It's good to know that Nest Protect will communicate with Nest Thermostat but at $129 each it seems pricey if you really just want to get more data points for a room. On top of that, since they are on or near the ceiling unless there is a laser that can measure temperature on another part of the room it may not very accurate for what a human would prefer, as well as not being able to record every inhabitable room for an accurate map of the area.
I'd like to see something like Nest Egg get introduced which would be a self contained unit that either sit on a shelf/table or could mounted to a wall in well trafficked areas. Something that is sold as a set of 5 (of more) units with a built-in battery that can be wireless charged from time-to-time not unlike an electric toothbrush. Nest Egg could be a simple device with sensors that will talk to each other with minimal setup.
Latest Honeywell offering (especially RedLink enabled devices) are more sophisticated, able to do mach more than Nest and have a very solid iPhone/iPad app which is not changing constantly
Price is reasonable as well.
When I priced out a Honeywell prestige system it was going to cost more.
Honeywell Prestige 2 HD system on Amazon:
$358.06
But that's not where it ends. You need a Redlink internet gateway for it. That's another 91 USD.
And then you need an Equipment Interface Module. Honeywell makes several of these. It turns out it's possible to order the wrong one (if amazon reviews are anything to go by.)
Or maybe I've got this wrong and have selected the incorrect thermostat to go with the redlink gateway. If I have, it's because Honeywell have too many models and have made them incompatible, so it's hard to know what to buy, at what price, or why.
What a hassle. I have friends who have Honeywell's attempt at smarter thermostats and found them unpleasant to use. It appears they are also more expensive to purchase to match the Nest's out of box functionality.
Nest at 249 seems like a better purchase. Even if you were able to show me the internet enabled Honeywell thermostat that did what Nest claims to do at a lower price than Nest, I'd be inclined to trust Nest to get it right more than Honeywell - Honeywell isn't motivated to improve without being prodded forward by Nest's advancements.
It's a nice looking product but I wouldn't buy one.
Usually I'm against a new poster seemingly signing up to add redirect to their own website but your review and comments are very extensive and while subjective are seem very balanced and well considered.
Your issue is not wide spread I read nest forums every day and nest is working on a solution. For customers that can't wait for that solution they are refunding your money.
Here is a post from a Nest Engineer on there forums that I quoted:
Apparently some HVAC systems generate electrical noise (voltage spikes) causing the switch transistor in the base to overheat or be damaged. As was stated in the letter there are literally hundreds of thousands of nests out there. This problem is related to relatively a very small number of those.
No I don't work for nest. So don't go there. I have two nests installed in my house now for over 2 years with not one issue.
For you to post here and tell everyone that it is not if but when it fails is inaccurate at best.
Making it sound like all of them are failing when a small number are because of the HVAC units there install on is inaccurate too.
Nest cannot account for the literally hundreds of HVAC systems that are out there. With different control circuits and different architectures. But they are correcting your issue as I write this and Im sure that it will not be an issue in the future, like I said for those that can't wait they are refunding your purchase and you can go back to whatever you were using previously.
You're welcome to believe that, however, it's simply not true on both points.
1. It's not caused by "voltage spikes" as they claim. After the first two failures, I have spent time studying and monitoring the system. It boils down to some assumptions they made about some systems.
2. It's not isolated to a few cases. It's wide spread. Please don't believe me, but definitely don't believe a marketing ploy by Nest. They have been buying these back from customers constantly...in volume. Notice how Lowes hardware is getting out of Nest sales?
3. Why do you read Nest forums "everyday"? You love your Nest that much? You're looking to chat with others about your thermostat? That deeply troubles me.
4. You speak as if you know what you're talking about, but the only thing you speak is marketing speech. Are you an EE? Would you like to compare notes with real data?
It a nice thermostat when operating correctly, however, please don't bury your head in the sand. Be prepared. Make note that they cut the warranty down from 5 years to 2 years when they went to gen two. Only 1 year for a factory reman. That by itself says a lot.
I have a simple heat-only natural gas furnace. The dummies that ran the wire for the thermostat only ran 2 conductor, so I don't have the option of running the fan only which would be nice in the summer. (I don't know if the Nest even lets a person do this).
Anyway, I bought it because it looks cool and my greenie relatives go "Ohhhh, cool, a Nest!". It's in a new house so I don't know if it is saving money or not. My setup is low-tech, my house is new and energy-star rated, so the impact is likely less than using it in a less-efficiant house with more complex HVAC systems.
There are lots of new systems out that have colour touch screen setups that are from traditional manufacturers that will work with more complex HVAC setups. I think the Nest is for someone with a traditional, single thermostat - single zone, system. Maybe they will get more advanced as time goes on - I can tell you that if they do, it will be a gigantic headache for them. There are just too many weird setups out there to expect people to take these home and re-wire their own HVAC.
