Best smart thermostats for 2024: Reviews and buying advice – TechHive

Installing a smart thermostator upgrading the one you already havewill have an outsize impact not only how comfortable you are in your home, but also on your household budget. Heating and cooling your home accounts for nearly half of the average homes utility bills, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

A programmable thermostat can help reduce those costs by turning your HVAC system on when you anticipate being home, and off when you dont think youll need indoor climate control. A smart thermostat goes far beyond relying on a simple schedule. It will enable you to create more sophisticated schedules for every day of the week, and give you complete control over your HVAC system, even when youre away from home. We continually test and evaluate smart thermostats and can help you find the right one for your home.

TechHives editors and contributors have been testing smart thermostats for more than a decade, installing them in our own homes to gain truly real-world experience before we commit to our opinions. We continuously test the latest smart thermostats, along with the apps that control them. We blend those experiences with our general knowledge of smart home devices, so were able to assess how well these products integrate with other smart system youll want to use.

Updated July 16, 2024 with a link to our Degrii Smart Thermostat review.

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: $249.99

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium is simply one of the finest smart home products in any category. Its spectacularly useful as a standalone device, but its designed to work with other important smart home platform on the market today. An included smart sensor allows you to monitor temperature and occupancy in a second location in your home. The user interface is polished and easy to use.

Anyone whos looking to install a smart thermostat should consider this Ecobee model. The only caveat for homeowners who want to use Siri voice commands is that youll need an Apple HomePod or HomePod mini to use as an interface with the Ecobee.

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: $249

Nest practically invented the smart thermostat category when it released its first learning thermostat in 2011. Google offers detailed instructions that make installation relatively easy for inexperienced do-it-yourselfers. While the Nest is designed to learn your habits and automatically control your homes temperature, theres a robust set of manual controls for users who prefer to keep a closer watch over their homes environment.

Nest is still the best for choice users who dont want to think about their thermostat. Since Nest is now manufactured by Google, its designed to work best with other devices in companys ecosystem, including security cameras and smoke or carbon monoxide detectors. the thermostat is also compatible with Amazons Alexa smart home speakers and displays, and its Matter implementation enables it to work in the Apple Home ecosystem as well.

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: $189.99

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced shares the user interface of the more expensive Premium model at a lower price. The Enhanced has all the features of the more expensive model except for the Premiums fancy radar technology and the fact that it doesnt come with Ecobees remote room/occupancy sensorsbut you can add one later if youd like.

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced is a great choice if you find the Premium model to be too expensive. Youll have the option to add a remote temperature/occupancy sensor if you decide you want one later, and the total price will be approximately the same as a Premium model. You will also need a smart speaker in your smart home setup if you want to use voice commands with this thermostat.

Pros

Cons

Amazon Smart Thermostat uses cloud-based machine learning to analyze how you use your HVAC system, and then uses what Amazon calls Hunches to predict when to heat or cool your home. The thermostat performance improves as it learns your habits over time.

The Amazon Smart Thermostat is designed to work with Amazons Alexa virtual assistant, so its best for homeowners whove already committed to Amazon smart home products, especially since its not compatible with Google Assistant or Apple HomeKit.

Pros

Cons

Google has designed its entry-level Nest Thermostat for users who think the flagship Nest Learning Thermostat is too expensive. At this price, you get a similarly attractive design and the same polished approach to programming and controls, but you wont get remote sensors that can help your HVAC system achieve a balanced climate for your entire home.

The Nest Thermostat will only read the temperature in the room where its installed, since it lacks the remote sensors that can connect to the Nests more expensive model and help refine its programming. This model is best for smaller home or apartments or for properties that dont have much temperature fluctuation from room to room.

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: $129.00

If youve got a high-voltage heating system designed for baseboard, radiant, fan-forced convector, and similar types of heaters, the Mysa Smart Thermostat will do the job. It looks great, has Wi-Fi capabilities built in, and has an easy-to-use mobile app with support for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit.

