Nest Learning Thermostat, 3rd Generation(Open Box)

I have a lot of observations to make about this product. I'll start with what I was faced with first. I live in a 2 story house, purchased last July. I live in South Carolina, where it's very humid and we rarely use our heating systems. The heater with air handler is located in the attic. The house was built in 2003. No one has ever replaced the contractor-installed Bryant brand heater. I've had these heaters before, and they are annoying. Whenever I replaced them in the past with a Trane furnace, my bill was cut in half and none of the ridiculous traits of the Bryant happened anymore. Those being the following: Cold spots in different places all over the house. A long ignite time, which means it's blowing cold air on you from the vents before it finally ignites. Too long to ignite. Uneven heating everywhere. Too hot upstairs, too cold downstairs. When the temps got below 35, it was unbearable downstairs unless I cranked it up to 70, which is a high temp for me on the thermostat in the winter. My AC condenser was replaced recently, so in the summer the air conditioner handled everything very well. It is a 4 ton unit and unrelated brand to the Bryant. (not a very good plan, but at least the AC works well). The AC has none of the issues that the furnace has. It works great. There's a problem, though. Because past owners pieced together a different AC system, the two systems are not as efficient as they could be. They also just can't put in a furnace and make it all work. Not the kind of efficiency furnace I've bought before. I just needed a furnace, but not an AC unit. So, I set out to talk to all these Trane installers. I love the two stage AC units from Trane because they only go into the higher mode when they really have to. The answer I got? "You can't change out only one unit. It has to be both." (something I knew from previous houses, anyway). Installer: "That's going to cost you $13,000.00" Me: "Gulp. I know that they really need to both be married up, in order for them to work well." Installer: "No other way, with this pieced together system you have right now." The problem with this? I didn't have the cash. Lowes would only loan me $6,000 at no interest. I always went for no interest loans in the past. Wells Fargo would only give me 5,700.00 but I could not combine both of these financing options. No one would loan me (or anyone else) that much money. I could've gone with a personal line of credit at my bank, but it was 10 - 12 %. Banks are a lot tighter with home improvement loans these days, since GE sold its finance division to a company called MySynchrony. GE gave me 15,000.00 no interest for the first year once. Not anymore. So, I set out to get 4 more quotes. Same answer from all of them. So, I was stuck with running downstairs to turn the heat down at night because I felt like I was going to suffocate upstairs, then running downstairs in the morning to turn it up to get it warmer down there. Then I remembered the Nest. It's expensive, yes. But .....it is better to at least try to spend $248.00 instead of 13 grand. (All the quotes I got were pretty much the same.) At the very least, I could incorporate it into a new system in the future. Install: Easiest install of any thermostat I've ever performed. I've always done my own installs because I liked Honeywell for many years, but there are no screws or difficult, cramped holes to put the wires into. You don't have to read a book to figure out which wires to use and guess what kind of system you have. It already knew, once I installed it. It's connected to the Internet through your WIFI. If I'm upstairs with the heat on and it gets too hot up there, I just pick up my iPhone, go to the app and adjust it. If I want to go downstairs in the morning and know I have it set to 65 down there, I just heat it up a bit on my iPhone before I get out of bed. It learns. I'm not quite sure what it will learn from me, because I'm retired and usually keep things about the same. But, the programming was extremely easy, both on the unit and on the iPhone app. Change it anytime I want. I was at the doctor yesterday. Realized that just my dogs were at home and I had started the AC this past weekend. (You can switch between heat and air any time you want on the iPhone or iPad app...awesome. ) So, I just turned up the AC to a warmer temp because my dogs aren't too crazy about it being really cold. Before I got home, I set it back to 70 for AC, where I like it. I was bed-ridden after some spinal injections this past weekend. I was praising this thing for making my life comfortable while I recuperated upstairs. Before, it would've been absolute agony to go downstairs all the time because South Carolina is in Spring already. You never know what the day will be like. I just changed it when I needed to on my iPhone. The WIFI was easy to connect, once I realized that you turn the unit itself with a rotating dial either left or right, then press on the choice you want. No annoying methods to type in your password like it is on a Bluray player to login to an app like Netflix. Those are a pain. The screen is motion-sensing on the unit, so you just have to walk by or wave your hand to see its settings. It seems to also get my systems to the correct temperature WAY faster than my Honeywell thermostat did. Seconds vs minutes. Now: I've saved $13 Grand. For now. It's made my furnace manageable in a two story house. I can save up the cash for a new system. It has a mode called Airwave that is supposed to save you on AC costs. I'll know in July and August if that works well. I believe it's going to save me a lot of money and allow me the time to save up for the new system that I really want. I will have my installers just leave the Nest there. It's an incredible product. I've not found one bug with it yet. It's only been about 5 days, but it is already telling me it is learning. Love this product. So glad I bought it. It's the best piece of technology I've bought so far, besides the iPad Pro. Thank you Nest. You saved me a lot of money for now. A few months later: This product is already saving me a lot of money. It's already saved me $40.00 this month on electric. One thing I wanted to mention was someone was complaining about the way it displays the temperature. I think that it is just a matter of getting used to it because there is a rare occasion that the large number in the middle and the smaller number are not the same. What I've noticed is it gets my system up to the correct temperature way faster, and so I'm really not so concerned with the smaller number anymore. I also saw that someone was complaining about the Away function if you don't walk in front of it often and waking up to a cold house. I'm retired, so I don't really need a regular Away function. I go out at really different times, so I went into the settings on the App and turned that off. Problem solved. I love that my air conditioner doesn't run as much as it used to, and I noticed I don't have as much cold air coming out of the vents when the heater is working. I also get an email of my usage each month from Nest. (see image) The leafs mean you've set your temp to an energy-saving setting and will also show up on the dial. And It's still saved me 13 grand. Win win for me.

