Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium review: The best HomeKit thermostat gets better

AppleInsider

Ecobee has not one, but two new smart thermostats that support Apple HomeKit. Let's review both the updated Smart Thermostat Enhanced as well as the highly-capable Smart Thermostat Premium.

The new Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

Each of the new thermostats boasts an updated design, but we primarily focused on the Premium version as it is the more advanced of the pair. With the new additions, users now have three choices -- Ecobee Smart Thermostat Lite, Enhanced, and Premium.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium - Installation

Typically, thermostat installation is easy to pull off. In most cases, your average homeowner can handle it in a matter of minutes. Of course, all houses are different and can sometimes throw hiccups.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium updated mounting plate

When we installed our last-generation Ecobee Smart Thermostat with Voice Control, we ran into issues. We had to jump on a call with Ecobee's general support who happily aided us in figuring out what was going on and how to fix it. It took longer than normal, but we got there.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

With the new thermostat, we already knew how to wire it so we were able to swap out the mounting plate in less than five minutes. Once the new plate was installed, we attached the thermostat and were up and running.

As a quick note, you don't need to use the white plate behind the thermostat. It is included in the box and useful if you have a larger hole you need to hide as we did. Though the thermostat looks much better without it.

Once the thermostat booted up, we went through the pairing process with the app and then added it to HomeKit. Since we have the Premium model, we also paired our remote room sensors.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium - New improvements

This is a significant update for Ecobee's thermostat, improving in almost every way.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

It has a slightly new design but has adopted a zinc metal body. This metal body has a slightly matte finish that can reflect the colors of your room.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium from a distance

This pairs with the new display that is 50 percent larger. It measures 540 by 540 compared to 360 by 480. It shows more information than before and is easier to see from a distance.

What you won't see on the front is the PIR motion sensor. Older models had this located on the lower corner because it could not sit behind the glass. This new model has adopted a more advanced radar sensor instead.

The radar can hide behind the glass, completely out of sight. It's also more advanced and can detect occupancy even around corners.

When heating, an orange ring appears around the edge while a blue ring appears when it is actively cooling. Otherwise, the current temperature is largely displayed in the center.

Changing the temp on the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

A previous complaint of the Ecobee thermostats was that it was sometimes difficult to change the temperature. Between the UI and the compact display, it wasn't easy to slide up and down to adjust the preferred temperature. With the new changes, it is much better now.

It's easy to slide as before, or you can use the plus and minus icons to make adjustments. Anyone who had issues before will be happy with the updated UI.

Weather on the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

There's an arcing row of icons on the top, showing the current weather conditions, your heating or cooling mode, your voice assistant, and the main menu. Humidity and air quality are perched right above the current temperature.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium has air quality monitoring

Speaking of air quality, that's another new feature. You can view your overall air quality on the home screen but the VOC and CO2 levels are visible too when you tap on it.

VOC levels in the Ecobee app

It's visible not just on the thermostat, but in the Ecobee app too. If your air quality is bad, Ecobee can make suggestions on how to improve it -- largely, opening a window to increase airflow.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat - Enhanced versus Premium

As mentioned, there are two models of Ecobee's new Thermostat. The Smart Thermostat Premium will replace the existing Smart Thermostat with Voice Control while the Lite model stays in the lineup as the budget-friendly choice.

The two new models have several differences, giving users three options to choose from. The Lite version runs $149, the Smart Thermostat Enhanced is $189, and the Smart Thermostat Premium is $249.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium versus Enhanced

Both new thermostats have the new larger screen with refreshed UI. The Premium model has a zinc metal body versus plastic on the Enhanced model.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium versus Enhanced

A big difference is the Premium version comes with an onboard speaker and mic, used to talk to Siri or Alexa and play music via AirPlay or Bluetooth. Beyond that, the Premium model comes with an air quality monitor.

Ecobee Smart Sernsor

Finally, the Premium version comes with a Smart Sensor bundled in the box. While the Enhanced model supports them, they're purchased separately.

HomeKit with room to grow

A steadfast HomeKit supporter, Ecobee first brought HomeKit to its smart thermostat in 2016. In 2021, it was the very first -- and still only -- device to support onboard Siri.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium in the Home app

All of that prior functionality comes to the new Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium and much of it comes to the Smart Thermostat Enhanced. That said, there is still more Ecobee could do here and we hope it does.

