Crosspost from Nerd Board--I've searched and read lots of thread on here about these. Most of them are a little aged though so just asking again. I'm leaning toward Ecobee, but interested in all opinions. What do you have? What do you like and why? What do you dislike and why?

I have an Ecobee and like it a lot. I wish it worked with Google Home, but that's not a huge deal. I wanted to be in control rather than having a thermostat guess for me. Part of that came from being in a position in life where my situation was going to change drastically multiple times in a few years (roommates changing, roommate transitioning from school to full time job, roommates leaving, children, a job out of town, etc) I felt like a Nest would have a hard time going through these changes and adjusting. I don't know that that would be the case but it was a worry of mine.

I am watching this. Just bought a house with two basic model honeywells. We have wifi honeywells at the current house and have been fairly happy with them. They don't seem to connect through any smart service like alexa, but you can work them on your phone easily enough. We haven't really gone towards an alexa system yet but are leaning towards that in the new house. Seems like it isn't going away anytime soon and actually might be the direction everything goes so we better get on board.

Replied in the other thread, but I've had both at one point and prefer the Ecobee. I liked the UI better and at the time it was able to control a standalone dehumidifier better than the Nest was, but that was a couple years ago.

Speaking from only having experience with the Ecobee, been very happy with them. Turned off the Alexa function - actually muted them - so they don't pick up commands when using the Echo's we have in the house.

App on mobile is fine, though it is a little limited on some of the programming found within the thermostats themselves. I find I really only use the mobile app if I want to check/adjust house temp while away.

Something to consider when looking at these thermostats is the warranty exclusions on your existing HVAC system, if indeed it is still under warranty.

Nest, in particular, can cause control board issues in some HVAC brands and void the warranty. My HVAC contractor is an authorized Carrier dealer and told me this yesterday while doing my fall maintenance checkup.

FWIW. I have the Honeywell - TH6220WF2006 Lyric T6 Pro Wi-Fi Programmable Thermostat on a 2-stage unit and it works well. Integrated with Google Home app.

Its because you have a two stage unit. Nest can't work well with those.

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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I am watching this. Just bought a house with two basic model honeywells. We have wifi honeywells at the current house and have been fairly happy with them. They don't seem to connect through any smart service like alexa, but you can work them on your phone easily enough. We haven't really gone towards an alexa system yet but are leaning towards that in the new house. Seems like it isn't going away anytime soon and actually might be the direction everything goes so we better get on board.

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We had a Honeywell smart thermostat at our last house and it worked great with Alexa.

I've had both Nest and ecobee. Ecobee is better hands down.

Ecobee

I've got my ecobee integrated with my Google home.

I've had 2 of these for about 8 years with no issues

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0151Z1N2W/ref=dp_prsubs_3

TX_AG_10 said:

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I've got my ecobee integrated with my Google home.

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Fancy, so do I (as of 11PM)! Thanks for that. Am I wrong in remembering that it used to not be possible?

chickencoupe16 said:

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TX_AG_10 said:

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I've got my ecobee integrated with my Google home.

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Fancy, so do I (as of 11PM)! Thanks for that. Am I wrong in remembering that it used to not be possible?

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You probably aren't wrong, as Google owns Nest, while Amazon backs Ecobee. They like to intentionally make their devices incompatible with their competitor's devices. But it looks like that feature has been available for several years now.

Ecobee here

I have a pair of Ecobee 3 Lites and they are excellent. I've never owned a Nest thermostat, so I can't comment on that.

Nest here. I like it. It was a gift so I didn't do the same due diligence as you, OP. Sounds like this other Ecobee option is highly thought of though.

I have Nest and I wish I had Ecobee.

The only reason I got Nest was that it was subsidized(almost free) by my Co-op so they can increase the temperature a few degrees on high-demand days in the summer. (which is easy to override)

Thanks for all the feedback. Think it reinforces my initial opinion

Why do you wish for the ecobee? I understand high praise for it, but would be nice to heard feedback from someone that's tried both or knows how both work well, too, rather than just more +1's for Ecobee with no Nest input.

Chipotlemonger said:

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Why do you wish for the ecobee? I understand high praise for it, but would be nice to heard feedback from someone that's tried both or knows how both work well, too, rather than just more +1's for Ecobee with no Nest input.

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Elaborating on what I said earlier bout having a Nest, Ecobee, and Ecobee 3, for me a lot of it came down to UI (and Ecobee's superior handling of standalone dehumidifiers). The Nest looked nice, but some of the settings felt like they were buried too deep or grouped in a way that felt non-intuitive. You use the ring on the perimeter to select things, push to OK which isn't bad, but navigating around with the touchscreen on the newer Ecobee was quicker and easier for me. Given the nature of the display, setting schedules and looking at what I set up was also more intuitive.

Been super happy with ecobee 3 lite which you can install without a c-wire unlike some others.

Also it's pretty cool that you can go on the website and download data about your system. The log will show, at 5 minute intervals for the entire time period, whether the system was on, what it is set to on thermostat, temperature inside, humidity, temperature outside, how long it ran during that period in seconds, and the temperature data for your other sensors. We found it useful in looking at what effect replacing all of the single pane windows in our house had during the summer. Turns out the effect on total runtime wasnt that big but temp was maintained much better.

Looking for a new thermostat to replace our programmable Honeywell. My wife would like something stylish and sleek, while I'm more interested in being in control.

Does the ecobee lite allow me to set temp ranges? Program a temp by time, weekdays and weekends?

Any experiences with the Emerson Sensi?

I ended up installing an ecobee yesterday. Question though. If both my wife and I are part of the home and we both have geofencing turned on shouldn't it only trigger away mode if BOTH of us are outside the geofence?