First off, I have to say that I am not only impressed with the actual thermostat but also Nest as a company. This was quite an expensive purchase and took some time making sure I was making the right purchase. One of the things that solidified my decision to purchase this thermostat was Nest's compatibility checker on their website which made the process a lot easier to know it would be compatible with my existing system. It involved me taking off the cover on my existing thermostat, looking at the connected wires and their labels, and then putting that into a checker on their website. Nest told me which models would be compatible and then also how it would look once I received it. Others here say that the installation is simple and they are not lying. I'm somewhat handy, but I hate messing with electronics like this. This was a relatively easy job that took me about 30 minutes, if that. Nest also included most of the tools I'd need to do it, minus one screwdriver but that was to remove my existing unit. Now Nest doesn't leave you in the dark once they get their money like other companies do. While going through the setup in the app (which is extremely user friendly and helpful), I encountered a problem. I called Nest support as I was directed in the app. The wait was about 7 minutes and I was speaking to someone who spoke clear, understandable English and then transferred me to their thermostat division. The call was interrupted for some reason, maybe my end, I don't know, but they called me back and the woman was extremely helpful in explaining. She didn't baby talk me nor did she use jargon most people wouldn't understand. She explained, what turned out to be, a very stupid misunderstanding on my part. Had I read the directions a little more clearly, I would have seen it, I just got confused. Once we got all that cleared up, she sent me an e-mail and directed me to take a picture and send it back to her. The e-mail arrived to me faster than she could finish her sentence, and I'm not exaggerating on that. She received my e-mail as I was done sending it and she explained to me over the phone how my wiring would be done. She also offered to create a customized diagram for me to use which showed me exactly which wires would go where. The rep offered to stay on the phone with me while I finished or encouraged me to call back if I ran into any other issues or questions as they have a 24 hour customer service line just for questions like this. I have to say I was very impressed based on that call alone. Next part was that I had a working thermostat in 5-10 minutes after ending the call with her. It really works! Setting up Alexa was no problem as well which Alexa does on her own for the most part in the app. We needed a thermostat like this for my dad who has been having vision issues. Thanks to this thermostat, he is able to control the temperature in the house much better than before, making him feel more independent and better even though he's in this nasty situation. From myself and my family, we thank you Nest for allowing this for us. The only complaints I have is in regards to the voice control, which I suppose could be changed if we really wanted to. For instance, there's no documentation I could find that tells you exactly what you need to say. But after a Google search, I found a forum on this where someone had the same issue and I found the solution. To control the thermostat using voice, you say "Alexa turn up the heat" or "Alexa turn on the cooling" depending on whether you want air conditioning or heating. I was hoping more for "Alexa turn up the heat to 80" but this is fine. We all now understand what to say and there's no real issue. The thermostat is smart and seems to be learning our habits and how we like the house and the Eco feature is supposed to save us some money on our bill, so we're looking forward to that. I can't comment on either of those features at this time since we've only had the unit for around a month now. As of now, we're extremely satisfied with this. It truly feels like we're living in the 21st century when you can turn up and down the temperature using your voice. And that thermostat is absolutely beautiful to pass by. It has a lot of useful information on the display and also lights up when you pass by. It's really awesome and I'm really excited about it.

