We have used a Nest in our home for many years, but with the changes in parent company and obsolescence of our first-generation device, it was time to change our smart thermostat. The ecobee looks like a great alternative for a family used to a Nest. One of the main features that we liked was the built-in support for remote sensors. Like many houses, our thermostat is located in a hallway that is rarely traveled. The temperature tends to be cooler at the location, and there is not enough traffic for home-away mode to function effectively. Spreading out the sensors into multiple rooms was a must-have feature. I would like to say that installation was a breeze, but it was not. The Nest worked a little differently, and our wires were labeled for how the Nest worked. Following how the wires were labeled meant that the Ecobee did not function correctly at first. Once I opened the HVAC unit and followed the wires back, they were color-coded correctly. Changing two wires and the Ecobee started working flawlessly. The Ecobee is definitely larger than our old thermostat, but that is really not a problem. It has a bigger screen that is easier to read and use. The Ecobee connected to our eero 6 mesh wifi without any problems, and we configured it with the application. It immediately started providing outside temperatures and configuration for comfort. It was also picked up in our Apple HomeKit without a problem. The one area we continue to struggle with is the granularity of control with the Ecobee. With our old system, we were able to define a sophisticated schedule for temperatures. The Ecobee just gives you Sleep, Home, and Away options with predefined temperatures. The temperatures are set in the comfort settings. This is also adjusted slightly by the eco+ settings. We were used to much more control with the old system. However, the important part is that we are comfortable. The hot spots in the home have been nearly eliminated by the sensors. It is different and takes getting used to. The ecobee was less expensive considering the features you get. Read more
This is not battery operated. If your house’s thermostat wiring doesn’t come with a C wire, consider paying for professional installation. The C wire is what supplies constant power to this thermostat, but some houses didn’t bother to run that wire because they assumed your thermostat will use batteries. This does NOT mean you’re out of luck, but it does make the install more complicated. You will either need to run an additional wire through your walls or you’ll need to install the included PEK (not all thermostats of ecobee include it, so check your model and house wiring before buying). The PEK is, in my opinion, an ingenious piece of technology that deserves praise for how magical it seems. It repurposes 2 existing signal wires so that one wire becomes the C wire carrying constant power, and then the other wire carries various voltage levels to indicate multiple signals between thermostat and PEK; the PEK then translates those voltages and splits them back into separate wires for the rest of the system. However, it does require work near or in your HVAC unit. I had to spend a good bit of time carefully inspecting the colored wires, making sure I knew exactly which is which. Again, houses are all different and some might use nonstandard wire colors; for example, my blue wire functioned as the Y wire, with no yellow in sight! You should be absolutely sure of what does what; you’ll probably want to read up on the purpose of each wire. ecobee includes stickers to help you label the wires as you investigate. But once the PEK is installed, the thermostat works beautifully. The touch screen is responsive, it walks you through startup easily, and the app is full of features and settings galore. Again, paying for a professional will save you wiring confusion whether you need the PEK installed or just run a new wire. Read more
I was extremely impressed by the ecobee smart thermostat enhanced. The device is attractive and easy to use. It integrated quickly with my SmartThings and works flawlessly with the schedules. The installation process was extremely easy. The app walks you through step-by-step from removing your old thermostat to installing the new one. Set up was a breeze. I love the fact that it provides reports, hourly daily weekly or monthly on the usage of your HVAC system. Mine is a heat pump and it differentiates between regular heat and aux heat, which is good to know to help me be able to conserve my energy usage. I highly recommend this thermostat. The only downside is that there is no circulation settings for the fan. There is an option to set the fan to run a minimum of a certain number of minutes an hour, but that’s not the same as a circulate mode which runs it as needed. I hope in the future enhancement they add this to their thermostats. Read more
