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Top positive review
Copper Nest is beautiful and functional
December 12, 2018
Yes, I’m another proud Nest concert and will never look back! It’s simply awesome for my gas heating and cooling forced air system here in Texas. The weather changes seasons inside of one day here during the winter months so having a Thermostat that switches between AC and furnace automatically is amazing to me.
Only thing I would recommend beyond this is a 3rd party plate like the POPMAS copper plate I bought here from Amazon. The neat comes with a super cheap plastic plate that will look terrible. If you’re going to spend $200-250 on a Nest, do spend another $20 on the plate. (See pics)
Only thing I would recommend beyond this is a 3rd party plate like the POPMAS copper plate I bought here from Amazon. The neat comes with a super cheap plastic plate that will look terrible. If you’re going to spend $200-250 on a Nest, do spend another $20 on the plate. (See pics)
182 people found this helpful
Top critical review
Doesn't quiiiite do what you'd expect
July 11, 2017
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.
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.
2,043 people found this helpful
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July 11, 2017
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.
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.
March 28, 2018
First let me say that this is a very cool looking thermostat. It lights up when you approach it and really impresses people. That said, I have battled with my Nest for over a year. It will work fine for weeks then decide for some reason to stop heating the house. And when it does stop, trying to get it back on the job has been a chore taking hours of resetting and rebooting the unit, and turning my furnace off and on countless times. Then, it will magically begin working again.
I have called Nest only for them to tell me that my 1 year old, high-end furnace is the problem. I have updated the software just in case I was the victim of the glitch they had with the power on one of their releases. I never did have a problem with the battery going dead. It always indicated that the heat was on, only that it would be another 2 or more hours before it reached the temperature in my schedule. It would continue to say that all day if you didn't address it. Meanwhile the temperature in the house continued to drop.
I finally gave up trying and bought a Honeywell WiFi thermostat. Guess what, my furnace is not the problem after all! The Honeywell is so much easier to set up and gives so much more information on the display. No more spinning the dial forever trying to enter a network password. The Honeywell actually has a keyboard that pops up when typing it! And, finally, my home temperature is actually what I set it to. Nice try Nest in attempting to save energy costs for me, but don't do it at the cost of family comfort.
I have called Nest only for them to tell me that my 1 year old, high-end furnace is the problem. I have updated the software just in case I was the victim of the glitch they had with the power on one of their releases. I never did have a problem with the battery going dead. It always indicated that the heat was on, only that it would be another 2 or more hours before it reached the temperature in my schedule. It would continue to say that all day if you didn't address it. Meanwhile the temperature in the house continued to drop.
I finally gave up trying and bought a Honeywell WiFi thermostat. Guess what, my furnace is not the problem after all! The Honeywell is so much easier to set up and gives so much more information on the display. No more spinning the dial forever trying to enter a network password. The Honeywell actually has a keyboard that pops up when typing it! And, finally, my home temperature is actually what I set it to. Nice try Nest in attempting to save energy costs for me, but don't do it at the cost of family comfort.
June 18, 2018
I believe Nest is not honest in their products. This product is being sold without further testing and troubleshooting. It foes not work correctly. Very buggy. And alot of research I did in this product after install. Discover that alot, if not most consumers who purchased it have problems and issues and it does not save energy. Why they continue to say this is b.s. The main issue is the built in temp sensors. Very buggy , and are suspect to get wrong readings, thus causing the "smart" thermostat to not operate correctly. It is always reads wrong actual temperature in room. And it constantly running, because the sensor is faulty. I'm use for cooling only,and it will not work correctly. This after several phone chats with Nest "experts", by way,are not ,they just read from a book. This is the biggest rip off going on now in "smart " thermostat world. Do not buy. I'm sending back,and going back to reg thermostat.
November 28, 2019
I have lived with the Nest thermostat for three years now. It has done nothing much to improve the heating/cooling experience in my home (as compared to a regular mechanical thermostat).
As others have commented, they market this product as a "learning" device that will save you money in the longterm by automatically setting optimal temperatures. It absolutely fails in this regard. You might as well stick with your old thermostat if that is what you are looking for. In fact, my Nest actually wound up costing me extra money on heating/cooling during the first year because I naively believed the hype and didn't do a good job of checking on it. When I did start checking, I found it pretty much was just keeping the temperature at constant settings with no good adjustments for time-of-day or outside temperature
BUT, you can easily program a schedule of temps and times. That's not "automatic" and other cheaper thermostats can do that, too.
It does look modern and cool but if your thermostat is down an out-of-sight hallway like mine, who cares?