PURCHASE DATE: 27NOV15 PURCHASE PRICE: $211.44 COMED UTILITY COMPANY REBATE: $100.00 After purchasing a new home and watching our utility bills rise for a while I vowed to change all of that in 2015. I began to purchase LED light bulbs as a start, new energy efficient appliances, and then September 2015 the Nest 3rd Generation was released which caught my attention. I asked my father in-law who had the Nest 2nd Generation for information and he had nothing negative to say about it so I was sold. After comparing it to other competitors I was hooked on this one due to the ease of installation, good reviews, and $100 electric company rebate (ask your local energy company). Do not be intimidated to install this on your own it's not hard. The instructions it comes with and YouTube to be on the safe side did it for me. Before installing please make sure to shut your homes power panel breaker prior to uninstalling the old thermostat and installing the Nest (be safe). Take a picture of the way the wires were installed on your old thermostat prior to uninstalling. In doing so this will ensure that your connections are connected correctly. Test your wires one more time prior to uninstalling to make sure no power is running (avoid being shocked or damaging anything). I did not use/install the base-plate (pictures shown) because I wanted a modern, sleek, and clean look. The body and display (40% increase) of the 3rd generation is slightly larger then that of the 2nd generation. If you have children you can lock it so that a child touching it can not change or disrupt your temperature or any of your settings. The stainless steel dial is very smooth and allows you to navigate through the settings with ease. It takes the Nest a couple of days to remember what temperatures you like when you are home and at what times you are home. After a couple of days Nest will ask you if you want it to automatically go into Away Mode when it senses you are not home (you decide opt in or opt out - I opted in). I recommend opting in to Away Mode for better energy savings. You can control when you are home and when you are away during those few days or if you opt out of Away Mode then you control it all. Smartphone application is free and easy to use. The new Far-Sight feature is awesome and can catch me at approximately 10 feet away even in the dark. When Nest detects any motion it will illuminate with what the current temperature is. This is how it can tell if you are home or not and can automatically place itself in Away Mode for energy savings. Being able to control everything from the application on my smartphone itself is so awesome (fan, cooling/heating mode, humidity level, away/home mode, set a schedule, history, etc.). Nest will remind you when you should change your air filters on your furnace because it can base it upon how many times it turns on and off. Significant drop in energy consumption can be seen on my gas bill after month 1. Due to this my father purchased the item as well and has no complaints thus far. UPDATE: 15FEB17 Still own the item with no problems. If you are doing research and thinking of purchasing it - just do it! It is paying for itself in savings thus far. Highly recommended! (PICTURES ATTACHED) THANK YOU!

So the gentleman who posted the top review that says "Will not display the current temperature -- by design!" is incorrect at worst and misleading at best. I just installed one of these and it will display the current temperature, it's just not in huge numbers. When you walk up to the unit it will know you're there, and display what you have the heat/cooling set to and then will switch to the mode that lets you see what the temperature is. The temperature will be noted with a hash mark/notch and a number. I've included a picture here to show what I'm talking about and the stock amazon photo shows the same thing. If you look at my picture you will see where my unit is set to heat at 66 degrees and cool at 74. In between those numbers is 72, which is the current temperature. I also included a picture where I turned the dial to go to cool to 71 degrees and the display still shows the current temp at 72. In Amazon's stock picture the unit is set to heat up to 68 degrees and the current temperature is 65 degrees, as indicated on the upper left hand side of the picture. If you tap the unit it will pull up the main display screen which has the temp as well. Maybe the gentleman didn't understand the differences here or he had an older firmware than what it uses now. Regardless, I don't feel it's fair to knock this unit for not displaying the temperature even though it does. It's not in giant numbers, but it's pretty easy to tell what the current temperature is if you take a moment and look. The current temp is on dispaly immediately if you're looking at the unit. Now to the actual review. This unit was very easy to install, the big pain was getting my old thermostat off of the wall. Nest has a interactive website for the installation of this unit (nest.com/works) that makes it easy to figure out if your current wiring will support one of these newer thermostats. You log onto the Nest site and chose the wires that you have coming out of your thermostat and from there the Nest site will tell you if you can use the Nest thermostat with your current setup. I would suggest looking that up before you purchase this unit. Or if you too like to live dangerously, do what I did and pull up the site on your iPad after you've bought the unit. With that out of the way, the unit comes with a back plate that you will connect your wires to. Before you do this, turn off the power to your HVAC system. I like to live dangerously, but not THAT dangerously. Connect the wires to the back plate, attach the unit to the wall and flip your breaker. The unit will light up and guide you through a pretty easy set up. NOTE: You do have to have wifi to get this unit to work properly. If you do not have wifi do not bother purchasing this thermostat. The thing I like the most about this thermostat is I can set a threshold for heating and cooling. Every house I've lived in has always had thermostats that seemed like they were from the 1970s so I don't know if this feature is normal on new thermostats, however this is a game changer for me. Where I live the temperatures can vary by 40 degrees each day and having a thermostat that will let me run the ac in the evening and then turn on the heat at 2 am when the temp drops is worth every penny. I literally have set the thermostat and left it alone since installing it. Some other cool features of this thermostat are that it keeps track of how much heating and cooling you do each day if you're into metrics, and it has a feature called "Sunblock". When you install the thermostat it asks you where you're installing it (such as a bedroom, hallway, kitchen, etc) and if the unit is in direct sunlight. If it is the unit will use Sunblock, which uses the light sensors in the thermostat to determine when it's under direct sunlight. This is used to learn the sun’s patterns in relation to your house the temperature sensors to detect the heat spikes that occur in direct sunlight. It then links to your wifi and knows when the sun rises and sets in your area. Sunblock will use that information to set the correct temperature whenever it’s in direct sunlight and not waste energy. Again, this is a game changer. My previous house had a thermostat that was near direct sunlight and close to a computer so it would run the AC when it wasn't needed, and jack up our electrical bills. There's an app as well that lets you control the temperature if you're lazy and don't want to get up, and to set the temp in the house while you're away. Overall I think this is a really cool product, and if the features I've mentioned are something you'd be interested in then I think it's worth the money. It's especially worth it if your power company has a rebate for purchasing one of these units. That can bring the cost down $50-$100 dollars.

