Boyle5150 Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Anyone use an Ecobee thermostat? Pros cons? Mice use lyric and Nest and am thinking of ecobee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 We switched from Nest to Ecobee because it supports remote sensors and at the time, Nest didn't. I really like the Ecobee sensors. We have a reasonably sized, two story home with very high ceilings in some rooms, and unfortunately it's a single zone. Having the Nest control the temperature for the whole home only knowing the temperature in a hallway downstairs was pretty worthless; some rooms would over heat/cool, while others would hardly change. With the remote sensors we can set it so that during the day it controls the temperature based only on my wife's office (generally the coolest room in the house), and at night it bases the temperature on our bedroom. We have other sensors as well, and use them from time to time, but even when we're not using them to set the temperature, Ecobee will notice a lack of movement everywhere and go to auto-away mode. With IFTTT support, I have it set to go to away mode with an Alexa routine, so I can just say "I'm leaving" and have a bunch of things happen. My biggest complaint is there isn't a quick temporary override. I'd love to be able to tell it "ignore everything else, just get the living room to 72." That's possible, but to do so I have to change which sensors the home mode is using, and then remember to change them back. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boyle5150 Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 Which do you prefer @TwinIon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 2 hours ago, Boyle5150 said: Which do you prefer @TwinIon The Ecobee was far better for our home because of the remote sensors, but now Nest has those as well. I don't believe they do any kind of motion sensing, so I don't think they can do the auto away that the Ecobee can, but I'm not entirely sure what the differences are. The Nest hardware and app are far more sleek than Ecobee. It's an iOS (Nest) vs Android (Ecobee) kinda situation, with the Nest feeling more holistically and well designed, but (when I bought it at least) lacking certain features and customizability. If the remote sensors are something you expect to be worthwhile in your home, I'd look into some reviews of the Nest that talk about them and see if they're comparable to the Ecobee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 I have the Ecobee and it’s ok. I live in a 100 year old house with steam heating. I wanted a thermostat that I could control remotely since the boiler takes a while to heat up the radiators. I picked Ecobee at the time because it had remote sensors and UI seemed better. After owning it for 2 years, I don’t use the sensors. The sensors keep giving me errors due to loss connection to the thermostat and would tell the thermostat that a room was occupied when it was empty turning the heat on when nobody was home. I tried different solutions but nothing worked. I still have them around the house so I can check the temps manually on the app. I just don’t have them active with the thermostat. One feature I really like is the thermostat will notify you and your HVAC guy (if you set it up) when something is wrong. When we were at work, the HVAC called and notified us that the heat is not working according to Ecobee and he will stop by after his job to check on it. Instead of coming home after work, finding the house ice cold and unable to call for service since it is too late, the HVAC guy was able to come over that day and fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 6 hours ago, ManUtdRedDevils said: After owning it for 2 years, I don’t use the sensors. The sensors keep giving me errors due to loss connection to the thermostat and would tell the thermostat that a room was occupied when it was empty turning the heat on when nobody was home. I tried different solutions but nothing worked. I still have them around the house so I can check the temps manually on the app. I just don’t have them active with the thermostat. I've had similar experiences. Ecobee has a "follow me" feature, that is supposed to figure out what rooms are occupied and then automatically use those rooms' sensors to set the temperature. It never worked for me for exactly this reason. It would consistently mess up which rooms were occupied, and even when it was right, it still wasn't a great feature for us. We do still have the "auto away" enabled, and while it's not consistent, it probably saves a tiny bit of energy on occasion. We haven't had issues with disconnecting sensors, but our Ecobee is very centrally located and our 1960's So Cal home doesn't have any brick walls or anything else that would block the signal terribly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boyle5150 Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 1 hour ago, TwinIon said: I've had similar experiences. Ecobee has a "follow me" feature, that is supposed to figure out what rooms are occupied and then automatically use those rooms' sensors to set the temperature. It never worked for me for exactly this reason. It would consistently mess up which rooms were occupied, and even when it was right, it still wasn't a great feature for us. We do still have the "auto away" enabled, and while it's not consistent, it probably saves a tiny bit of energy on occasion. We haven't had issues with disconnecting sensors, but our Ecobee is very centrally located and our 1960's So Cal home doesn't have any brick walls or anything else that would block the signal terribly. Do the sensors not connect directly to the wifi, or do they connect directly to the main ecobee unit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 21 minutes ago, Boyle5150 said: Do the sensors not connect directly to the wifi, or do they connect directly to the main ecobee unit? They connect to the ecobee over RF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boyle5150 Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 Just now, TwinIon said: They connect to the ecobee over RF. that's a horrible design! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted November 30, 2018 Share Posted November 30, 2018 17 hours ago, Boyle5150 said: that's a horrible design! I think the idea is that they can make them very low power. If your home is too big or has a lot of solid walls, I can imagine connectivity issues, but it hasn't been a problem for me. Apparently the Nest sensors use BTLE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted November 30, 2018 Share Posted November 30, 2018 It doesn’t lose connection all the time, but enough to be annoying so I am unsure what is causing it. Since I deactivated them, I have not noticed much of a difference. Again I live in a small house so the temps upstairs and downstairs are pretty similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boyle5150 Posted November 30, 2018 Author Share Posted November 30, 2018 Well it's been purchased and should be here today or tomorrow. I had a nest at my old house and had no issues with it, but I like the idea of the room sensors. my current thermostat is the Honeywell lyric and I fucking hate it. So if you guys know of anyone who needs a smart thermostat then they can have the Lyric for free. Thanks for the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.