All the sensors in the Home app

Both thermostats can be added to the Home app to be controlled via HomeKit -- that includes through various automations or your voice with Siri. In the Home app, you can adjust the mode, set the target temperature, and see the device's other sensors.

Ecobee's motion sensors can be used with other devices too. You could create an automation that turns on the hallway light when someone walks down as a quick example.

As we reviewed in late 2021, Siri is also present on the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium. When paired with a HomePod or HomePod mini, you can turn the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium into a smart speaker.

Siri settings in the Home app

It can act as an AirPlay speaker to wireless cast audio, just like any dedicated speaker. Siri requests are passed through the thermostat and processed securely on the HomePod, communicated all within your home. It's fast and turns your Ecobee Smart Thermostat into a makeshift HomePod.

Siri animation on Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

Depending on your Ecobee's position, this can be incredibly useful or unnecessary. For us and our central hallway placement, it saved us from purchasing another HomePod for that area.

Other benefits of the speaker include using it as a doorbell chime when coupled with a HomeKit doorbell.

Where it falls short though is with the air quality. We'd have loved to see the air quality exposed to HomeKit, just like the temperature and occupancy sensors. HomeKit does support air quality and it eludes us as to why Ecobee neglected HomeKit support here.

If air quality showed in HomeKit, you could ask Siri what your air quality was, receive notifications as it changed, and use it to kick off an automation. For example, if the air quality drops to a certain threshold, you could kick on the ceiling fan.

Perhaps Ecobee will update it in the future. As of now, it makes no promises.

Should you buy Ecobee's new Smart Thermostat Premium or Enhanced?

Ecobee remains our top choice for HomeKit users. It has deep HomeKit support, including built-in Siri. It also looks great and works great while helping you save money.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

The Smart Sensors are particularly great. They can go in any room in your house and Ecobee will warm or cool the room you're in to your preferred temperature. Plus, they can act as remote HomeKit motion sensors.

The new versions of the Ecobee Smart Thermostat have improved in all the ways it needed to be refining the appearance and UI for the first time in many years.

With three options now available, users have a wide variety of choices for their smart home.

Pros

• Refreshed UI is easier to control and see from a distance


• Zinc body gives a more upscale look


• Air quality monitor is nice addition


• Works with HomeKit, Siri, and AirPlay


• Improved radar occupancy sensor


• Dual band Wi-Fi support

Cons

• Air quality doesn't add to HomeKit


• Price points are very close to one another

Where to buy

You can pick up the new Ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced for $189 or the new Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium for $249 from Ecobee now.

Read on AppleInsider

slow n easy

I will probably be picking up an Ecobee Premium. However, it’s not accurate to say that Siri is built in, in my opinion. Alexa does not require an additional device in order to process the request. It’s all handled on the device by itself. I don’t own or need a HomePod so I guess I’m stuck with Alexa. Oh well. 

appleinsideruser

Probably worth considering how well a thermostat actually performs it’s primarily function. How well does it maintain a comfortable temperature? Systems like from Honeywell do a fabulous job of running the boiler at a low setting to maintain an even temperature. Many on/off systems just alternate between a little too hot and a little too cold. 

Does Ecobee do proportional control?

dewme

This review is implying that the Smart Sensors allow for individual room temperature control. I don’t know how this could possibly happen unless you have a forced air or hot water based HVAC system with a complex distribution system with automated dampers (forced air) or control valves (hot water) or unless each room has its own heating/cooling unit. I know that some homes (especially in the south) have separate HVAC systems on each floor and sometimes a simple damper system to split the HVAC at a floor level, but individual room control is something that is quite uncommon, at least in the US. Also. As Appleinsideruser mentioned, many of these thermostats use a very simple bang-bang control system and not proportional control. I’m not seeing how the satellite sensors are going to overcome the inherent limitations of someone’s existing HVAC system.

appleinsideruser

Yup, @dewme. In the UK domestic heating is more common than cooling. EvoHome works well with proportional control (using motorised temperature sensing valves and up to 12 zones), but needs 3rd party bodges (raspberry Pi) for HomeKit compatibility. 

flydog

dewme said:

This review is implying that the Smart Sensors allow for individual room temperature control. 