I copied this from M Strikers review because it is exactly what has happened to me. I was until I had all of this trouble a Google shareholder. I have since sold my shares as I have lost confidence in the company. After reading the reviews it appears that when the Nest works it works well. But when you have an issue they send you a replacement from their collection of broken thermostats. I hope it works for you but be prepared to be without a working thermostat for months if it ever breaks. Save your old thermostat, you may need it. M Striker 1.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase The worst piece of technology I have ever purchased Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2023 Color: Stainless SteelStyle: Thermostat Only I purchased a Google Nest 3rd Generation Learning Thermostat in late August of 2022. It worked fine until early January 2023 when it started displaying an error message stating it could not connect to my Wi-Fi network. My wife and I both tried to get it to reconnect and could not get it reconnected to our Wi-Fi network which has a very strong signal. My Wi-Fi network has been the same network during this time, and no other devices in the house including phones, tablets, laptops, printers, cameras and numerous other connected devices have had any Wi-Fi issues during this time. I called Google tech support and they talked me through a bunch of steps including several ‘master reset’ attempts and it did briefly reconnect to the network, but within an hour had disconnected from the Wi-Fi again. I called Google Tech support a 2nd time, and they determined my unit was defective and needed to be replaced. They wanted me to send the thermostat back to them, and then they would send a replacement. Considering it is the middle of winter, and I can’t have a house without a thermostat, I asked for another (faster) option to get their defective unit replaced. They said the only option was to charge credit card for a replacement unit, and then when I returned the defective unit to them, they would remove the charge on my credit card. I reluctantly agreed to this (because I had no other option). When the replacement unit arrived, I discovered it was not a new unit but a ‘reconditioned unit’. When I went to install it, it would not power up, so I called Google Tech Support (3rd call to Google). They helped me to determine that the battery was dead on the replacement unit, and I had to charge the unit on a USB cable before installing it. The next day (after charging it for 24 hours) I tried to install the unit and it again would not make it through the start up menu. It alternated 2 error messages (1. Disconnect unit from the wall 2. Reconnect unit to the wall) depending if the unit was on or off the wall. So, I called Google support again (4th call) and they determined the unit was defective. I requested they send me a brand new unit this time, but I they said that was not their ‘process’ and they would send another refurbished unit. I protested to no avail. They said I would have to send back the defective refurbished unit before they could send me another replacement (All this time I have been using the original Nest from August because it at least functions as a DUMB thermostat, it just can’t connect to Wi-Fi or run schedules). So, I sent the defective refurbished replacement back and then waited almost 2 weeks for them to send another refurbished unit. I think during that time I called Google support 2 more times trying to get the status of the replacement. That 2nd replacement unit arrived 2 days ago, and again the battery was dead. I charged that unit for 1 day, and then reinstalled the unit, and again found it would not make it through the startup menu. It alternated 2 error messages (1. Disconnect unit from the wall 2. Reconnect unit to the wall) depending if the unit was on or off the wall. I again had to call Google tech support who again determined this 2nd replacement unit was defective. I again begged for a new unit, and they again would only send a replacement by charging my credit card again. That third replacement arrived and was another refurbished unit with a dead battery and had to be charged to get it to work. That unit worked from mid-February to unit midmid-April (2 months). However, on the first really warm day, we turned on the AC and our outdoor unit started making a loud clicking noise. I assumed there was something wrong with the motor or fan on the outdoor unit and schedule an HVAC repairman to come diagnose the problem the next business day. That repairman came today and spent about 2 hours troubleshooting the issue and he determined that the Google Nest was not sending a consistent signal to the AC unit causing the outdoor unit fan to intermittently shut off/on repeatedly. Obviously, I had to pay for that service call which was not cheap. I just purchased and installed an EcoBee Thermostat and it, and my HVAC unit are now working fine. I just tried calling Google to ask for a refund for my Nest and the Google Nest Remote temperature sensor, and they have refused to refund my money. They only want to send me yet another refurbished unit, but after all these problems, I am not willing to try that. So now, I am out almost $300 for the Google Nest and the Remote sensor, but also out another $100 for the HVAC service call, and countless hours trying to get the Google Nest to work. This is absolutely the worst piece of technology that I have ever purchased. Google’s tech support was completely inflexible to offer any solutions other than just more refurbished units. If I could have rated this product lower, I would have.

