Best smart thermostat: Reviews and buying advice

• Published in: TechHive
• Main Author: D'Aprile, Jason
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Needham Foundry 18.01.2023
• Subjects: Air conditioners; Air purification; Air quality; Bluetooth; Budgets; Compatibility; Costs; Design engineering; Energy consumption; Heat pumps; Households; HVAC; HVAC equipment; Indoor air pollution; Indoor air quality; Industrial design; Motion perception; Motion sensors; Prices; Radar detection; Remote sensors; Sensors; Shaking; Smart buildings; Smart sensors; Thermostats; User interface; Voice control; Voice recognition

Best smart thermostat for every budget and HVAC system type Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium — Best smart thermostat overall Pros * Beautiful industrial design * Broad compatibility with other smart home ecosystems * Outstanding user interface, both in the excellent app and on the device itself * Radar-based motion detection, plus support for remote temperature/motion sensors * Supremely easy to install and configure Cons * Siri support requires the presence of an Apple HomePod or HomePod mini * Air quality sensor won't trigger your HVAC system's fan to circulate air * Pricey MSRP: $249.99 Best Prices Today: $249.99 at Amazon$249.99 at Best Buy$249.99 at Dell Home Nest usually gets all the attention—and the company deserves credit for shaking up a once sleepy market—but Ecobee’s latest smart thermostat is the best you can buy today. Read our full Review Ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced Amazon Smart Thermostat — Best budget-priced smart thermostat Pros * Automatically learns your heating and cooling needs * Can be controlled with Alexa voice commands * Broadly compatible with 24V HVAC systems Cons * Not compatible with Google Assistant * Not compatible with Apple HomeKit * Power adapter kit costs extra if your HVAC system doesn’t have a C-wire Best Prices Today: $79.99 at Amazon Amazon wins this category with the least expensive, most sophisticated smart thermostat in its price range, and that goes double for households that revolve around Amazon’s Alexa, since it’s not compatible with Google Assistant or Apple HomeKit. Read our full Review Amazon Smart Thermostat Nest Thermostat — Best budget-priced smart thermostat, runner-up Pros * Attractive industrial design, available in four colors * Very easy to install, program, and use * Monitors your HVAC system for potential problems * Energy Star certified Cons * No support for remote room sensors * Not suited to more complex HVAC systems * Backplate for covering holes from previous installations is a $15 option Best Prices Today: $113.49 at Amazon It’s hard to beat the Nest team when it comes to attractive industrial design, and the Nest Thermostat is an elegant device if you don’t need to support more sophisticated HVAC systems or you don’t care that it doesn’t support remote sensors that can eliminate hot and cold spots in your home. Read our full Review Mysa Smart Thermostat Sensibo Air Pro — Best controller for a stand-alone air conditioner Pros * Adds smart features to many models of “dumb” air conditioners and heat pumps * Indoor air quality sensor is a good addition to a great device * Very easy to set up and use * Works with Sensibo’s remote sensors and its smart air purifier Cons * Only works with air conditioners with infrared remotes (not Bluetooth) * Costs $40 model than the earlier Sensibo Air * Won’t mitigate poor indoor air quality by triggering your air conditioner’s fan to circulate air * Limited to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks MSRP: $149.99 Best Prices Today: $149.99 at Sensibo$159.00 at Amazon While it looks very much like its predecessor, the Sensibo Air Pro adds an air quality sensor as a logical next step for Sensibo’s reliable line of air-conditioner controllers; as such, its just it a little more useful than earlier Sensibo Air.