Thank you for your valuable contribution to the discussion. /S
My apologies. First post and I edited it as I wasn't sure what I was allowed to do and if it would even work. This is what I'm doing with temperature sensors and climate control. The Nest thermostat is not even close but I can see why it appeals to many:
Nest have made a useful incremental step with the Nest Thermostat but it's too much of a toy for my liking. Whole home integration is the way forward with proper zone support and decent occupancy and presence:
Nests do Not pass temperature sensor information between themselves, nor are remote sensors available. Communicating auto-away is nice, but a long way from being able to average the temps in different parts of the home, or having a mobile remote control with temperature sensing that you can carry from room to room. This is a particular issue in the vast majority of homes, which have a single system for the whole building.
The issue is that most homes have the thermostat placed in the worst possible location - near the return-air intake for forced air, or in the center of the home, simply because it was convenient for the furnace installer. This guarantees that the rest of the house will experience several degrees of too-hot and then too-cold when in heat mode, because the whole house has to change temp before the thermostat notices the change where the thermostat is located.
For this reason alone, it is senseless to buy any thermostat that does not allow you to place the sensors and controls where the people spend their time, i.e. the Nest is not as effective as it could be if it had remote temp sensors or real multi-Nest support - and by a large margin. Having a remote control accessible while in bed is another nicety that the Nest cannot match.
I recommend Honeywell Prestige 2 as the best available high-end home thermostat, because you can have any desired combination of remote sensors, remote control, and more complete HVAC management as well. It has a user interface that is much more usable than the Nest, and a display that rivals a smartphone. It is much superior to the Nest as a thermostat, although Honeywell's Internet support and installation manuals are not as pretty as the Nest.
Yes, the Honeywell Prestige is more expensive than the Nest, and you get more function and better control. IMHO, if you need help installing any thermostat, you should probably have a professional do it for you...
I strongly suggest checking out the over 200 "1 Star" reviews of the the Nest thermometer on Amazon. There are some serious issues the company needs to respond to and not ignore.
And even if all 200 are bon fide issues people had where it was a defective device, not cause by the installer or the user ignorance, it prove nothing about the quality of Nest. How many have they sold? More than a million?
My experience is anecdotal but the people I've both them for and other I know that have them love them and have had nary an issue.
The NEST is an amazing product, but for an application as important as heating your home through the cold winter months, it must be highly reliable. I have owned a 2nd gen NEST since spring of 2013, so this is my first winter with the unit. Unfortunately, I awoke at 3 am this morning with the house freezing and the furnace not running. When I approached the NEST it did not come alive, but when I pressed the button, it displayed "UPDATING SOFTWARE" and began to fill a progress bar which completed in about 5 minutes. The unit stayed frozen like that until I called tech support for some help after sunrise. I used my phone to check the NEST and finally felt heat from the vents. Of course, if this had happened just a few weeks ago when I was out of town and the temps hit record lows, I could have been facing major water damage since the NEST stopped activating the furnace as it was waiting for someone to come by and press the button. I have now disabled WiFi on the NEST to ensure that I do not lose heat again due to an unnecessary software upgrade. Of course, that limits its usefulness as I only get a fraction of what I paid for - because they can't run a seamless upgrade on the device. I am looking to replace this unit.
Comments
I'd like to see something like Nest Egg get introduced which would be a self contained unit that either sit on a shelf/table or could mounted to a wall in well trafficked areas. Something that is sold as a set of 5 (of more) units with a built-in battery that can be wireless charged from time-to-time not unlike an electric toothbrush. Nest Egg could be a simple device with sensors that will talk to each other with minimal setup.
Latest Honeywell offering (especially RedLink enabled devices) are more sophisticated, able to do mach more than Nest and have a very solid iPhone/iPad app which is not changing constantly
Price is reasonable as well.
When I priced out a Honeywell prestige system it was going to cost more.
Honeywell Prestige 2 HD system on Amazon:
Nest at 249 seems like a better purchase. Even if you were able to show me the internet enabled Honeywell thermostat that did what Nest claims to do at a lower price than Nest, I'd be inclined to trust Nest to get it right more than Honeywell - Honeywell isn't motivated to improve without being prodded forward by Nest's advancements.
Usually I'm against a new poster seemingly signing up to add redirect to their own website but your review and comments are very extensive and while subjective are seem very balanced and well considered.
• http://www.dreamgreenhouse.com/features/2013/nestprotect/index.php
It's above almost all windows, its a bit like this: window air vent. Hot moist air can exit the house via convention.
What if the outside air is hotter & moister?Your issue is not wide spread I read nest forums every day and nest is working on a solution. For customers that can't wait for that solution they are refunding your money.
Here is a post from a Nest Engineer on there forums that I quoted:
Apparently some HVAC systems generate electrical noise (voltage spikes) causing the switch transistor in the base to overheat or be damaged. As was stated in the letter there are literally hundreds of thousands of nests out there. This problem is related to relatively a very small number of those.