Honestly the installation of this thermostat is pretty darned simple, or so it seems. Take a picture of your existing wiring, look through the app and if necessary send a copy of the picture of your wiring into Nest support and you should wind up getting a clear set of instructions on which wires need to connect to which terminals that this thermostat will be using. In most cases it is simple. Until it isn't quite so so simple. Which was the case for me recently. I actually called in the services of a family friend that I paid a few $$ to do the install of this thermostat (along with putting in an older thermostat back in my old home as the new owners didn't want to have the Nest thermostat and instead wanted a "dumb" thermostat to use there). He got it installed pretty quickly and the initial tests seemed to show it was working as it should. We could feel cool air blowing through the vents when we should and seemed to be getting warm air when we should. Seemed to be though, and not actually getting forced air like we should have. I didn't catch the issue until the next day and at that point it was a bit cooler outside and I was looking for more forced air to push the warm air around. I was very disappointed in not having the fan motor running as it should be, and worse without the fan working the heat was working too hard, heating up and not having the air blown through so it was turning itself off after just a few minutes before it cooled down enough to try to repeat the cycle. This issue lead me to make use of Tech support to try to confirm the wiring was correct and had me uploading the picture of the old wiring along with a picture of the new wiring. They confirmed that things *should* have been correct. OK. That lead to more trouble shooting and a determination by the tech that the Thermostat that I had just purchased must have had a bad terminal internally. No problem, I was offered a replacement unit and would be shipping the "bad" unit back upon receipt and install of the replacement. Replacement unit was received and other than having to take down the old thermostat (that I had to go back to using during the intervening period, at least temporarily) and wire in the new one, the replacement went quickly and easily. Except the same problem still existed. Which ruled out bad hardware and left me wondering and troubleshooting again as to what wires were used on which terminals. More troubleshooting lead to proving that the fan motor worked, that the heat worked depending on how the device was wired, or that the air conditioning worked depending on how it was wired. Getting the proper combo of all of those was continuing to elude me. Back and forth between where the thermostat was and where they HVAC and heating system are installed was exhausting me a bit, but I went and confirmed the manufacturer of the hardware and relayed that information to the technician that was providing technical support. In doing this I started researching a bit myself to see if that combo of hardware and Nest was a problem or had known issues and that eventually lead me to solving my own problem when I saw mention of the wiring for the Oil heat making use of the RH terminal. Hmmm, the recommended wiring for me was using the other R terminal, and not that terminal. The tech support person kept going with me and I noted that I was going to and did test using the RH terminal. MAGIC happened!! It worked. Again, not what the tech support people were telling me to use for my own wiring, but was exactly what was needed. I give credit to the tech support people for being pretty patient with me. I give credit to them for working to ship me a replacement item when they thought that the one that I had was malfunctioning. I give credit for the additional support and trouble shooting time that was taken when I was trying to get the replacement working. I take away some of the rating for not realizing early on that they should have suggested trying the RH terminal earlier. Functionally, this is a pretty nice smart (learning) Thermostat. I like it, otherwise I wouldn't have bought a second one for use in my new home. (One upstairs, one downstairs actually) I have a complaint that has been common with these in the past in that I really, really, really wish that you could set a "hold" temperature and get this thermostat to stay at that manually set temperature until the hold is released. If I know I'm going on vacation, I should be able to quickly and easily use that sort of function. This has been asked about multiple times by multiple users or potential users and I honestly believe this is a failing that the company just doesn't want to address. It shouldn't be that tough to add as a new feature. I can't give this 5 stars at this point (reasons listed above), but I do really like it. It is mostly a really nice Smart Thermostat and the Alexa integration makes it a really nifty item to use in my home. Alexa set {Thermostat name} to {Temperature} is really powerful for someone wants to make things easier on themselves. 4 stars from this reviewer.

This thing is probably saved me more money than its cost to purchase very easy to install. If you watch a YouTube video features are nice. Temperature accuracy has been spot on super reliable, and I like the ability to control it for wherever I am in the world setting up scheduling is easy. The phone app is very intuitive. Very easy to use.