The best thing about the Nest thermostat is you can adjust your settings in your house from anywhere in the world using the app on your phone or computer. That's great if you do a lot of traveling. But, if you're mostly always at home and only take a few days away here and there, it's not that big of deal.
As others have commented, they market this product as a "learning" device that will save you money in the longterm by automatically setting optimal temperatures. It absolutely fails in this regard. You might as well stick with your old thermostat if that is what you are looking for. In fact, my Nest actually wound up costing me extra money on heating/cooling during the first year because I naively believed the hype and didn't do a good job of checking on it. When I did start checking, I found it pretty much was just keeping the temperature at constant settings with no good adjustments for time-of-day or outside temperature
BUT, you can easily program a schedule of temps and times. That's not "automatic" and other cheaper thermostats can do that, too.
It does look modern and cool but if your thermostat is down an out-of-sight hallway like mine, who cares?
The best thing about the Nest thermostat is you can adjust your settings in your house from anywhere in the world using the app on your phone or computer. That's great if you do a lot of traveling. But, if you're mostly always at home and only take a few days away here and there, it's not that big of deal.
May 3, 2018
From my experience with the product, I can see why some might rate it 5 star, but my experience was not good and cost me a lot of time and frustration after purchasing and subsequently returning (one after another) three Nest Thermostats. It's a long story...
My heating-A/C system is three zone with a Honeywell HZ311 controller and an Amana ASXC16 air conditioner.
The saga begins in early January when I purchased and installed the first Nest Learning Thermostat after checking for compatibility online. Installation was a bit of a hassle because Nest thermostats won't work with the Honeywell controller unless there is a common wire. I had to overcome two problems - (1) the Honeywell thermostat that I was replacing had been incorrectly wired with respect to the common wire and Nest's instructions are based on existing wiring, and (2) the Nest tech support person that was helping me did not understand the common wire requirements as related to my controller. It took me a day or two of further detective work, greatly aided by inspecting the wiring on a second thermostat, to figure out how to properly wire the Nest.
After several weeks of using the Nest with my heating system we ran into significant conflicts with the so-called "learning" aspects of the thermostat. I would set a schedule only to notice a few days later that my heating schedule had been inexplicably altered in ways that I could not understand. (A personal note. I have decades of experience in AI, starting in the early '70s as a graduate student, so I was also very interested in seeing how the learning function would work.) Well, the learning function of the Nest, IMHO, is beyond comprehension as it seems to completely ignore any explicit instructions it receives from the human operator, so I think Nest techies have a lot of work to do there. As a practical matter, we could not live with the thermostat as a learner. In a conversation (or chat) with tech support, the Nest representative suggested we replace the Learning model with the "E" model, which I then did.
Now we were very happy with the Nest (the "E" model) for several months. We really liked the scheduling functions and the Eco "away" functionality, and what was particularly useful was the ability to remotely set the temperature prior to our return after a week-long absence.
However, that happiness evaporated when we had a heat wave in early April with temperatures hitting 80 degrees and we found that the "E" was causing our air conditioner to rapidly cycle on and off with a significant loss in efficiency. What I had failed to notice and what the Nest rep had failed to point out is that the "E" and the "Learning" thermostats have differences wrto A/C compatibility. In particular, whereas the "Learning" works with two-stage air conditioners, the "E" does not. Our Amana is two-stage. All of this involved another long session with a Nest tech rep, and after going through our whole saga, the rep suggested we go back to the "Learning" model and also that it was easy then to turn off the learning feature which we strongly disliked. (I wish that the earlier rep had made that recommendation rather than the suggestion to replace with an "E"!)
So the "E" was returned and another "Learning" model obtained and installed. A few weeks went by and with the learning mode disabled we were now pleased with the the "Learning" model, until the weather got warm again. Then we saw that the "Learning" model induced exactly the same rapid cycling in the A/C as had been the problem with the "E". Again a conversation with tech support and this time the rep told me that my specific model of Amana was not compatible with any Nest thermostat. So now our third Nest has been returned, and we are getting a "smart" Honeywell thermostat instead.
After all this I began to wonder if I had not been diligent enough in my initial compatibility checking, so I did a Google query combining "nest" with my Amana A/C model number, but got no hits. From that I conclude that the fact that my Amana is not compatible with Nest is knowledge available to Nest reps, but not the public.
Some final comments on Nest tech support. If you've read this far, you are aware of several problems arising from tech support. Overall, support personnel were easy to work with and seemed very knowledgeable, even though in some cases it turns out that they should have been more knowledgeable. The biggest problem is that waits are extremely long, both for chat and for telephone support. On top of that, their chat and telephone technology is not reliable. I had at least two chat sessions that terminated unexpectedly, and one extremely frustrating phone call where I was finally connected to a tech after a 40 minute wait, only to immediately get disconnected. The phone wait is also extremely frustrating in that a voice occasionally comes on to inform you that wait times are extremely long and to suggest that it might be better to try at a different time, without suggesting a time range that might have shorter waits.