No I don't work for nest. So don't go there. I have two nests installed in my house now for over 2 years with not one issue.
For you to post here and tell everyone that it is not if but when it fails is inaccurate at best.
Making it sound like all of them are failing when a small number are because of the HVAC units there install on is inaccurate too.
Nest cannot account for the literally hundreds of HVAC systems that are out there. With different control circuits and different architectures. But they are correcting your issue as I write this and Im sure that it will not be an issue in the future, like I said for those that can't wait they are refunding your purchase and you can go back to whatever you were using previously.
You're welcome to believe that, however, it's simply not true on both points.
1. It's not caused by "voltage spikes" as they claim. After the first two failures, I have spent time studying and monitoring the system. It boils down to some assumptions they made about some systems.
2. It's not isolated to a few cases. It's wide spread. Please don't believe me, but definitely don't believe a marketing ploy by Nest. They have been buying these back from customers constantly...in volume. Notice how Lowes hardware is getting out of Nest sales?
3. Why do you read Nest forums "everyday"? You love your Nest that much? You're looking to chat with others about your thermostat? That deeply troubles me.
4. You speak as if you know what you're talking about, but the only thing you speak is marketing speech. Are you an EE? Would you like to compare notes with real data?
It a nice thermostat when operating correctly, however, please don't bury your head in the sand. Be prepared. Make note that they cut the warranty down from 5 years to 2 years when they went to gen two. Only 1 year for a factory reman. That by itself says a lot.
It's a nice looking product but I wouldn't buy one.
Thank you for your valuable contribution to the discussion. /S
I have a simple heat-only natural gas furnace. The dummies that ran the wire for the thermostat only ran 2 conductor, so I don't have the option of running the fan only which would be nice in the summer. (I don't know if the Nest even lets a person do this).
Anyway, I bought it because it looks cool and my greenie relatives go "Ohhhh, cool, a Nest!". It's in a new house so I don't know if it is saving money or not. My setup is low-tech, my house is new and energy-star rated, so the impact is likely less than using it in a less-efficiant house with more complex HVAC systems.
There are lots of new systems out that have colour touch screen setups that are from traditional manufacturers that will work with more complex HVAC setups. I think the Nest is for someone with a traditional, single thermostat - single zone, system. Maybe they will get more advanced as time goes on - I can tell you that if they do, it will be a gigantic headache for them. There are just too many weird setups out there to expect people to take these home and re-wire their own HVAC.
Thank you for your valuable contribution to the discussion. /S
My apologies. First post and I edited it as I wasn't sure what I was allowed to do and if it would even work. This is what I'm doing with temperature sensors and climate control. The Nest thermostat is not even close but I can see why it appeals to many:
http://www.dreamgreenhouse.com/features/2013/temperature/index.php
http://www.dreamgreenhouse.com/designs/climate/index.php
Nest have made a useful incremental step with the Nest Thermostat but it's too much of a toy for my liking. Whole home integration is the way forward with proper zone support and decent occupancy and presence:
http://www.dreamgreenhouse.com/projects/2013/presence/index.php
My thoughts on the Nest Protect are much along the same lines:
http://www.dreamgreenhouse.com/features/2013/nestprotect/index.php
Rob
Nests do Not pass temperature sensor information between themselves, nor are remote sensors available. Communicating auto-away is nice, but a long way from being able to average the temps in different parts of the home, or having a mobile remote control with temperature sensing that you can carry from room to room. This is a particular issue in the vast majority of homes, which have a single system for the whole building.
The issue is that most homes have the thermostat placed in the worst possible location - near the return-air intake for forced air, or in the center of the home, simply because it was convenient for the furnace installer. This guarantees that the rest of the house will experience several degrees of too-hot and then too-cold when in heat mode, because the whole house has to change temp before the thermostat notices the change where the thermostat is located.
For this reason alone, it is senseless to buy any thermostat that does not allow you to place the sensors and controls where the people spend their time, i.e. the Nest is not as effective as it could be if it had remote temp sensors or real multi-Nest support - and by a large margin. Having a remote control accessible while in bed is another nicety that the Nest cannot match.
I recommend Honeywell Prestige 2 as the best available high-end home thermostat, because you can have any desired combination of remote sensors, remote control, and more complete HVAC management as well. It has a user interface that is much more usable than the Nest, and a display that rivals a smartphone. It is much superior to the Nest as a thermostat, although Honeywell's Internet support and installation manuals are not as pretty as the Nest.
Yes, the Honeywell Prestige is more expensive than the Nest, and you get more function and better control. IMHO, if you need help installing any thermostat, you should probably have a professional do it for you...
Yeah, because those are always based in truth.
And even if all 200 are bon fide issues people had where it was a defective device, not cause by the installer or the user ignorance, it prove nothing about the quality of Nest. How many have they sold? More than a million?
My experience is anecdotal but the people I've both them for and other I know that have them love them and have had nary an issue.