Nest vs Honeywell: Smart Thermostat Comparison

When it’s cold, we turn on the heater. When it’s hot, we turn on the air conditioning. In the quest to make our homes comfortable, most of us rely on these two appliances with notoriously high energy consumption.

For those of us who live in extreme weather, it is survival (or freeze to death in the cold or die of heatstroke).

As a result though, at the end of each summer or winter months, we rack up eye bulging electric bills that make us look for alternatives (other than moving somewhere with more temperate climates) that are easier on the pocket and the environment.

Popular Nest & Honeywell Thermostats

(the links above will take you over to Amazon)

Smart Wi-Fi Thermostats: The Basics

Smart Wi-Fi thermostats are used to control the heating or air conditioning system in a home. They are basically your programmable thermostat—only they can be connected to the internet and can be accessed remotely.

Schedule Temperatures

Just like your regular programmable thermostat, you use your smart Wi-Fi thermostat to control the temperature of your home throughout the day by setting a schedule.

For example, you might want a nice, cool temperature when you wake up, so you won’t get all sweaty and sticky while having breakfast and getting ready for work.

Remote Access

Unlike your regular programmable thermostat though, the smart Wi-Fi thermostat is connected to the internet. This means it allows you to adjust your home’s heating or cooling settings using other devices that are also connected to the internet, such as your smartphone or your laptop.

So say it is freezing, you can easily access the smart thermostat through its app on your way home, and arrive in a warm and toasty house.

Or if it’s summer, you won’t have to wait for your air conditioning unit to cool your house down when you arrive. Open the door and experience instant relief from the sweltering heat outside.

> How To Connect Amazon Echo & Nest

Save Money and Energy

Most smart thermostats also show you information about your HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system, like how long it has been running, the energy consumed, and even if you need to change the air filter already.

If you love playing around with data, then this will save you a lot of money on your energy bill. For example, you can plot out how much more you can save in a month by adjusting the temperature a few degrees here and there.

Are Smart Thermostats Worth It?

Admittedly, regular programmable thermostats may cost a lot less than a smart thermostat, but most people buy them and end up not using them simply because they just aren’t as convenient to use, or as versatile.

Besides, with the money you’ll save, it should pay for itself in no time.

Nest Learning Thermostat Features

Remote Control

Because it is connected to the internet, you can literally use your smart device or laptop as your HVAC system remote control via the Nest Thermostat’s app.

So even if you are away from home—or even out of the country—you can adjust your home’s heating and cooling as long as you have an internet connection.

Auto Schedule

With the Auto-Schedule feature, the Nest enters a “learning process” where it observes your habits for about a week or so, and programs itself accordingly to adapt to your lifestyle. Of course, you can manually adjust it if needed.

Here’s the scenario: you usually set the temperature to 68 degrees around 6am when you wake up, then turn your system off when you and the kids leave the house at 8am.

Your kids get home at around 2pm, and set the temperature to a comfortable 65 degrees. By 9pm, you turn it down to a cool 55 degrees to get ready for bed. Rinse and repeat.

Except for weekends, when you wake up later at around 8am, and set the temperature to 60 degrees.

The Nest will “learn” your family’s habits, and after a week or so, it will do these things on its own. You can put the matter of setting temperatures and turning your HVAC system on and off completely out of your mind.

Home/Away Assist

The Nest Thermostat also has a Home/Away Assist feature that automatically turns off or turns down your HVAC system to an Eco Temp while you’re away, enabling you to save even more energy.

But the best part of this feature is its ability to track your phone location—and your family’s as well—and automatically turns the thermostat down when you’re away.

Farsight

With the 3rd generation Nest Thermostat, you don’t even have to tap the device in order to get an update on temperature, weather or the time. If you have the Farsight option on, the Nest will automatically light up once it “sees” you enter the room with its 150-degree activity sensors.

It also has light sensors that adjust the screen brightness, making sure you’ll see it clearly from across the room.

Nest Sense

The Nest Sense is what makes this thermostat so smart. First of all, using its learning algorithms, the Nest Thermostat “learns” how long it’ll take your home to heat up or cool down to a certain temperature.

Once it learns your schedule and the temperatures you like, and at what times. It’ll then adjust on its own to achieve what you want using the most energy-saving ways possible.

For example, did you know that your air conditioner’s compressor will continue to generate cold air for five to ten minutes after it’s turned off? The Nest then uses the fan alone to blow the cold air still being produced by your compressor throughout your house. That will save you about ten minutes of energy.

It also has a feature appropriately called Sunblock, which blocks the heat coming from the sun shining directly onto the device. This is to avoid false temperatures, to avoid turning on the cooling system on a cold day, just because sunlight happens to shine through your window and directly onto the Nest.

The Nest can also use your heating and cooling systems to regulate the humidity inside your home. This promotes a healthier living environment. In humid areas, it prevents too much moisture and mold from growing inside your home.

On the other hand, in dry areas, it makes your home a bit more humid to make it easier for you to breathe.

Auto Alerts

The Nest also helps you keep an eye on your home, in case it gets too cold or too hot. The app will send an alert to your smartphone once it detects these issues, preventing incidents such as bursting pipes from the cold or a system overheat.

The Nest also alerts when your filters need to be changed, thus making your HVAC more efficient and saving you more energy.

Works with Smart Assistants

The Nest is fully integrated with Amazon Echo devices and Google Assistant. Not only does this makes voice control possible, but also brings out a myriad of additional features to work with other smart devices. You can even create your own “recipes” using IFTTT.

Ironically, considering the Nest was created by Tony Fadell of Apple fame, the Nest currently does not work with Apple Homekit and Siri. Luckily, a workaround has been found by diehard Apple fans.

Troubleshooting

One feature of the Nest is it will charge its batteries automatically. So how is this a problem?

The device needs a C wire (common wire) hooked up to it, or it’ll turn on the HVAC system in order to charge its batteries. If this is the case in your home, you can try installing it yourself or contact a professional ASAP to fix this problem.

Honeywell Thermostat Features

Over a hundred years into the business, Honeywell offers a bigger range of options to match your budgets and needs. In this article, we’ll be featuring the:

• the Honeywell Wi-Fi 9000
• the Smart Wi-Fi
• ...and the Lyric

Honeywell Smart Wi-Fi (RTH9580WF)

Auto Alerts

Honeywell Thermostats have the capability of sending alerts to your connected devices in case of unexpected weather changes, extreme temperature alerts, and when to change your filter to maximize energy saving.

Works with Smart Assistants

The Honeywell Thermostat works with iOS, Alexa and Android devices. This provides voice control even if you don’t get the voice control capable model. You can also use IFTTT to bridge your smart thermostat with working with other smart devices.

Integrated Voice Control (Honeywell Wi-Fi 9000 with Voice Control only)

All you have to say is “Hello, Thermostat” to turn on the thermostat’s listening ability. It can respond to a number of voice commands, such as “raise (or lower) the temperature by x degrees”.

The mic’s pretty sensitive too, and can hear you clearly from across a busy room.

Nest vs. Honeywell Smart Thermostats: Conclusion