My heating-A/C system is three zone with a Honeywell HZ311 controller and an Amana ASXC16 air conditioner.
The saga begins in early January when I purchased and installed the first Nest Learning Thermostat after checking for compatibility online. Installation was a bit of a hassle because Nest thermostats won't work with the Honeywell controller unless there is a common wire. I had to overcome two problems - (1) the Honeywell thermostat that I was replacing had been incorrectly wired with respect to the common wire and Nest's instructions are based on existing wiring, and (2) the Nest tech support person that was helping me did not understand the common wire requirements as related to my controller. It took me a day or two of further detective work, greatly aided by inspecting the wiring on a second thermostat, to figure out how to properly wire the Nest.
After several weeks of using the Nest with my heating system we ran into significant conflicts with the so-called "learning" aspects of the thermostat. I would set a schedule only to notice a few days later that my heating schedule had been inexplicably altered in ways that I could not understand. (A personal note. I have decades of experience in AI, starting in the early '70s as a graduate student, so I was also very interested in seeing how the learning function would work.) Well, the learning function of the Nest, IMHO, is beyond comprehension as it seems to completely ignore any explicit instructions it receives from the human operator, so I think Nest techies have a lot of work to do there. As a practical matter, we could not live with the thermostat as a learner. In a conversation (or chat) with tech support, the Nest representative suggested we replace the Learning model with the "E" model, which I then did.
Now we were very happy with the Nest (the "E" model) for several months. We really liked the scheduling functions and the Eco "away" functionality, and what was particularly useful was the ability to remotely set the temperature prior to our return after a week-long absence.
However, that happiness evaporated when we had a heat wave in early April with temperatures hitting 80 degrees and we found that the "E" was causing our air conditioner to rapidly cycle on and off with a significant loss in efficiency. What I had failed to notice and what the Nest rep had failed to point out is that the "E" and the "Learning" thermostats have differences wrto A/C compatibility. In particular, whereas the "Learning" works with two-stage air conditioners, the "E" does not. Our Amana is two-stage. All of this involved another long session with a Nest tech rep, and after going through our whole saga, the rep suggested we go back to the "Learning" model and also that it was easy then to turn off the learning feature which we strongly disliked. (I wish that the earlier rep had made that recommendation rather than the suggestion to replace with an "E"!)
So the "E" was returned and another "Learning" model obtained and installed. A few weeks went by and with the learning mode disabled we were now pleased with the the "Learning" model, until the weather got warm again. Then we saw that the "Learning" model induced exactly the same rapid cycling in the A/C as had been the problem with the "E". Again a conversation with tech support and this time the rep told me that my specific model of Amana was not compatible with any Nest thermostat. So now our third Nest has been returned, and we are getting a "smart" Honeywell thermostat instead.
After all this I began to wonder if I had not been diligent enough in my initial compatibility checking, so I did a Google query combining "nest" with my Amana A/C model number, but got no hits. From that I conclude that the fact that my Amana is not compatible with Nest is knowledge available to Nest reps, but not the public.
Some final comments on Nest tech support. If you've read this far, you are aware of several problems arising from tech support. Overall, support personnel were easy to work with and seemed very knowledgeable, even though in some cases it turns out that they should have been more knowledgeable. The biggest problem is that waits are extremely long, both for chat and for telephone support. On top of that, their chat and telephone technology is not reliable. I had at least two chat sessions that terminated unexpectedly, and one extremely frustrating phone call where I was finally connected to a tech after a 40 minute wait, only to immediately get disconnected. The phone wait is also extremely frustrating in that a voice occasionally comes on to inform you that wait times are extremely long and to suggest that it might be better to try at a different time, without suggesting a time range that might have shorter waits.
January 1, 2018
With our below zero temperatures outside, my newly installed Nest just quit working this morning. As the house temp was down in the 50's, I was on hold for Nest support for 2 hours and 15 minutes (Happy New Year). This a big issue and we are starting to see the reviews stating the serious problem. If you do not have a functioning control wire (usually the blue wire) and the temps get below zero outside, some HVAC systems quit powering the Nest thermostat and it just turns off because the battery drains out. The temp solution is to disconnect the yellow wire which controls the air conditioning. That will get the furnace working again. It also means you need to remember in the spring to hook up the yellow wire again or you will have no AC. The long term solution is to get an HVAC repairman to hook up a common wire to the Control port of the Nest so the battery will always receive power. The only redeeming part of this review was the Nest support person I dealt with (Alexis) was very helpful and spent the time to answer all of my questions and wait patiently for about an hour as we fixed the problem. That good support person got it up to a 2 star review.
