I'm on my 4th Nest thermostat in 4 years. The first one was dead out of the box. The second, third, and fourth don't read humidity accurately (they all read 5% too low) and will occasionally "go to deep sleep" and fail to wake up and turn on the heat unless I do something to "wake it up" like walk by or wave my hand in front or control the thermostat remotely (which looses connection seemingly when I need the capability the most). They also occasionally under-report usage. Another big complaint is the Nest's terribly inefficient use of auxiliary heat on heat pumps - they often turn on auxiliary heat unnecessarily and keep it on until the end of the current cycle which is not only inefficient, but causes the system to overshoot the set point.
I really, really wanted to love the Nest thermostat. It's beautiful (for a thermostat) and the idea of logging and remote control are very useful to me. However, I've had nothing but disappointment after disappointment with my Nests. It seems like every time they force a firmware update to fix one thing, something else breaks. Coincidence or otherwise, the problems I've experience increased not long after Google acquired Nest. A thermostat has a rather simple job to do - I simply can't wrap my head around the fact that Nest has had over 4 years to refine this product, yet it is still missing features and has new bugs.
I've threatened myself many times with ripping my Nest off the wall and reinstalling the "builder's grade", non-programmable, "dumb" thermostat that came with my heat pump. It did exactly what it was designed to do. Perfectly. Without fail.
If this were an Apple product it would be CNN headline news for the rest of the week.
This is the kind of thing that prevents me from getting a smart thermostat. I know I would never buy a Nest anyway, but there are others out of there from companies that have been making thermostats for generations. Still, this is the kind of the thing that puts me off the entire concept. Very little gain + much risk.
i think that's hyperbolic. the gains are great -- super easy programming, remote operation, notifications, reporting, and adjustment from the sofa. before this article is never heard of any outages, so there have been no risks to me.
Nest software updates - from the people who brought you Android.
Why do appliances even need software updates? They just do one thing. They are not goddamned PCs.
Is this sarcasm I hope? Almost all of my appliances have touchscreen interfaces. Updates provide new features and efficiencies. Again I hope you were kidding.
Nest software updates - from the people who brought you Android.
Why do appliances even need software updates? They just do one thing. They are not goddamned PCs.
To add more data collecting features that are sent home to Google no doubt. That video feed they collect 24/7 probably has a better face recognition now... My first version is still going thank heavens. Perhaps the early ones cannot be updated the same way since they were made prior to Google take over and maybe lack the 'backdoor'. Any info on this?
Why do appliances even need software updates? They just do one thing. They are not goddamned PCs.
Is this sarcasm I hope? Almost all of my appliances have touchscreen interfaces. Updates provide new features and efficiencies. Again I hope you were kidding.
You have a Nest I assume? Can you give some examples of interface changes specifically for the Nest you envisage? Perhaps a 'Like' and 'Share' icon?
Imagine this happens to your Google self driving car on the freeway. The brake lights will not turn on as the car quickly slows down to not moving.
and then you get rear ended at 70mph and dozens of people die. It isn't a joke or funny.
Imagine a failure mode with one of these things that instead of off, fails to full on. If heat, your upstairs bedroom goes to 140 deg F, or if A/C goes to 20deg F, and kills your infant kid. This IoT stuff is risky, and while the comments regarding who is behind it and whether or not an Apple product would do this are entertaining, the truth is there is no such thing as safe technology, and this is all caveat emptor territory. I was in the market for a new set of smoke detectors, and opted for simple, battery powered models that have been in use for decades. Not that the new ones didn't offer advantages, but the reliability of the Nest ones was sketchy at best. I will never own a Nest product. Never ever.
Why do appliances even need software updates? They just do one thing. They are not goddamned PCs.
Is this sarcasm I hope? Almost all of my appliances have touchscreen interfaces. Updates provide new features and efficiencies. Again I hope you were kidding.
