Ecobee Planning New Smart Thermostat With Built-In Air Quality Sensor

[nutmac]

Just give me an ecobee with a nicer design and charge $50-$100 more. I mean, a nice metal casing, glass front with a laminated display. The current model has a massive air gap, a first generation iPhone level display and cheap plastic housing.

The product itself works great but it is so ugly.

To be fair, the current 5th generation ecobee SmartThermostat with voice control has a glass display. But it retains the dated design with plastic sides. I would love a sleeker new design. It doesn't have to go as far as Johnson's GLAS Smart Thermostat, which IMO is the best looking thermostat. But a design that looks a bit more premium and modern.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

This or Nest for Apple users? Who can share their experience?

I have an Ecobee 2 Lite with two room sensors. It works fantastic and has dramatically lowered my electric bill.

Does Ecobee work well with HomeKit? The only thing I don't like about Ecobee is that it seems to have Alexa built in. Possible to switch that off?

My hardware doesn’t have Bozos built in, but I believe you can disable it.

I had ecobee and my power bill was so high every month. I replaced it in January with a Nest and my power bill seems to be much better these past few months. Just anecdotal, so take that for what it’s worth - maybe I had a bad one or maybe there is some other factor I’m not aware of, but I’d recommend researching that before buying an ecobee. Or at least save the receipt and keep an eye on your power usage if you buy one.

Did you bother tuning it at all? Like I get periodic report emails from them offering usage-based suggestions on how to better save money while still being comfortable.

Yeah, I just moved from a house with a Nest to one with an Ecobee and the Nest has significantly better build quality.

How is that even a thing? It’s a thermostat, not a doorknob or a dart board.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

Having an air quality sensor would be killer. Especially if it detects VOCs (which my Eve Room does not).

 

[Orange Bat]

Does Ecobee work well with HomeKit? The only thing I don't like about Ecobee is that it seems to have Alexa built in. Possible to switch that off?

Yes you can turn the Alexa off, but you have to do in on the device itself. I’m not home, but I believe there’s a microphone at the bottom of the screen that allows it to be turned off. Our thermostat is in a place that is inconvenient for voice automation and we use an Echo Dot instead.

 

[BillyBobBongo]

This or Nest for Apple users? Who can share their experience?

I use a Nest in my house, it’s a fine product. In the beginning I was against it due to no HomeKit integration. I can go days without ever touching my thermostat and on the odd occasion I need to do so, I can get up and do it. I find the Nest app to be okay, it’s rare that I have to use it. Bottom line, it’s a thermostat.

 

[munpip214]

I am generally happy with my ecobees but they still haven’t figured out how to have two run together. They can share settings but if one turns on the other has no knowledge and could turn on right after the first turns off. There was a good year or more where I would constantly have not connected errors in homekit but those have been resolved for a while now. There are still issues with there eco+ and HomeKit. Homekit cannot overwrite controls and temperatures when in a specific eco+ mode. So I’ve disabled all eco+ and only use homekit automations.

 

[centauratlas]

Amazon has INVESTED in Ecobee but does not OWN Ecobee. https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/1/...nerator-company-generac-smart-home-thermostat

The only thing I'd add is: YET.

Given Ring and many others, it may be only a matter of time.

 

[mikethemartian]

This or Nest for Apple users? Who can share their experience?

The only thing I can say is that if a short develops somewhere in your AC system and draws to much current the Ecobee isn’t smart enough to detect it and shut itself off and there is no user replaceable fuse. I don’t know how the Nest compares with regard to this same issue.

 

[Randel.D]

Did you bother tuning it at all? Like I get periodic report emails from them offering usage-based suggestions on how to better save money while still being comfortable.

I adjusted settings in a way I'd expected to help with my power bill. This might not make sense and could be in my head, but I started to think that the device itself was modulating the amount of power being sent to the heating and cooling system and was being inefficient. My indoor temps are set the same now with the Nest as I had for the Ecobee, and even taking account for the outdoor temps, my power usage in the months I had the Ecobee was higher than it should have been. I try to minimize my data shared with Google and I liked the HomeKit integration with Ecobee, but I think I'm saving $30-$40 a month by using the Nest instead.

 

[BWhaler]

For the smart air quality filter, I’ll upgrade every ecobee thermostat device we own today as long as there is no Microphone/Amazon. Amazon is not to be trusted, and I don’t need to manage another company’s opaque and ever-changing privacy policies.

I hope Ecobee continues to serve privacy-minded consumers. Privacy is the main reason why a huge segment of their customer base don’t buy the Google Nest instead.

 

[nutmac]

I’ll upgrade every ecobee thermostat device we have today as long as there is no Microphone/Amazon. Amazon is not to be trusted, and I don’t need to manage another company’s opaque and ever-changing privacy policies.

I hope Ecobee continues to serve privacy-minded consumers. Privacy is the main reason why a huge segment of their customer base don’t buy the Google Nest instead.

You can disable Alexa and enable only Siri (or disable both entirely). In fact, Alexa is an opt-in feature.

 

[JMStearnsX2]

Does Ecobee work well with HomeKit? The only thing I don't like about Ecobee is that it seems to have Alexa built in. Possible to switch that off?