It doesn't imply that at all. It states that "Ecobee will warm or cool the room you're in to your preferred temperature," which is in fact correct.  The review does not state that all rooms will be individually set to a specific temperature at the same time. 

evolut

Can Alexa be totally, and I mean positively, disabled ? 

I don’t want an Alexa device in my home with a microphone or camera !
I wish any review covering HomeKit would talk about how confident the user can be that outgoing data will only be sent to Apple servers.  

I purchased an Ecobee device a few years ago, but I picked the older version that was exclusively HomeKit, and it doesn’t even have a microphone. 

I may consider buying the premium Ecobee, but I would open it up and physically cut-off the microphone connection. I don’t need to speak to Ecobee, I’m satisfied to use Siri on iPhone or Homepods…

welshdog

The Ecobee Homekit interaction has not been great for me. I set the thermostat up to work with Homekit and for Homekit to put the system in Away mode when both our phones have left the house. It works, but not reliably. The oddest thing is that either Homekit or Ecobee sometimes chooses a temperature other than those in the Away Comfort Setting. I have never had a comfort setting that used 77º as the temperature for the cooling, yet that is what I have seen on several ocasions. So instead of setting the cooling temperature to 85º when I'm away, it sets it to a much colder temperature and wastes electricity. Plus when you Arrive Home the sytsem is set to Resume Schedule, yet instead of the Ecobee returning to it's normal schedule and operations state, the thermostat is put into a Hold that I think is derived from temperature settings you choose in the Home app. You have to remember to go to the Ecobee and cancel the hold.  I hate to say this, but the old gen 2 Nest we had did a better job.

StrangeDays

appleinsideruser said:

Probably worth considering how well a thermostat actually performs it’s primarily function. How well does it maintain a comfortable temperature? Systems like from Honeywell do a fabulous job of running the boiler at a low setting to maintain an even temperature. Many on/off systems just alternate between a little too hot and a little too cold. 

Does Ecobee do proportional control?

You're referring to variable-speed HVAC systems. While I haven't used this thermostat, my AC guy had previously told me the Ecobee would work w/ my Mitsubishi variable-speed system, if I installed a Mitsubishi-made controller accessory, which bridges it to work w/ third-party thermostats. As installed, it only supports the Mitsubishi thermostats.

(I love my whole-house Mitsubishi variable-speed HVAC, but the native thermostat and software for it, Kumo Cloud, suuuuuck.)

Ecobee support seems to confirm support for this: 

Multi-Speed-Fan-installations

There are discussions about this problem, and the miserable manufacturer thermostats:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ecobee/comments/kdp7zl/will_ecobee_ever_partner_with_a_variable_speed/

appleinsideruser

Looks good @StrangeDays ;and Ecobee has the ability to do proportional control. In the UK heating world, the interface is somewhat standardised between boiler (furnace) and controller. OpenTerm is especially useful with a condensing boiler where is allows the return temperature to remain cool enough to condense and reclaim the heat from the water vapour in the combustion chamber. This improves efficiency and comfort.

I guess the variable speed HVAC systems you mention offer similar benefits, but frustratingly without the cross-manufacturer compatibility. 

The nice thing about the EvoHome system I mentioned is that a demand from any room in the house fires the boiler and only that room heats. When that demand is satisfied, the system idles to maintain temperature or shuts down completely with no short-cycling.

StrangeDays

appleinsideruser said:

Looks good @StrangeDays ;and Ecobee has the ability to do proportional control. In the UK heating world, the interface is somewhat standardised between boiler (furnace) and controller. OpenTerm is especially useful with a condensing boiler where is allows the return temperature to remain cool enough to condense and reclaim the heat from the water vapour in the combustion chamber. This improves efficiency and comfort.

I guess the variable speed HVAC systems you mention offer similar benefits, but frustratingly without the cross-manufacturer compatibility. 

Yes I think that's correct -- I don't think there is cross-manufacturer compatibility with how a variable-speed HVAC system functions. That the bolt-on controller is support to help with this by being an interface between the third-party thermostat and the HVAC onboard.

