the pulse charging. I know this because my unit upstairs started to disconnect recently. After doing some research, I found out that my common wire was not connected (it was still in the wall), so the nest was coming down from the battery. This situation was happening in a light weather, so the unit didn't circulate very much. Once I connected the common wire, it worked fine.

ecobee has a different design. If you do not have a common wire, these require the installation of a free Extender Power kit that you include in the box. This PEK module will add a way for ecobee to receive energy.

Interactions with support

As I was lucky, we had extensive interactions with both Nest support and ecobee. When I was working on the battery issue with the battery, I spoke to Nest support. The phone call was an abysmal experience. The person on the line told me that my Wi-Fi is too powerful at one point and that it overloads the nest. He had access to my unit at that time, so he could easily know that there is no common thread.

When installing the ecobee, I neglected to turn the unit off. During the installation process, it must have passed two wires and caused the ecobee not to start because there were no powers. I should they stopped the unit, but I was just lazy. I appealed to the ecobee support, and the person it was extraordinary. He explained that I probably shortened a security and it was an easy solution. I removed the cover from the unit, sent her photos via email and she showed me exactly what to fix. A $ 3 fender is all I need to replace.

the ecobee vs the Nest app

Since I have been using the Nest application for a long time, it took me a little time to get used to the ecobee application. Both applications are very well made, but they work in different ways. Both applications allow you to create programs, control the application remotely, and change settings. All in all, both are very well done.

Real hardware

The nest is a circular design in which the ecobee is more square. I have no complaints about Nest, but I like the larger ecobee model and it lets you touch the screen. The larger footprint makes it easier to cover the holes in the old thermostat. Both models include a backplate for this purpose, but I prefer not to use it. ecobee accepts to play music from Spotify and use Alexa with it, but these features do not interest me. Both units accept temperature sensors, but I prefer the way they use their nest. You can create programs that determine how the unit works at certain times, depending on your preferences. With ecobee, pull data from all your sensors to create a heating and cooling program.

Finish ecobee vs Nest

All things considered, I prefer ecobee because of the native HomeKit integration. While I love Starling Home Hub, I would prefer to have native integration if I buy a thermostat today. I like to be able to use HomeKit automation in my home application to create scenes that control my lights, temperature and other aspects of my smart setting.

If you are considering a new thermostat and want HomeKit integration, I highly recommend ecobee Smart Thermostat. On the other hand, if you prefer Nest design, I would have no problem recommending it with Starling Home Hub as a supplement.

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