Nest Thermostat

Here's my 2 cents regarding Nest vs. Honeywell.

When we had the Honeywell, GH kept looking at the unit, adjusting the temperature every time I complain about the house being stuffy. And then later on I'd complain about the house being too cold. He got frustrated and couldn't get the temperature right to suit my needs. I got fed up because it would get either too hot or too cold, and it was never in a comfortable temperature. It's off when it's supposed to be on, and on when it's supposed to off. I got really annoyed by it.

After a week of trying to get it right, I gave up and insisted that we buy another Nest and return the Honeywell. Got the new Nest, programmed it to our schedule, never had to touch it again nor re-program it. It's that easy. It's on when it's supposed to, and off when it's supposed to. Keeps the house in the right temperature, I never had to complain about feeling stuffy or too cold.

Both thermostats were programmed at 75 like GH said.
 
thatOSguy said:
GH said:
ZeroLot said:
Wow thanks guys for all this wonderful user input on the Nest vs Honeywell. 

But the bottom line for me is does it save on the electric bill if I installed one?  Will the smart monitoring help save energy costs?  I'm currently running $200+ a month, aka I can buy a Nest or Honeywell every month based on the Zerolot house usage. 

I have currently reduced the baby to wearing her birthday suit all over the house just so I don't have to use the AC during the day.  I'd like to be able to put some of those pretty clothes I buy her back on.
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Save money on electricity .. definitely YES.  If it is worth the $200+ cost.. that's debatable or depends on the individual. 

Personally, I think the foremost advantage is increased comfort level and ability to change anytime, anywhere to suit your immediate need and save money in the process.  For example, in our case, our thermostat is set to 75F at night during spring/summer, but if it is windy cool outside (we the window at night), we can remotely set it higher at night so it does not turn on (If we have to get out of bed to change the thermostat --- forget about it).

Also, good thing about Nest, it send you monthly statistics of your use and other detailed information.  If you bother to read them, this somewhat forced you to be conscious of your energy use and nudge you towards energy savings.
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Nest vs. Honeywell, I think the Nest is more likely to kick on when the Honeywell is not. Honeywell can be managed remotely jest fine - that's not a distinguishing feature.
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Yes that is true. Nest kicks on when it's supposed to, Honeywell does not. GH's argument is that with Nest, it learns you, but with Honeywell, you tell it what to do. He insists that's the difference. My point is, I tell the Nest what to do, program it once, and that's it. Ask GH how many times he had to bother with the Nest after he installed it. Never.

I remember with the Honeywell, during the daytime it would get hot, stuffy, and I had to manually adjust the temperature. And then during the wee hours of the morning, when it's chilly and cool outside, it would turn on, thus making the house freezing. I could never understand why.

GH has a lot of reasons and blames me. He read all the rave reviews here about the Honeywell and really wanted that to work, and still insists it's better. I beg to differ.
 
thatOSguy said:
MrsGH said:
Yes that is true. Nest kicks on when it's supposed to, Honeywell does not.
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Does your nest kick on when the windows are open?
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Not at night nor wee hours of the morning. It kicks on during the afternoon when it's hot.
 
I totally understand. I guess ours is simpler and that's why Nest works better for me. If it's hot or warm outside, even with a breeze, I generally don't open any windows/doors. During fall/winter when it's cool outside, our windows/doors are always open.

I just have to program the Nest 2 ways and it pretty much stays like that the whole time.
 
thatOSguy said:
I'm not sure how the Nest would ever "know" that, so in that sense, I don't want the AC to kick on when the windows are open. Period. If it had that logic built in, it'd be gold.
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OS, so how do you do that in Honeywell .. you manually turn it on/off .. right ?  You can do the same thing with Nest and turn it on or to Away.  So it defeat the purpose of the learning functionality of Nest ? Yes.. for this occasion.  But that is something we are okay with once in a while since Honeywell can't do it either.