May 30, 2017
I'm not a super techie but no slouch either. After reading the instructions, removing the old thermostat and installing this one I was happy that it read the temperature, connected to my wifi network and turned on my system. That is the extent of what this would do. I could not get it to sync with my smartphone or tablet(even after creating an account) but most importantly it would not shut my system down once it reached the set temperature. It would get tot he set temperature and keep trucking. Not cool but luckily i installed on a weekend and able to keep tabs on it to troubleshoot. After reading the instructions several more time, running calibration tests and ding online research I was not able to fix either the syncing or temperature control issues. I has to return this item and stick with my low tech but reliable older thermostat.
August 25, 2018
I thought the Nest thermostat was going to be amazing. It's expensive, high tech, and top of the line. But it has been a disappointment. There's no hold feature. Probably so you don't forget and waste energy. But it will turn off all the time for no reason. Or the other way around. It will turn on even after you have adjusted the temperature to avoid it. I have turned off all the "smart" features and it still seems to do. The only way to stop it is to turkey turn it off.
Another problem is the software. I've had multiple times where it has randomly stopped charging. When this happens the wifi will cut out. After research it has been shown to a software issue that hasn't been fixed yet. I have also purchased the remote sensor and have had connection problems with it when using it just feet away.
On a positive side. The screen is a nice feature. I like how it displays the weather when walking by. Choosing which site to use would be nice. Something I'm sure nest would have to set up contracts with. The WiFi is obviously the main feature in a thermostat like this. And scheduling is a breeze using the app vs traditional thermostats.
A fun, high tech gadget that needs to get the bugs worked out.
Another problem is the software. I've had multiple times where it has randomly stopped charging. When this happens the wifi will cut out. After research it has been shown to a software issue that hasn't been fixed yet. I have also purchased the remote sensor and have had connection problems with it when using it just feet away.
On a positive side. The screen is a nice feature. I like how it displays the weather when walking by. Choosing which site to use would be nice. Something I'm sure nest would have to set up contracts with. The WiFi is obviously the main feature in a thermostat like this. And scheduling is a breeze using the app vs traditional thermostats.
A fun, high tech gadget that needs to get the bugs worked out.
December 18, 2015
I reserve the right to change this rating if this gets resolved, but right now I'm very annoyed with this product. For the most part I like it. It's a nice clean design, and I like the auto-away functionality. But after a week's use it is repeatedly dropping off wi-fi because the battery is not charging off the low-voltage wires like it is supposed to. Which ultimately means it's not that much better than the digital thermostat it replaced and which will go back up on the wall if I have to send this back. It's nice that it has a micro-USB port on the back to plug it into a wall to recharge, but that is not a viable solution in my book. I have an older house, and the only wires I have are Y1, W1, G, and Rc. I had it hooked up to Rh originally, but when I started researching this problem a post said to try Rc instead. It made no difference. The thermostat will eventually charge enough to get above the 3.7v it needs to connect to wi-fi, but then hours later it will drop off wi-fi again. Which means I cannot control the thermostat with my app at the minimum. What other functionality it loses when it has no wi-fi connection I don't really know. I sent an email to Nest customer support. We'll see what happens.
March 10, 2018
This needs serious work, even in its third generation. I don't quite understand the mindset of its developers but it seems that they intended this for use by extremely rich white house wives with a/c and heat control in every room of their mansion. Most normal people have just one thermostat in their house, even if it's got 3 bedrooms and 4 stories. I don't think I've ever been in a house with more than one thermostat. There's not even an option to choose "House" as the location of the thermostat. This makes no sense. On top of all this their Alexa app is probably one of the worst device control apps I've ever had the displeasure of using. It has almost zero instructions on what the commands are, you basically have to guess, and the commands are limited, make no sense, and once again, assume that you have a thermostat in every freaking room. Who are these people? "Alexa set the basement to 68" Yeah, setting "the basement" to 69 isn't possible because that would set the whole house to 69, I named it "The House" instead, since it didn't have that as option I had to do it custom. Not only that, if the heat is on and I want it to cool instead, I have to say "Alexa, set 'The House' to cool" THEN say "Alexa, set The House to 69". Only then will she turn the A/C on and cool it down. Why can't I just say set the house to 69 and have it assume that if the heat is on, and it's 76, that she should turn the A/C on instead and cool it down to 69? WTF?
