Apple Stores to Sell Nest Thermostat

I just put a Nest into our home a couple of weekends ago. Install was a snap, it is very very cool. I'm not sure if it will save us too much energy as I was a real miser with my programmable thermostat (and had it programmed on an aggressive 7 day schedule) but there's no doubt that the Nest is FAR easier to use and both my wife and I can control the temperature from our phones.

The way I look at it, even if it uses a little more energy I will probably be more comfortable in my own home as it continues learning when you make temperature changes.

It was the new AirWave feature for AC that finally pushed me over the edge to buy this thing and I'm glad I did.

The only risk is that the internal lithium ion battery is not user replaceable so eventually the Nest will need to be swapped with either a new unit or one with a new battery. At least they warranty it for 5 full years.

I have a hard time seeing this being worth $250, but for those who have it, how much money have you saved on your energy bills since getting one? If it really is a good long-term value, I'll consider it when I get a home (within the next few years, and perhaps the price will come down and make it easier to justify anyways).

jW

I look forward to buying one.

If I buy one now, I'm not going to have to upgrade every year like I do the iPhone and iPad do I? (j/k)

Is it worth $250? I don't know. Is an iPhone for $199 (with contract) better than a free phone?

Yes, it's worth it. Competing internet controllable thermostats from Honeywell and others are much harder to set up, and cost almost as much, or, in some cases, more.

compatibility problems?

I'd like to buy one but I think adapting it to my natural gas furnace and AWWO-system will be a bitch.

(All Windows Will Open, it's what I use for cooling on a hot day..)

Perhaps Nest is a little too advanced for this fossil in a cave..

Currently incompatible with UK systems sadly. Its a shame, as I have been thinking about something like this for a while

Some day, Apple will acquire Nest. It'll be part of Apple's home automation suite of products.

I'd love to get one, but need a WiFi boiler of some sort first which will cost a bomb.

No thanks I figured out how to program my thermostat years ago in seconds.

As cool as the product sounds, I don't think it would work for me and my situation. I live alone in a two story townhouse. I can be upstairs for hours and never pass by the thermostat downstairs. Am I wrong in this?

Rumple said:

No thanks I figured out how to program my thermostat years ago in seconds.

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Well, aren't you good? I must be a complete dunce. We put in a Totaline thermostat a few years ago. Pretty much state of the art then. While I have it programmed for periods of the day and weekdays vs. weekends, I still can't figure out how it make it do vacation overrides. The manual is about a half inch thick and full of confusing instructions and diagrams. The display is hard to read, which makes it that much more difficult to set up. If the Nest is half as good as people say it is, then it's certainly worth a look.

Over priced.
I don't want a computer doing that much.
Besides, I don't have a thermostat.
High thermal mass house which uses only 0.75 cord of wood a year to heat and no need to cool.
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/cottage

IJ Reilly said:

Well, aren't you good? I must be a complete dunce. We put in a Totaline thermostat a few years ago. Pretty much state of the art then. While I have it programmed for periods of the day and weekdays vs. weekends, I still can't figure out how it make it do vacation overrides. The manual is about a half inch thick and full of confusing instructions and diagrams. The display is hard to read, which makes it that much more difficult to set up. If the Nest is half as good as people say it is, then it's certainly worth a look.

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No not really. I just can't afford something like that let alone a vacation. Just not for me. Not needed.

pubwvj said:

Over priced.
I don't want a computer doing that much.
Besides, I don't have a thermostat.
High thermal mass house which uses only 0.75 cord of wood a year to heat and no need to cool.
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/cottage

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Great for you. But most of us live in more typical housing and thus need a thermostat of one kind or another.

We already have a programmable thermostat, but still thinking about getting the Nest. Being able to control it from afar would be great. I can think of many times we come home late from work, and the heat has kicked on at its normal time. This way we wouldn't be heating/cooling the house just for the pets if we end up getting home later than expected...

hopefully I am buying a home in about a year. This just got added to my swag list.

sweetbrat said:

Great for you. But most of us live in more typical housing and thus need a thermostat of one kind or another.

We already have a programmable thermostat, but still thinking about getting the Nest. Being able to control it from afar would be great. I can think of many times we come home late from work, and the heat has kicked on at its normal time. This way we wouldn't be heating/cooling the house just for the pets if we end up getting home later than expected...

