Honeywell Lyric

By John R. Delaney

When we reviewed the Nest Learning Thermostatback in 2012, it was the very first digital homethermostat we had tested (not to mention one of the first we had seen). Fast forward to 2015, and there are now numerous smart thermostats out there from companies such as Trane, Ecobee, LockState, and Honeywell. We got our hands on the $279 Honeywell Lyric, a slick Wi-Fi thermostat from the company that invented the puck-shaped thermostat more than 60 years ago. The Lyric is controlled and monitored via an iOS or Android smartphone app, and uses your phone's location services (geofencing) to save energy. Although it doesn't use a conventional scheduling menu to heat your home, it is very easy to configure, and the app is well-designed and colorful. A Web app would be a welcome addition, however, as would detailed heating and cooling usage reports.

Design and Features Measuring 3.7 inches in diameter and 1.3 inches in depth, the Lyric is a tad larger than the Nest (3.2 inches in diameter and 1.3 inches thick). The thermostat's white, glass-covered, touch-sensitive face and shiny chrome trim give it a stylish, Apple-esque look that will work with any dcor. In the center of the Lyric is a round 1.4-inch (diameter) LCD that, by default, displays the current temperature. Pressing the weather cloud icon to the left of the LCD changes the display to a 12-hour weather forecast with the time, expected temperature, and expected humidity levels. Pressing the home icon on the right launches an Away menu that lets you inform the Lyric that you'll be out of the house for X amount of hours (up to 24 hours), which in turn resets the heating or cooling temperature to your specified Away setting. A small motion sensor at the top of the thermostat wakes the Lyric up when you approach; otherwise it remains dimly lit to conserve energy.

Above the main display is a smaller display that shows you the temperature setting and either a sun icon for heating or a snowflake icon for cooling. You can use these icons to turn the system on or off. A halo ring at the rear of the Lyric briefly glows orange when the thermostat goes into heating mode, blue when it goes into cooling mode, and green when it enters energy saving mode. As with the Nest, you can manually raise and lower the temperature setting by turning the Lyric like a dialleft to lower the temperature and right to raise it. An audible tick accompanies each degree mark, making it easy to adjust to an exact temperature.

The Lyric can be controlled from a smartphone using an iOS or Android app, but you can't control it from a PC using a Web browser. The mobile app is colorful and makes it easy to configure the thermostat to fit your schedule. When you launch the app, you're presented with a screen that contains a dial (orange when in heating mode and blue when in cooling mode) that you can swipe to the left or right to change the temperature setting. The Lyric doesn't offer a typical scheduling procedure; instead you set Home and Away temperatures, and create shortcuts with triggers that tell the thermostat what to do. You can create a shortcut with a trigger that has the heat come up and go down at a certain times of the day. You can also create shortcut buttons that reside on your home screen. For example, you can assign a button that turns the heat down five degrees for when you're working out, or have the air conditioning kick in early if you're expecting company. Each button is listed on the main screen to the left of the dial.

Above the dial are the same readings found on the actual thermostat, including the current temperature, the temperature setting, and the icons for the weather forecast and the Away menu. Tapping the settings wheel in the upper right corner takes you to a screen where you can adjust your Home and Away temperature settings, adjust screen brightness, and enable the Fine Tune and Adaptive Recovery features. The Fine Tune feature uses local weather information, indoor conditions, and factors in things like humidity and the temperature outdoors, to make sure your home is heated or cooled correctly. The Adaptive Recovery feature, also found on the Honeywell Prestige IAQ thermostat, will have your heating or cooling start early so that your house is up to temperature at the time you scheduled.

The jewel in the Lyric's crown is its geofencing feature. Geofencing uses your smartphone's location services to automatically trigger the thermostat depending on where you are in relation to your home. For example, you can have the Lyric switch over to Away mode when you leave the geofence perimeter and switch to Home mode when you re-enter the perimeter. You can choose one of four geofence perimeters, including a quater-mile, two miles, four miles, and seven miles. With geofencing you never have to worry about turning off the heat or air conditioning when you leave, and you'll always return to a comfortable home.

The Lyric lacks the comprehensive power usage reports and multiple alert options that you get with the Ecobee3, but it does offer a Smart Cues feature that will send a reminder when it's time to change your filters or when someone has left or entered the geofencing perimeter. Additionally, the Message center keeps a log of activities, including when the thermostat is not responding, has lost its Wi-Fi signal, has lost power, or is offline.

Installation and Performance Installing the Lyric is fairly easy, but if you're not familiar with thermostat wiring, Honeywell provides step-by-step illustrated directions. To start, download the iOS or Android app. You have to create an account which requires your name, email address, and a password. Once you've received the verification email, click the Activation button to complete the account setup.

After you log in using your email address and password you are taken to a setup page that is broken up into four sections: Install, Configure, Connect, and Personalize. The Install section walks you through the process of removing your old thermostat, including cutting power to it. The instructions advise you to take a picture of your current wiring to help you with wiring the Lyric. You are also presented with a list of wires containing common terminals and additional auxiliary connections. Check off a box for each wire so the app knows what your wiring system looks like. Once you've recorded your wiring you can remove the old wall plate from the wall and replace it with the Lyric wall plate and optional trim ring (included). The wall plate has 12 push-in connectors for power, heating, and cooling, a one or two wire selection switch, a switch for heating only or heating and cooling (R, RC), a AAA battery, and a small level to help you mount the wall plate properly.

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Honeywell Lyric