I ended up buying this thermostat directly from Nest.com because they had a promotional discount on the 4th of July. I was very happy with this purchase as there are rebates for Southern California Edison and SoCal Gas for buying this thermostat with continuous rebates throughout the year. I really do love this thermostat, not only is it incredibly functional, it's very beautiful on the wall replacing an ugly old school Honeywell system that was easily 16 years old. Things I love: * Installation was very simple and Nest makes it easy by going online first and doing a compatibility check and shows you a wiring diagram you should print off. I'm no electrician and could easily do this install in about 15 min once I had the diagram and the tools in front of me. * The integrated feel - it connects to your wi-fi, you have an app for iPhone (and I believe Android), you can control it online in a traditional browser. Besides doing it's job it's keeping track of energy usage and helping to show you where you can be saving. Plays well with other internet of things, like Amazon Alexa and IFTT * The trim plate - the ugly old Honeywell system i had left a large square mark on the wall, the trim plate that came with Nest easily covered that up and it looks beautiful. * Senses when you walk by or approach and lights up to show you the current temperature, and outside temperature (gleans from wifi weather) * Intuitive interface, you press in the lower part of the thermostat to bring up a menu and you rotate the dial and press again to make choices, very simple and easy-to-use. * Partnership with energy companies - besides a rebate with gas and electric companies, they have a partnership with a solar company in my area I'm going to check out. Strong partnerships like that can lead to highly efficient systems and reducing cost (hopefully). What I don't like: * As a geeky nerd, I'm a little disappointed that I have to use the interface to connect to my wifi. If you have a very secure wifi password that is long, this will be a test of patience. In other devices, I'm used to it broadcasting it's own connection that you can securely connect to and set the password on with another device, like your iphone. I wish this kind of option were available, or other kind of pairing ease-of-use. * The auto-schedule that tries to learn your pattern in the first few days can be a little grumpy. For example, I had my power off on a hot day when installing. Once I got it installed it was quite warm in my house. I turned it on and immediately set to 65. I later adjusted that, but over the next few days it set itself to 65 until it figured out that wasn't a normal thing. Overall, I like the auto-schedule, it's just in the first few days you'll be scratching your head. * Don't do like me and set to 65 if you'd be happy at 71, for example. Just set your ideal, not a drastic temperature. * When you first turn it on, it may not be immediately apparent how to achieve what you want. I put it on hot/cold (by accident) and was trying to figure out how to just cool the house when I was staring at the heating screen. Stick with it and it will get easier in a day. The iPhone app is a lot easier to deal with, but once you get used to the interface, you won't give it a second thought after 2-3 days. * Cost.. it's expensive. Nest had a 4th of July sale for $50 off which made it attractive along with the rebates is like $175 off. But, you do get a lot more for your money. Final thoughts: If you plan to do more home automation, or already have a home automation system, be sure to know if this will work with it. For example, at the time of writing this I'm considering a SmartThings Hub system by Samsung which apparently Nest does not have a working partnership with Samsung on, so Samsung doesn't have a supported connection to Nest thermostat (although there are developer work-arounds that work). It does work well with Wink Hub system. This isn't an endorsement for either SmartThings or Wink Hub but it's a good idea to know this information if you have the desire to integrate and update more items in your home like lighting, locks, sensors, etc that require a hub of some sort.

Updated 1/11/2022 __________________ So we've had 3 of these in the house for the last couple of years. I purchased it in 2018 but hadn't installed it for months. When I finally installed the first one, it was so painless, we ran it for a few days, and it was so much easier to control than the integrated Crestron crap we had. After a while I purchased 2 more for the other HVAC zones in the house (big house) and to my delight, my HVAC systems stopped fighting each other. Having the remote sensors really helps too, since I can use a phone or tablet, tell the thermostat which zone I'm in, and it'll switch to that remote sensor, so I can stay warm or cold depending on where I'm spending my time in the house. The kitchen, for example, can get HOT AF when cooking, right? Bring a sensor with you into the kitchen, tell the thermostat to use that one instead of itself, and the AC/Heat will compensate. Phenomenal. More than that. I have paid an average of $1600 every 6 months (that's over $3200 a year) to keep gas in my tank, and we would run out, or just about run out each time, heaters running non-stop for no reason with the old thermostats right? I just checked. I still have 40% of my tank left.... that's going to last me until March, April, maybe even June. That's near a whole year! That means in 2 years, these thermostats have saved me AT LEAST $1600 in gas... for the price of 3 of these units, they've more than paid for themselves already. I expect them to keep working for years. _______________________________________ There are a few setup / calibration procedures, and some notes you might want to take an interest in BEFORE you buy. First off, this thing requires the C wire to provide power to the unit. Keep that in mind. Luckily I'm "downgrading" from a Crestron-based "smarthome" system, which luckily supplied a lot of redundant network and power options, so I have the 24v(C) wire [YAY!]