There is a lite model that doesn't have it.

 

[antnythr]

I've got an ecobee 3 lite connected to HomeKit. Very easy to setup. It replaced a super old 2-wire mercury thermostat, so had to run new wire. Energy use went down I assume for 2 reasons: sensor is probably more accurate and I can set a schedule.

Better than any other device? Maybe because it's easier to set up from a phone, but honestly at the end of the day it's a thermostat. It does what it's supposed to do and I never think about it.

Is it worth spending money on if you've already got a programmable thermostat? Probably not. We needed a new one so we were in the market anyway, and local governement had a big "efficiency" rebate which gave us $100 back which made it the same price as any other programmable thermostat.

 

[rgwebb]

I just let the ecobee app handle the scheduling and such because it is more sophisticated than HomeKit’s exposed functionality for thermostats. I basically only use HomeKit when I want to arbitrarily change the settings or target temp.

 

[profets]

What would be nice is a future ecobee that has CO2 monitor built in (and built into the sensors ideally) that can also control an HRV/ERV (cycling out interior air with exterior air when PPM goes past a certain threshold).

 

[BWhaler]

You can disable Alexa and enable only Siri (or disable both entirely). In fact, Alexa is an opt-in feature.

Thanks for the info. Still not enough for me; all these companies have been busted listening and recording when the service was off. When caught, they always say it was a "bug," and know the press will just move on.

For me, I only want devices with no microphone. Not that I live a secretive life or do anything glamorous in my little Atlanta cul de sac. I just think these companies and the data harvesters are deeply unethical.

 

[spatlese44]

I’ve got two houses with an ecobee3 lite. Very useful when traveling back and forth as it can take hours to get up to temperature in the winter. Works great and I like the design. Other than turning it down while I’m away, I’m really not trying to save that much energy. Automation drops the temperature for sleeping which is nice. One house has a boiler with steam radiators. That type of heat doesn’t like a lot of temperature changes. Also, wouldn’t do much with a particulate sensor. More useful to know the heat has stopped working when it’s -5 F and you’re 70 miles away.

 

[BWhaler]

What would be nice is a future ecobee that has CO2 monitor built in (and the sensors ideally) that can also control an HRV/ERV (cycling out interior air with exterior When PPM goes past a certain threshold).

Great idea.

 

[Truckondo]

I use a Nest in my house, it’s a fine product. In the beginning I was against it due to no HomeKit integration. I can go days without ever touching my thermostat and on the odd occasion I need to do so, I can get up and do it. I find the Nest app to be okay, it’s rare that I have to use it. Bottom line, it’s a thermostat.

I use a Nest in my house, it’s a fine product. In the beginning I was against it due to no HomeKit integration. I can go days without ever touching my thermostat and on the odd occasion I need to do so, I can get up and do it. I find the Nest app to be okay, it’s rare that I have to use it. Bottom line, it’s a thermostat.

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. I have had mine almost 10 years now. Still works. Support was great when I had an issue about 8 years ago. It would be nice if they released a new model (not the cheaper plastic model) with more features but I’m ok with what we have installed because it just works and the wife knows how to use it.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

I am generally happy with my ecobees but they still haven’t figured out how to have two run together. They can share settings but if one turns on the other has no knowledge and could turn on right after the first turns off. There was a good year or more where I would constantly have not connected errors in homekit but those have been resolved for a while now. There are still issues with there eco+ and HomeKit. Homekit cannot overwrite controls and temperatures when in a specific eco+ mode. So I’ve disabled all eco+ and only use homekit automations.

Why two thermostats instead of using room sensors? I may be naive here, but I can’t recall ever being in a single family residence with more than one thermostat.

 

[jkozlow3]

I am an Ecobee customer and fan, but what does this have to do with Apple? I thought this was a MacRumors website.

Is every company/product that has an iOS app fair game for articles on MacRumors now (basically everything)?

 

[Benjamin Nabulsi]

Meanwhile Google nest is stuck on nest labs legacy.

Hard pass, I wouldn’t let Amazon devices in my home.

 

[tmoney468]

I've had the latest Ecobees installed since we got our new HVAC equipment installed 3+ years ago. I don't have any issues or complaints, the only thing I've had happen is a couple times one of the thermostats seems to lose a connection to the furnace/heat pump and won't turn them on, but simply taking it off the wall and plugging it back it fixes the issue.

Wonder if this will detect radon levels at all? Probably not at the price point, but would be a good thing to have to circulate indoor air if radon levels creep up

 

[rgwebb]

Why two thermostats instead of using room sensors? I may be naive here, but I can’t recall ever being in a single family residence with more than one thermostat.

My house has a thermostat on each floor (main floor and basement). Each floor has its own air conditioning unit.

I only utilize the smart sensors (the 2 that came with the thermostats plus 2 more I purchased) on the main floor because there is greater temperature variation between rooms on the main floor. The basement being partially earthen helps keep temperature far more consistent.

 

[profets]

Great idea.

I had rigged something like this up at an older property some years ago (no longer there now). Used Netatmo to monitor CO2 levels, along with IFTTT to automate - and when CO2 approached 1000ppm it would turn on the HRV in the house.