I don't need or want a refridgerator, or toaster, or oven with a fucking touchscreen. No need for those features or efficiencies on that kind of thing.
From what I gather, this is caused because the thermostat basically leeches power from the line that is normally being used for other things. This is a delicate process that can either screw up the hvac system (too much draw) or screw up the thermostat (too little draw), and is a common complaint and source of problems for the thermostat. I have a Nest thermostat, but I ran an actual power wire to the thermostat (I think it's the G wire, on the furnace it's a green wire) in hopes that everything else worked. So far (about 6 months) no issues with the power.
I don't need or want a refridgerator, or toaster, or oven with a fucking touchscreen. No need for those features or efficiencies on that kind of thing.
Touch screen is not so bad, so you can enter the cooking time or temperature. My fridge, dishwasher, microwave and oven all have touch screen type panels, but I agree in part that too many computerized features on those types of appliances is unnecessary, especially connecting to the Internet.
I saw an LG fridge advertised that had cameras inside to take pictures of everything in there so when you were at the store you could log in and take a look around to see if you had OJ or whatever.
I must be lucky, haven't had an issue at all. I once had a Lux programmable give out in the middle of a cold snap, woke up to 50 degree rooms. I've got zone heating, and only have the Nest on the main floor of the house, so one zone wouldn't be that drastic anyway.
Luckily we had no issues with our Nest (which was given to me a few years ago). We were out of town for 3 weeks and I would have hated to have this happen while I was gone as it was wicked cold while we were away. The only problem we had was that I could suddenly not connect with my iPhone to it while we were away. Finally fixed it by logging out of the phone app and back in. Was strange.
Great... now we have to treat thermostats like PC's. Way to go Nest. I recently toyed with getting one... I don't like that Google owns it, now... I doubt I would even let it into my house.
I love my Nest thermostats, have two, upstairs and downstairs. I preordered them when first announced and they have worked flawlessly since. Even the software updates have installed seamlessly and they have saved me money on my power bill. They have been a great investment. I wish some other technologies would work as well as these have.
Haha. Huge mistake. On top of that, "draining the battery" should not be a problem at all because all devices are on 220 (110 in certain areas)? Right?
Comments
I really, really wanted to love the Nest thermostat. It's beautiful (for a thermostat) and the idea of logging and remote control are very useful to me. However, I've had nothing but disappointment after disappointment with my Nests. It seems like every time they force a firmware update to fix one thing, something else breaks. Coincidence or otherwise, the problems I've experience increased not long after Google acquired Nest. A thermostat has a rather simple job to do - I simply can't wrap my head around the fact that Nest has had over 4 years to refine this product, yet it is still missing features and has new bugs.
I've threatened myself many times with ripping my Nest off the wall and reinstalling the "builder's grade", non-programmable, "dumb" thermostat that came with my heat pump. It did exactly what it was designed to do. Perfectly. Without fail.
and then you get rear ended at 70mph and dozens of people die. It isn't a joke or funny.
Imagine a failure mode with one of these things that instead of off, fails to full on. If heat, your upstairs bedroom goes to 140 deg F, or if A/C goes to 20deg F, and kills your infant kid. This IoT stuff is risky, and while the comments regarding who is behind it and whether or not an Apple product would do this are entertaining, the truth is there is no such thing as safe technology, and this is all caveat emptor territory. I was in the market for a new set of smoke detectors, and opted for simple, battery powered models that have been in use for decades. Not that the new ones didn't offer advantages, but the reliability of the Nest ones was sketchy at best. I will never own a Nest product. Never ever.
I don't need or want a refridgerator, or toaster, or oven with a fucking touchscreen. No need for those features or efficiencies on that kind of thing.
I saw an LG fridge advertised that had cameras inside to take pictures of everything in there so when you were at the store you could log in and take a look around to see if you had OJ or whatever.
Doh.
On top of that, "draining the battery" should not be a problem at all because all devices are on 220 (110 in certain areas)? Right?