Nest's Thermostat E helps make your home a little smarter

So, a while back I found a pretty cool opportunity from the GreenON program, where to help folks with their hydro bills, they would provide your home with a smart thermostat.  It makes sense, as most people 'set it and forget it' which probably means it's heating when it's not needed and probably the most expensive.

Years ago we got into the programmable thermostats to schedule our temperatures throughout the days as well as adjusting weekends and we found that works pretty well for us (was a good signal for me to go to bed when the temperature dropped at night).

But, nowadays we can go a step further with smart devices.  The GreenON program allowed me which smart thermostat to choose, and because of the connectedness with Google, I chose Nest.

It took forever to finally get the date chosen for the installation (the installation also came with an energy audit for the house), but finally got it installed; ironically on the same day that Ford announced the end of the program.  *phew*

So, now it sits on my wall



Now, I love it... it looks smart.  But to be honest, currently, it's not doing much for me as we don't have an air conditioner and it's hot out, so it's not needing to be turned on for heat.  So, take this review with a grain of salt; I will review it once it needs to start kicking in.

First off, it doesn't look great, the 'covering' over the screen looks almost frosted and kinda blurry... maybe I just need glasses, but I've heard a few others say the same thing.

The outer rim is a dial that you can turn to change the settings, and the 'nest' button is kind of like the enter.

So, yeah, you can use the wall mounted device to adjust things, and you'll definitely do it just once to set up your internet and then make sure the app is set up.  Once the app is set up, then you'll be good to go.

I like how it's dark until you stand right in front of it and then the display comes up with the temperature.  Too bad it doesn't show the time.  I got really used to using the thermostat as my clock.

Anyways, you can see on the display what the current temperature is and then turn the dial to adjust to the temperature you want.  Pretty simple and straight forward.  You can hit the button and dial through the settings but it's a little hard to do, so the app is way simpler.

So what can it do?

So, in the app you can add other members of your family to allow them to adjust the temperature as well.

You can set up the 'schedule' of temperature settings, if you want to do it old school.  Except it's weird that it forces the app to go into landscape mode for it.  Don't know why.



But what you really want to do is set it up to 'Eco' mode.

This is where the 'smart' part comes in.  It determines when you're in the house or not.  It can be done via the location on the phone devices if they're home or not.  Also, it can go based on what if it senses people walking past it.  No sensing in a while, then it figures you're all out and adjusts accordingly.

It'll be interesting to see how it 'learns' in the fall and starts to adjust accordingly.

All in all, it's a pricey thermostat.  $230CDN is way more than the last programmable thermostat I bought at like $60, so I really have to be able to 'want' those extra features.

Being able to check the temperature from my phone while at work is handy.

Being able to connect it with other Nest devices is an advantage (so if I get a 'ring' or a security camera) etc... one system, one app.

The big advantage we like is that we can connect the Nest to our Google Home account and thereby we can control the thermostat just by saying "Hey Google, raise the temperature by 2 degrees".  My wife likes asking "Hey Google, how hot is it in here" (maybe she's doing it often to remind me how warm it is in here).

Factor those features and the price doesn't seem so pricey anymore.

Doesn't hurt that the government of the day bought it for me.  Just before my wife bought it for me anyways too.

Source:  https://store.nest.com/ca/product/thermostat-e/T4000EF
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