In the case of the Mitsubishi this is an AC + heat pump, which is basically the AC running in reverse direction, the inside & outside coils switching their jobs of being the heat sink or cooling fins. In my warm climate I don't need to use heat very much so this works well. The system is general almost always running at some capacity, circulating air. The few times of the year it's perfect out I may turn it off entirely and open the windows.

dewme

flydog said:

dewme said:

This review is implying that the Smart Sensors allow for individual room temperature control. 

It doesn't imply that at all. It states that "Ecobee will warm or cool the room you're in to your preferred temperature," which is in fact correct.  The review does not state that all rooms will be individually set to a specific temperature at the same time. 

Good point. I suppose this behavior would suffice if you and all other members of your household are always in the same room and don't care what happens in the other rooms that you and your huddled group are not in. This would certainly create some entertaining scenarios when people are dispersed around the house, but I suppose it's no worse than only having one thermal sensor in one location, which is the vast majority of cases. 

Fidonet127

dewme said:

flydog said:

dewme said:

This review is implying that the Smart Sensors allow for individual room temperature control. 

It doesn't imply that at all. It states that "Ecobee will warm or cool the room you're in to your preferred temperature," which is in fact correct.  The review does not state that all rooms will be individually set to a specific temperature at the same time. 

Good point. I suppose this behavior would suffice if you and all other members of your household are always in the same room and don't care what happens in the other rooms that you and your huddled group are not in. This would certainly create some entertaining scenarios when people are dispersed around the house, but I suppose it's no worse than only having one thermal sensor in one location, which is the vast majority of cases. 

Not quite. The remote temperature sensors are also motion sensors. Ecobee averages the temperatures of the occupied rooms and adjusts the temperature based on that average. You can turn this feature on and off. You can also can change which sensors are used   for temperature sensing by what mode the system is in. 

I use the the sensors for occupancy for home and away modes, instead of detection of phones, etc. Much more reliable. 

neilm

Good to know that the Ecobee can be mounted without that wall plate, which makes it look as if the thermostat body is sitting on a toilet seat — not exactly the home decor look I'd have in mind.

dewme

Fidonet127 said:

dewme said:

flydog said:

dewme said:

This review is implying that the Smart Sensors allow for individual room temperature control. 

It doesn't imply that at all. It states that "Ecobee will warm or cool the room you're in to your preferred temperature," which is in fact correct.  The review does not state that all rooms will be individually set to a specific temperature at the same time. 

Good point. I suppose this behavior would suffice if you and all other members of your household are always in the same room and don't care what happens in the other rooms that you and your huddled group are not in. This would certainly create some entertaining scenarios when people are dispersed around the house, but I suppose it's no worse than only having one thermal sensor in one location, which is the vast majority of cases. 

Not quite. The remote temperature sensors are also motion sensors. Ecobee averages the temperatures of the occupied rooms and adjusts the temperature based on that average. You can turn this feature on and off. You can also can change which sensors are used   for temperature sensing by what mode the system is in. 

I use the the sensors for occupancy for home and away modes, instead of detection of phones, etc. Much more reliable. 

Sounds like a reasonable compromise as long as everyone who’s impacted is willing to compromise. The most common scenario I personally encounter is that my office is on the lowest level, a finished walkout basement, while my wife’s office and workspace is on the second level, two floors up. For her to be comfortable in the summer with AC or heating in the winter I need to wear a hoodie. My neighbor has a similar scenario but only 2 floors with both people working from home. They invested in splitting their HVAC system into 2 independent zones , which cost several thousand dollars, while I invested in more hoodies. 

I think I have a good understanding of how the remote sensors work, but the limitations of a single point of control reduces the value of the remote sensors when you have a “dumb” HVAC system. Of course these smart thermostats provide many more features than just the remote sensor capabilities that are less useful for temperature control in the most common scenario. They are obviously still a good value for many folks and could have a decent ROI for energy savings if they are used correctly and the actual savings that they deliver monitored through some sort of feedback loop, like a monthly energy savings report. 

My only concern about these devices in general is how they handle failure modes. If the automation fails does the HVAC system revert to a safe state that prevents other systems in your home from failing, e.g., frozen water pipes. My HVAC service guy has a litany of sorry tales to tell about other brand smart thermostats so even though I’m a gadget geek I’m reluctant to pull the trigger on adding one of these to a critical system in my home unless it has a backup or safe fallback mode.

