Not to sound negative, but I don't get the point of the WiFi thermostat. I think they are a waste of money that could be spent in other ways to make the home better or more energy efficient. I know people love their technology, but to pay that much just to be able to set your thermostat from your phone seems like a waste. I haven't ever had a problem with a thermostat that hooking one up to WiFi would cure. Seems like most people get it, just to say they have it.

usually when a device has wifi it's for the purpose of being able to access the internet

thermostats these days are programmable where you can set it to be at different temps throughout the day and leave it alone

if you arent home why would you need to mess with the thermostat settings over the internet?

i think what all it is is that the companies need to throw in extra features in order to sell there product over the next product

I actually was just googling this last night. Costco has a model on sale currently, btw. (I think it is Honeywell.)

I don't see any of the Nest selling points as being advantageous to us, except I would like to control the thermostat from my phone. (Our schedules change daily, so no thermostat would be able to predict our behavior in a beneficial way.) The thermostat, in my house, is on the opposite side from my master bedroom. Last night, when I just couldn't get warm and was tucked into bed, I wanted to be able to just remotely control the temperature. That would certainly be a luxury for that one feature, and it isn't worth the price tag, for me, quite yet..... I will consider it if the price drops, though. :)

That is where I am coming from. The few things you get, don't justify the price to me. I think that the idea of saving money being able to lower the temperature when you are not there is a good idea, but I think that we need to look more at the builders. Spending a little more money to insulate better and use better building practices would go much further than adjusting your thermostat to keep it cooler when you are not home. People are very quick to drop money on technology, but don't want to spend the money building a home with better quality products and practices. As long as it looks nice, that's all that matters. Your home is your biggest investment, but people don't treat it that way. They will upgrade cell phones and cars at the drop of a hat (both lose value immediately), but not spend the extra money on a better home.

I guess in my situation I don't think the Honeywell one at $150 to have WiFi is that big of an expense. Now if it was some significant amount of an expense that could be used for some major upgrade somewhere else - I wouldn't even be asking the question.

The one thing I was really thinking was because we have changing schedules a lot. For me it's more about being able to get the house warm by the time I get home with little kids. I personally hate walking into a cold house when it's below zero in the winter in MN.

Sometimes when we are out of town for 2-3 days at a time and turn the heat way down - it would be nice to flip it back on when we are close to being home - some a pre-scheduled thermostat wouldn't be able to predict.

I have three of the nest thermostats installed in my home. It automatically adjusts my schedule based on how I use the different rooms in the house. i.e.... if i start getting up earlier it notices that I'm in the kitchen earlier and kicks on earlier, and when I leave earlier, it senses this too and cuts off sooner. It's great to be connected to the internet, When I'm out of town (quite often) i can see what's going on with the house and turn the thermostat down lower if i'm going to be gone for a while. Likewise I can turn the heat back on an hour before I get home and arrive to a comfortable home. Plus it's just much prettier.

Wow, I didn't know such a thing existed. I am obviously not doing enough research before building.

Glenwood - how would the Nest work if you worked from home and had a variable schedule? Also - how does it sense when you are using a section of the house?

We are often out of town too (although rarely at the same time), so this is something I'm thinking of.

If it would be me, I would choose Prestige IAQ vs nest.

IMHO much better stat. Delta t monitoring will give you hint if something is wrong. For multizone system - Carrier Infinity would be light years ahead of three nests.

I have 2 Nest

I like that it is able to sense when we come home early and starts the program earlier.

I like that I can control the thermostat upstairs when my kids are sleeping and I am downstairs.

I like being able to adjust the thermostat from the bed if I feel cold.

With that being said they are expensive. I ended up getting one as a house 'warming' present and I bought the other one when Best Buy was having some sort of promotion. They look better than the Honeywells in my opinion but that might just be me. I wish the reporting was a little better on it. You can get more info if you go to the forums for the Nest at their website.

We are building a retirement home that will be just for weekends for a few years. I would love to be able to turn the heat on several hours before we arrive (hydronic floors, so takes time to warm up.) Don't be deterred by those who just don't find it useful for their own lifestyle. I don't know what technology we'll get though, will talk to electrician next week, so I'd be glad to hear what others are using.

This might be over the top, because it is certainly more expensive than a learning thermostat. There is something called Passive House that is a way to build that reduces heating and cooling costs by up to 90%. You wouldn't really need your thermostat then. : ) Fine Homebuilding just put out a video interview that is very good and gives a nice overview.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fine Homebuilding Video on Passive House

Which Honeywell were you looking at? What type of HVAC are you putting in your home? I installed the honeywell 9580 wifi on a heat pump and it does not have enough adjustability to set Auxiliary heat lockout points and now my Aux heat kicks in when it's not really needed. I'm actually looking at the nest now. It has a heat pump balance feature that sounds interesting

Does anyone else imagine themselves forgetting their password to their thermostat and freezing??