Nest Learning Thermostat

As a longtime homeowner I can honestly say that I've never given much thought to the lowly thermostat. I've installed two or three over the years and never paid more than $45 for a basic programmable model, and the last two I installed (more than ten years ago) still work perfectly. So when I was asked to install and review the Nest Learning Thermostat ($249 direct), I jumped at the chance to see what all the fuss was about, but was admittedly skeptical given the Nest's lofty price tag. As it turns out, this "next-generation thermostat," as the company calls it, is one of the coolest products I've had the pleasure to review. It will likely become a permanent fixture in my home?if I can find one on the cheap, that is. It's an easy Editors' Choice for home automation devices.

Design and Features
Most traditional thermostats use nondescript rectangular white plastic housings and feature small monochrome LCDs with multiple program buttons and dials. The Nest, on the other hand, is housed in a round glass and brushed metal enclosure that oozes style. Measuring 3.2 inches in diameter and 1.3 inches thick, it resembles a high-tech hockey puck.

The clean design allows for no buttons or dials; the stainless steel outer ring provides all the functionality you'll need to set up and program the device. Simply press the ring once to bring up the menu, turn it left or right to toggle through menu choices, and press it again to select your choice. The same goes for programming temperature settings, heating and cooling times, and for configuring network and heating system settings. The Nest connects to your wireless network, so once you've performed the initial setup you can open a free Nest account and manage everything over the Web or from your Android or iOS phone or tablet.

The Nest may be tiny but it's jam-packed with cool technology, including activity sensors, a Wi-Fi radio, three temperature sensors, and a humidity sensor (you can also use the Nest to control a whole-house humidifier/dehumidifier system). ?

The activity sensors are used to activate the Auto Away feature, which shuts down heating and cooling after an hour or two of inactivity to conserve energy. ?I particularly like the energy history feature, which tracks daily heating and cooling usage. You can view daily usage on the Nest display or get a colorful graphical monthly report via the Web app. This can be very useful if you're looking for ways to reduce costs, as it shows the length of heating (or cooling) times per day and if you're running in an energy efficient manner. The Nest also collects real-time local weather information that it incorporates into the energy report to explain why usage may vary from day to day.

The Auto Schedule feature is ideal for users who don't program their thermostat and instead simply turn the heat on or off when needed. The Nest senses your presence and displays the current room temperature along with the desired setting. The reading is illuminated by white backlighting and is set against a black background. If you turn the ring to the left, the temperature readout will decrease incrementally and the background will turn blue to indicate cooling. Rotating the ring to the right raises the temperature incrementally and turns the background red to indicate warming. In order to help you save money, a green leaf will appear when you set the temperature to a level that is considered energy efficient, say, 68 degrees.

The Nest learns your heating and cooling habits over the first week of use. Simply set your heat/AC temperature at the same time each day for a week and the Nest will create a schedule based on this usage. Once the schedule is created you can still make arbitrary changes from time to time (one-offs) and the Nest will stay the course. You can change the schedule at any time using the Nest's ring, but it is much easier to do online. If you can't be bothered to take the time to let the Nest learn, you can always create your own schedule with the robust Web app.

Installation
The Nest will work in most dwellings that employ a two- or three-stage heating/cooling system. My home uses a typical two-wire low voltage setup for heat (I don't have central air conditioning) so installation was a snap. After removing my existing thermostat, I used the optional trim plate to cover the rectangular patch of old paint on the wall and connected the red wire to the base's W1 (heating) terminal and the white wire to the Rh (power) terminal. If you're doing this yourself, make sure you know which wire is your power (hot) wire or you may damage the unit and your heating system. After checking the built-in level to make sure the base was straight, I screwed the base and the trim plate into the wall and snapped on the Nest unit.

Once snapped into place, the Nest lights up and enters setup mode, which includes language, internet settings, heating and cooling, location, and temperature screens. You can toggle through menu options by turning the outer ring and pressing it down to select an option. After selecting a language (English, Spanish, or French) it scans for an available Wi-Fi network. It found mine and connected within seconds once I entered my security key. After checking for and installing the latest updates it took me to the heating/cooling menu, which shows you which equipment is connected to the base and which terminals are wired. You then select the type of fuel (gas, electric, propane, or geothermal) and type of heating system (forced air, in-floor radiant, or radiators) you use.

(Next page: Performance and Conclusions)

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