Again, I think Honeywell has the advantage technically compared to Nest.  But aesthetically and ease of use, Nest is way much better  Just look at the interface of Nest vs Honeywell 9000. big difference.  95% of the thing you would do with the interface is change the temperature, 95% of Nest interface is just that (shows the temp and button to change it).  To do that in Honeywell, you have to locate the small up/down button on the right side of the interface with all other choices and options that you would not ever need to adjust 99% of the time.   

For some people, its not a big deal .. Personally, I'm generally more of function than of form, but once you are used to the simplicity of the Nest interface, you would easily see the difference and be critical of the Honeywell interface.

Again.. to each its own (And I think that's why Honeywell is releasing its Lyric version later this year that mimics Nest interface because it sees the market for it).
 
thatOSguy said:
I'm not sure how the Nest would ever "know" that, so in that sense, I don't want the AC to kick on when the windows are open. Period. If it had that logic built in, it'd be gold.
Click to expand...

This logic actually is not far behind I think.  We now have Cox Security that basically knows which window/doors are open/close.  So this should just be a simple tweak in the software for them to communicate with each other :)
 
The Nest actually has a Zigbee radio built in as an easter egg.  With the new financial backing of Google, it would be easy for them to enable the radio and talk to various sensors.
 
GH said:
irvinehomeowner said:
I just want the Honeywell because it's cheaper.

#valuvilger
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not the Honeywell 9000 which is the same level as Nest.  both are in the low $200 ..
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Should I have said I'm buying the cheapest Honeywell one because they don't make a cheaper Nest one?

I think the 6580 has all the features I need, remote management and temperature alert... it even has a ps9 filter change reminder.
 
thatOSguy said:
MrsGH said:
thatOSguy said:
MrsGH said:
Yes that is true. Nest kicks on when it's supposed to, Honeywell does not.
Click to expand...

Does your nest kick on when the windows are open?
Click to expand...

Not at night nor wee hours of the morning. It kicks on during the afternoon when it's hot.
Click to expand...

I guess where ZeroLot and I are similar is that if there is a nice breeze (even on a warm day), we're willing to tolerate a slightly elevated temperature with fans and outside / ambient air.

For us, when we have company over though, we'll close up and kick on the AC.

I'm not sure how the Nest would ever "know" that, so in that sense, I don't want the AC to kick on when the windows are open. Period. If it had that logic built in, it'd be gold.
Click to expand...

You make, I buy.  TY.  Zerolot Approved.
 
GH said:
ZeroLot said:
Wow thanks guys for all this wonderful user input on the Nest vs Honeywell. 

But the bottom line for me is does it save on the electric bill if I installed one?  Will the smart monitoring help save energy costs?  I'm currently running $200+ a month, aka I can buy a Nest or Honeywell every month based on the Zerolot house usage. 

I have currently reduced the baby to wearing her birthday suit all over the house just so I don't have to use the AC during the day.  I'd like to be able to put some of those pretty clothes I buy her back on.
Click to expand...

Save money on electricity .. definitely YES.  If it is worth the $200+ cost.. that's debatable or depends on the individual. 

Personally, I think the foremost advantage is increased comfort level and ability to change anytime, anywhere to suit your immediate need and save money in the process.  For example, in our case, our thermostat is set to 75F at night during spring/summer, but if it is windy cool outside (we the window at night), we can remotely set it higher at night so it does not turn on (If we have to get out of bed to change the thermostat --- forget about it).

Also, good thing about Nest, it send you monthly statistics of your use and other detailed information.  If you bother to read them, this somewhat forced you to be conscious of your energy use and nudge you towards energy savings.
Click to expand...

You do realize if it's nice outside and you open your windows, once it's 'nice' inside, your AC will stop running.

I don't know why you turn the AC off, it turns itself off at the target temp. 

If you're comfortable with it being warmer if there is a 'breeze' turn up the temp and turn on a fan.
 
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