. You can get someone to install them, for around $150 based on other reviews and personal experience at a previous residence. The next thing you need to know is, it's going to be bugged until you reboot it (based on numerous complaints/reviews/support requests). Mine was... and the simplest solution was to reboot it (in the settings on the device), then run it through its paces with the heat/cold/fan test, and then to let it run for a while. Removing it from the wall and replacing it didn't seem to do anything. There are also some firmware updates which might help. The next thing you need to be aware of is the placement of your sensor/thermostat wire. We determined ours was in our master bathroom. My house has 3 independent HVAC systems, powering 3 zones. Zone 1 is the Master Bath/Master Bedroom/ Study which is where our NEST Thermostat is located. If someone is in the shower, and the door is closed, the shower will remain warm from the hot water, while our bedroom will cool very quickly due to the number of windows and the deck-facing door... The thermostat said 73/74 whilst the bedroom was around 67 at one point. Once the bathroom was cooled off, the doors were opened, the temperature stabilized to an accurate reading and began heating/cooling appropriately. If you're not sure if your system is compatible, you can contact a NEST rep on their website for free, and they will help you examine your wiring for your current system(s) and see if your system is compatible, and will even prepare a wiring diagram to speed up the process. Additionally: there are extra screws and far more wire connection options than you will need. You will only need 5 wires to operate the system effectively for heating and cooling. 4 if you're only doing one or the other. Very simple instructions, don't overthink it. 1. Remove old thermostat / cover 2. Use included wire labels on wires (BEFORE DISCONNECTING THEM FROM OLD PANEL) 3. Remove wires from old panel. 4. Remove old patch panel. 5. Install metal adapter panel (I used the 2 screws from the old thermostat back panel/patch panel. 6. Install Shroud (you will only have 2 screw holes, so you will only need 2 of the 4 included mounting screws) 7. Pull wires through, before placing NEST patch panel on the shroud, and attach all of the wires with corresponding labels. (refer to the diagram your NEST tech provided you from their website... free) 8. Once you've inserted and locked all of the wires, you are ready to install the patch plate/backplate. Remove the two screws (top and bottom) holding up the shroud and install the patchplate over the backplate, without fully tightening the screws. 9. Use the integrated level to align your backplate/thermostat, then tighten the top and bottom screws. 10. Finally, install the thermostat, configure your settings, set up WiFi connection, and then run updates. It may take some time for it to accurately read room temperature, based on thermostat location, airflow to the thermostat, and a restart of the thermostat may be required. The restart option is in the settings menu. The app works extremely well for me, but also remember you can integrate NEST devices with IFTTT to further automate and enhance your experience. You can even use IFTTT with NEST thermostats to get alerts when they detect motion, so it doubles as a security device for my home. MERRY CHRISTMAS! EDIT: 12/26/2018 I purchased 2 more of these from Home Depot (don't be mad Amazon) because, well, I wanted it done NOW. Mostly so I could properly utilize the eco/away mode. With only 1 zone in a 3 HVAC zone house on eco mode, the other 2 zones would have the burdon of normalizing the temps in the home. Instead I went all in, got 2 more thermostats for the other zones, which came with 4 temperature sensors, which paired easily and work very well it seems. As with the thermostats, it takes a little while (20-45 minutes give or take) to start reading the right temps. The temp sensors are a great way to manage a thermostat which is in a dead air zone. If you feel too cold for the reading on the thermostat, put the temperature sensor in an area that feels cooler than the rest of the room, then tell the thermostat via the app or the wall device to use that sensor instead of its own temp reading... and badda bing badda boom you've got a wonderfully balanced and convenient, and elegantly climate controlled home. It only took about 5-10 minutes for each thermostat to remove/replace the old units and install the NEST Thermostats. It's too freaking easy. Update Feb 5, 2019 Installed Nest thermostats throughout the house. Dropped energy usage from 2148 kWh for Aug - September 2018 to 1834 kWh in December. All the while using the 3 HVAC systems to heat the home. After ending up with a second Crestron thermostat dying, I had already sank over 200 bucks in replacement thermostats. So, I decided to upgrade to a smart "learning" thermostat. There is a marked difference in how well (and evenly) the house is heated/cooled now. The HVAC systems are not active, nearly as often. Before, the thermostats (placed literally a few feet away from the HVAC intakes) would be cooled or heated by passing air, being pulled into the intakes. (Talk to the Contractor about that one) NEST allows you to use remote wireless sensors. So I placed one in the kitchen, one in the office, and one in the tiny "study" between the master bathroom and bedroom. Since then the thermostats have done a far better job at maintaining temps, using less gas, less electricity, making less noise, and doing a better job at maintaining comfortable temps. Not to mention being able to use eco mode when I'm not home, saving more energy. Not to mention being able to set the temperature while I'm outside, or in bed, from my phone/tablet/Alexa etc. It's a straightforward install too. Nest support provided a wiring diagram for free. Used the screws from the old thermostat. There are no buttons on the units. The unit IS a button. The unit is literally a dial you turn to change options and you press it to select. Program a schedule, or just change it. When NEST detects a pattern it "learns" and will start adjusting the thermostat before you can make it there. Oh and you can automate with If This Then That (IFTTT.com). For instance If ( Motion Detected) Then (Turn On Lights) Yeah NEST thermostats have motion detection so the screen stays off unless you're close to it. Kind-of handy actually. A neat night light when I'm fumbling my way to the bathroom. Occasionally the Living Room thermostat freaks out and goes to 55 degrees. Not sure why yet.... perhaps a firmware update is required. Not losing a star. The pros far outweight the cons here.