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Your usage sounds similar to mine, I purchased it primarily for the remote connectivity with mobile devices and many of the other gee whiz features.

Mal said:

I have a hard time seeing this being worth $250, but for those who have it, how much money have you saved on your energy bills since getting one? If it really is a good long-term value, I'll consider it when I get a home (within the next few years, and perhaps the price will come down and make it easier to justify anyways).

jW

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Yup. The device's warranty is five years, thus $50 per year. That means it really needs to save you $4.17 a month in the first year. If it can do that, it's worth it, simply because energy costs rise continuously.

Plus, from a user's perspective, if it's easy to set up, it'll actually be used in the way it was intended. There are a lot of poorly designed devices that aren't used by Joe Consumer in the way that some engineer intended simply because the user interface design is piss poor.

Perhaps Apple could add an entire "iPpliance" section with Nest, Twine, INSTEON devices, and home automation solutions like Indigo (never mind the The Moderna Wonder Major All-Automatic Convenience Centerette).

Granted, Nest doesn't play nice with other solutions like INSTEON, just yet. If it did it would be much more attractive to me.

Wildog27 said:

Is it just me, or is this actually kind of a big deal? Selling a third party product that has an Apple design ethic that stretches out of consumer electronics into home lifestyle seems to be a step into another area that Apple hasn't been in before.

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Although Apple stores also have 3rd party speakers and headphones, e.g. B&W, Bose, etc. that at one point or another even competed with their own products. So to me, I didn't think of it as that much of a stretch.

In any case, I'm thinking of getting. Mostly for the cool factor though, but I suppose I can tell myself it will pay for itself with smart/efficient electricity usage.

jmpage2 said:

The only risk is that the internal lithium ion battery is not user replaceable so eventually the Nest will need to be swapped with either a new unit or one with a new battery. At least they warranty it for 5 full years.

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It totally slipped my mind that this needs power somehow. Not sure how it works (I don't know much about HVAC or thermostats in general) but looks like it charges itself? I wonder if maybe Nest uses a a better Li-ion battery similar to the batteries in MacBooks with longer lifespan (1000 charge cycles).

http://support.nest.com/customer/po...-the-nest-learning-thermostat-need-batteries-
The Nest Learning Thermostat is equipped with a self-recharging lithium-ion battery. This battery is charged through everyday use of the thermostat and doesn’t need a power adapter or charger. The lifetime of the battery is about 7-10 years and comes with a 5 year warranty.

Mal said:

I have a hard time seeing this being worth $250...

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If you owned one you would not have those words leave your fingers Seriously, it is the most awesome thermostat ever. Sure it is pricey but it is built like an apple product with quality components and receives updates over the internet.

I got one in Sunday. So far it is pretty cool. What I like most is being able to control my thermostat from my iPhone.

I've been thinking of these, seeing as we have a couple of owners here...

Just how much of a range is there between "smart" and "dumb"? Can you set this up as a dumb programmable thermostat if you want to? I really like the idea of a programmable thermostat you can set up from a computer, but don't like the idea of being forced to deal with its decisions.

From what I can tell, auto-away can be disabled at least. Which is good because I'm not always around the thermostat.

zorinlynx said:

I've been thinking of these, seeing as we have a couple of owners here...

Just how much of a range is there between "smart" and "dumb"? Can you set this up as a dumb programmable thermostat if you want to? I really like the idea of a programmable thermostat you can set up from a computer, but don't like the idea of being forced to deal with its decisions.

From what I can tell, auto-away can be disabled at least. Which is good because I'm not always around the thermostat.

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Auto learning can be disabled. Leaving the unit to rely on the set schedule.

Mal said:

I have a hard time seeing this being worth $250, but for those who have it, how much money have you saved on your energy bills since getting one? If it really is a good long-term value, I'll consider it when I get a home (within the next few years, and perhaps the price will come down and make it easier to justify anyways).

jW

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I suspect for many the money saved won't equal the money spent on the unit, at least not for a few years. In other words, it may be a bad monetary investment.

But that's not to say it's a bad investment for our future. If we are to approach or meet sustainable means of living (an ever-increasing necessity), then we'll have to grow accustomed to spending more money to conserve our resources. As a society, we can't afford to waste energy, even if it is cheaper.

That said, I'm not sure this product is useful to this goal, but its claims seem plausible, at least.