There arent many choices on the market if youve got a high-voltage heating system. Fortunately, Mysa has designed a thermostat that meets the standard set by the other thermostats on our list. Unlike homes with a central HVAC system, youll need to install a Mysa Smart Thermostat for each of your individual heating units in different rooms of your house.

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: $149.99

The Sensibo Air Pro adds smart home capabilities to standalone heat pump and window unit air conditioners, and the Pro model features an integrated indoor air quality sensor. Sensibo has designed a product thats easy to set up and use.

Since the Sensibo Air Pro has no physical buttons, youll need to control the thermostat with a phone app. For the unit to work, your air conditioner will require an infrared remote instead of a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi remote. If you use an in-room AC unit, Sensibo can offer you many of the same features enjoyed by people with a whole-home HVAC system.

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: $149.00

The Cielo Breez Plus is remarkably easy to set up and use. Its also quite versatile, since it can record humidity and supports geofencing in addition to controlling the temperature for a single-room air conditioner.

The Cielo Breez Plus may not look as good as other models we tested, but weve included it here because its compatible with more air conditioner models that any of its competitors in this category. The Cielo smartphone app is well-designed and absurdly easy to use.

A thermostat shouldnt be difficult to install, even if youre only moderately handy. The manufacturer should provide comprehensive, yet easy-to-understand instructions with plenty of photographs or illustrations to guide you through the process. The thermostat itself should be clearly indicate which wires go where, and most companies provide labels that you can attach to the wires coming out of the wall as you disconnect and remove your old model. The wires themselves should be color coded, but a good practice is to photograph your old thermostat for reference before you take it down.

Smart thermostats typically require more electrical power than a set of batteries can provide. Fortunately, they dont require so much power than they need to be plugged into the wall. They rely instead on low-voltage power provided by your HVAC system. Many smart thermostats require the presence of a dedicated C (common) wire for this purpose, while others can siphon electricity from another source, typically the R (power) wire. But the latter practice is known to cause problems with some HVAC systems, including permanent damage.

If you pull out your existing thermostat to install a smart model and find no C wire connected to it, look inside the wall to see if theres one that hasnt been connected. If theres no C wire, our advice is to have one installed. Some smart thermostatsincluding our top pick, the Ecobee Premium, come with power adapter kits that can be installed if you dont have a C wire and dont want to pay to have one installed.

The short answer is typically yes, because youll install a smart thermostat in each of your existing zones. Heres a longer explanation if youre not sure what a multi-zone HVAC system is. If you have a larger home, your HVAC contractor might have installed a zoned system that lets you set a temperature target for different roomsor different levelsinstead of heating or cooling your entire home to a single target temperature. In this case, youll have multiple thermostatsone for each zonethat connect to a central control panel. The control panel opens or closes the dampers in each zone as needed to bring that zone to your preferred temperature. Youll program the entire system using a single app.

Better HVAC systems offer multi-stage heating and cooling, meaning they can operate in steps, versus simply switching between on and off states. A two-stage system, for example, might have a low setting and a high setting, while a three-stage system might have low, medium, and high. When the ambient temperature is already close to your desired temperature, the system doesnt need to ramp up to its full power to reach your target temperature. Conversely, when the ambient temperature is far from your desired temperature, the system can kick on at full tilt and then switch to a lower-power mode as it approaches the target. As a result, multi-stage HVAC systems are more efficient than single-state. Virtually all modern smart thermostats support both single- and multi-stage HVAC systems.

All of the smart thermostats weve reviewedapart from the ones designed work with portland and window air conditionersare compatible with heat pumps. Not sure what a heat pump is? Its an appliance that redistributes warm and cold air. In heat mode, it draws warmth from the air outside your home and releases it inside (a ground-source heat pump absorbs heat from the ground). This is a greener method of heating in that it doesnt consume fossil fuels, such as natural gas. In cooling mode, a heat pump absorbs warm air inside your home and releases it outside. These appliances work best in milder climates that dont experience freezing temperatures, although they can be combined with a conventional furnace for heating when outdoor temperatures get very low.