So I live in the southeast, where the summers are brutal and the winters are colder than you'd think. We get wild temperature swings which keeps energy usage quite high during peak months of the summer and winter seasons. Thinking this could help save some costs, I decided to try it. While others have explained a lot about what this system does, let me tell you what is does NOT do. I was under the impression it would "learn" my schedule (as it advertises it does) and basically figure out that during the week, I work regular hours, as does my spouse. We leave the house within 15 minutes of each other, and arrive home pretty close together soon. So if I leave at 7am, and come home at 5 pm, I want the temperature a comfy 75-76 degrees in my home. The interim? Don't care, which is what I hoped the Nest would work on for me. Ideally, When I leave at 7 or so, it would start to dial back the AC/heat to a decent level, let's say the low 80s, so I could save money, then when it knows I'll be home around 5, it aims for heating/cooling the house back down to an acceptable level for me for when I walk in the door. This thing should be working at my house when I'm away to save me money by not heating or cooling an empty house for a few hours while I'm away, then kicking back on 30/60 minutes or so before I arrive so I walk in to a comfy house. However, it doesn't quiiiiite do that, you see. I have to do all the heavy lifting as far as keeping it saving me money through the app while I'm away. It has a motion sensor, and a phone proximity sensor, and uses those two things to determine if you're home or not. If your phone leaves a 1 mile radius, or you don't pass by the motion sensor for a period of time, it starts an invisible countdown (anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours, though it doesn't tell you how much time, and its not programmable!). After that time, it will starts to let the AC/heat slide in the house to a temperature threshold you set to save energy. Then, it waits until it senses motion or sees your phone again to fire back up. This is a significant issue if you've been away for an extended period, as your house might actually be quite warm/cold when you arrive, but the Nest won't fire up until it "sees" you, meaning you don't walk into a comfy house, you walk into your threshold temperature and have to wait for the Nest to catch up. The motion sensor is also a big issue if you have an older home like mine, and the thermostat is tucked away at the end of a hall, instead of by the front door. Might be a non-issue to some, but be warned if your thermostat is in an out of the way location. There IS an "early on" feature which lets you set a temperature and time ("I want it to be 75 degrees at 4:30pm"), and let it start heating or cooling your home a bit before that time depending on the ambient temperature. This is a good feature....except somebody HAS TO BE IN THE HOUSE? That makes zero sense to me. Why would I want to have the early on setting on....if I'm already home? Why, if I leave for work, should my wife sit through uncomfortable temperatures if she stays home, only to have it kick on a few minutes before I arrive? This is the feature that is missing from the home/away assist that is absolutely crucial to this being a REAL learning thermostat. This feature DOES NOT work if your home/away assist is on AND sees nobody home, so you're back to walking into a furnace during the summer, when it should realize that every Monday through Friday, I'm home at 5 (give or take a few minutes), and aim to have the temperature at my desired level at that time WITHOUT programming. As it is, you have to turn the main selling feature OFF (the learning schedule, home/away assist) to make it work right.This means manually changing everything if your schedule changes, instead of letting the cool parts of this work, like phone proximity etc. If it turns out I have to call in sick, now I have to go into the Nest software/app, and remove any settings I have for the day, and remember to set them back up so the next Thursday (or whichever day I deleted), I'm not blasted out by extreme heat/cold. So you CAN program this thing to set the temp throughout the house at specific times.....but that defeats the purpose of spending $200-250 on this thing. It sure looks cool, but I can get a programmable thermostat for a fraction of the cost of this. Why won't the Nest ACTUALLY learn like it says it will? This is a sorely missed feature for those of us who live in areas that get quite warm and cold throughout the year. If they could set it to where the Nest could actually learn the fact I like the temp at 75 degrees, about the time I get home, AND keep the home/away assist stuff on, I'd change my review, but for now, I'm sorely disappointed.