Xed

I like the Ecobee over Nest because the remote sensors in the Ecobee also have motion sensors to know when a room is occupied. With multiple floors in the home and an unfortunate uneven effect with the ductwork this is a huge help to keep the room being most occupied closer to the ideal temp.

macgui

neilm said:

Good to know that the Ecobee can be mounted without that wall plate, which makes it look as if the thermostat body is sitting on a toilet seat — not exactly the home decor look I'd have in mind.

This is exactly what I was looking for. I missed it in the text but found it after seeing your post. If the hole in the wall is bigger, I'll make my own, smaller mounting plate. Since you said "toilet seat" I can't stop seeing that, so the wall plate has to go!

docno42

The biggest problem I have with Ecobee is the total reliance on touch controls.  One of the best features of Nest was being able to just grab the ring to change the temp.  No muss, no fuss, works every time.  Got an Ecobee for my parents and I dunno if it's just their age, the dry environment they live in or a combo of both but they have always had problems with capacitive touch displays - even with their iPhones and iPads.  Now they get to experience the same frustration with their thermostat too.  Got so bad my mom put a stylus with a capacitive tip on top of the thermostat just so she can adjust the temp. 

I'll stick with my Trane Zwave that has physical buttons for temp and a nice physical switch for the fan, too.  If I ever have to replace it, Honeywell has some nice stats with wifi and physical buttons still.   I should probably buy a few and stash them for backups since I'm sure the "touch only" design virus will probably infect Honeywell too at some point

docno42

dewme said:

My only concern about these devices in general is how they handle failure modes. If the automation fails does the HVAC system revert to a safe state that prevents other systems in your home from failing, e.g., frozen water pipes. My HVAC service guy has a litany of sorry tales to tell about other brand smart thermostats so even though I’m a gadget geek I’m reluctant to pull the trigger on adding one of these to a critical system in my home unless it has a backup or safe fallback mode.

This is easy to plan for and whether you have a smart thermostat or not, everyone that lives in cold climate should do this!  I just got a cheap, $35 heat only mechanical Honeywell thermostat.  The ones that only have a bi-metallic switch and nothing else.  I wired it in parallel right beside my furnace in the basement, so it was trivial to do - just two wires.  No need for a C wire, worrying about the fan, AC or anything else - just the red and white wire (for the vast majority of systems).  Once you wire it in and turn the system back on, push it all the way up and make sure your furnace engages.  If it does - success!  Now set it to the lowest setting (or whatever you want) and you now have a fail safe thermostat. 

Other nice thing about putting it near and directly wiring to the furnace in parallel - if the control cable gets severed, for whatever reason, this backup thermostat isn't dependent on it.  While extremely unlikely to ever get severed while you aren't home things like rodents gnawing on wires aren't unheard of.  

I've had friends and family have incidents with winter freeze ups so it's no joke.  As I said, since the expense of a basic, dumb old school thermostat is so minimal and it's ridiculously trivial to wire in, it's something well worth doing for ANYONE who lives in part of the country where freezing is a possibility - whether they have a smart thermostat or not. 

docno42

dewme said:

This review is implying that the Smart Sensors allow for individual room temperature control. 

They certainly don't.  And unless Ecobee is providing more control with these newer stats, about all the extra sensors are good for is motion detection and displaying the room temps.  They don't appear to change the behavior of the stats in any meaningful way.

For example I was hoping by sprinkling a few around, if one more more rooms started to vary wildly from the set point I could at least have the thermostat turn just the fan on to circulate the air and hopefully automatically even things out first, before turning the system all the way on.  Nope. 

The older Ecobee's had a LOT more customization to them (and useful things like physical buttons!); I can't wait to see what further dumbing down they have done with these new ones (sarcasm). 

docno42

StrangeDays said:
There are discussions about this problem, and the miserable manufacturer thermostats:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ecobee/comments/kdp7zl/will_ecobee_ever_partner_with_a_variable_speed/

I was going to point out that Goodman had a fairly open protocol (comfortnet) but apparently they gave up on it; replacing it with comfortbridge and now try to handle the staging with magic and algorithms automatically (and the cloud!  Don't forget the cloud!  Solves all issues!).

Ugh.  

I hate the HVAC industry.