Most smart thermostats are designed to work with central air conditioners, but there is a class of device that can control portable air conditioners (the type with casters that vent out a window) and window air conditioners (the type that sit on your window sill). These types of thermostats typically depend on the air conditioner in question have a remote control, as many modern units do. The Sensibo Air is our top pick in this category.

Most smart thermostats are designed to work with central HVAC systems. If your home is heated by high-voltage heaters (baseboard, radiant, or fan-forced convector, for example), youll need a thermostat thats specifically designed to work with that type of heater. The Mysa Smart Thermostat is our top pick if youre looking for a smart thermostat for a high-voltage heating system.

Geofencing uses a thermostats app and your smartphones GPS chip to establish a perimeter encircling your home. When you leave the perimeter, you presumably no longer need to heat and cool your home, or you can at least have the thermostat adjust the temperature so that its not running unnecessarily. When you cross the perimeter again as you come home, your HVAC system can kick into action so your house is comfortable when you walk in the door.

Geofencing is greatprovided everyone who lives in the home has a smartphone. Motion and proximity sensors offer an alternative means of determining if your home is occupied and therefore in need of climate control. Some remote sensors deliver the added benefit of monitoring the temperature in remote locations, which can help reduce problems with hot and cold spots. Some smart thermostats can also tap into door and window sensors as well as the motion sensors for your home security system. And proximity sensors on the thermostat itself can trigger its display to turn on when you walk past it, making the screens a handy feature in their own right, even if for no other reason than providing a nighttime pathway light. Youll find remote sensors with a growing number of high-end smart thermostats from Ecobee, Nest, Honeywell, and other manufacturers.

Smart thermostats connect to your Wi-Fi network and from there to the internet. This means you can monitor the temperature inside your home and control that status of your HVAC systemwhether its heating, cooling, or just running its ventilation fanfrom anywhere you have internet accesstypically using the thermostat app on your smartphone.

Every smart thermostat comes with an app so you can control it with your smartphone or tablet, but the best models can also be integrated with other smart-home devices and broader smart-home systems. This can range from being able to adjust the temperature with a voice command via an Amazon Echo (Alexa), Google Home (Google Assistant), or Apple HomePod (Siri) smart speaker to linking the thermostat to your smoke detector. That last feature will automatically turn off the systems fan if smoke or fire are detected, which will preven smoke from being circulated throughout your home. Other options to consider include IFTTT support, Apple HomeKit compatibility, smart-vent connectivity, and tie-ins with home security systems.

A landlord thermostat is just like any other thermostat except that its controlled by the person who owns the home or apartment and is renting it to a tenant. These are typically installed in residences where the landlord or a building manager is for paying for heating and cooling and therefore has a financial interest in keeping those costs under control. Even in situations where tenants are responsible for the heating and cooling bills, a smart thermostat can contribute to a more energy-efficient building. The thermostat usually has tamper-resistant features that prevent anyone else from making adjustments to it. While it might seem that the landlord is benefitting the most from installing a smart thermostat, smart home featuresincluding smart thermostatsare an attractive feature for renters, who likely are willing to pay more rent in exchange for the convenience and the opportunity to reduce their energy costs.

We install thermostats in a single-family home with a conventional HVAC system and use each one for a week or more to determine how effective it is at maintaining a comfortable environment. The homes existing thermostat was wired with G, R, W, and Y wires. There was also a C wire in the wall that was connected to the furnace, but that had not been previously used.

While there is no regulated standard for color-coding HVAC wires, industry practice has the G wire connecting the thermostat to the fan. This wire is typically green. The R wire, typically red, is for power. Some systems have separate power wires for heating and cooling and are labeled RH and RC respectively. The typically white W wire is for auxiliary heat; i.e., a second source of heat. The Y wire, which is typically yellow, connects the thermostat to your air conditioner. Finally, the C or common wire is used to carry power and is typically blue (think cerulean if you need a mnemonic).

Follow this link:
Best smart thermostats for 2024: Reviews and buying advice - TechHive