Honeywell Debuts New HomeKit-Enabled Lyric T5 Smart Thermostat

[drjdanmac]

What's the better buy? The T5, the Lyric Round or the Ecobee? I'm about to buy 2 of these.

I have had Lyric Round and Nest. Took them back and now have two Ecobee3 in my house with sensors in every room. Also have a sensor in the attic and one in the garage--they are excluded from the comfort setting. I have them just for info.

Lyric support is nice but their product is just not very creative. Nest has good support but the product does not work with HomeKit and their GPS setup does not work well.

 

[adamjackson]

I have had Lyric Round and Nest. Took them back and now have two Ecobee3 in my house with sensors in every room. Also have a sensor in the attic and one in the garage--they are excluded from the comfort setting. I have them just for info.

Lyric support is nice but their product is just not very creative. Nest has good support but the product does not work with HomeKit and their GPS setup does not work well.

What's the limit on the Ecobee sensors? I'd put a sensor in the Kitchen, 2 bedrooms, attic, basement, wine-cellar w/ thermostat being in the living room. So that's 6. too many?

 

[44267547]

For this particular value, it's worth trying. Especially the savings over Ecobee. I skipped entirely on Nest, I don't trust their customer service anymore.

 

[ActionableMango]

What's the better buy? The T5, the Lyric Round or the Ecobee? I'm about to buy 2 of these.

Definitely not the Round. I own a Round and the T5 seems better in every way, plus $100 less expensive.

About the only thing the Round has going for it now is that it is round, which is a nice traditional style, and that you can adjust the temp by turning the outer ring instead of virtual buttons on a touch screen.

Thankfully I got the Lyric Round for $25 after rebate, so I'm not worried about it.

 

[macduke]

I'm designing my dream house, which I hope to build in a couple of years, I want it to be a smart home, so I'm glad to see the price of these coming down to something more reasonable.

Right now as it exists in my head (and in UnrealEngine), my house has five stories (counting the basement and the rooftop solarium) with an elevator and a lazy river that runs through it. Once I talk to an architect and a builder, I may have to scale it back to a single room with a window unit and a plastic tub in the yard for swimming.

LOL, if you've got the land, better to build out than up. It's just less of a hassle (you didn't include an elevator…hah) with less settling and living in Florida, less prone to wind damage. Unless it's just solid concrete.

My dream home is overlooking the mountains at a moderate elevation—enough to stay mild and less humid in the summer, but not enough to make the air very thin. It would be partially built into a gentle rolling hillside, to provide natural warmth in the winter, and the front would be two stories of mostly glass with a balcony running the entire length of the second floor, and both levels would have ceilings around 12ft. It would run off of a mix of solar and geothermal energy, with water from a natural spring, and it would only be around a 45 minute drive from a moderate sized city, such as Colorado Springs or something, for example.

 

[JohnApples]

Make sure, if you're in the US at least, that you check your state's rebate programs! I can get this thermostat essentially for free after rebate according to the rep from my electrical company.

 

[theBB]

My dream home is overlooking the mountains at a moderate elevation—enough to stay mild and less humid in the summer, but not enough to make the air very thin. It would be partially built into a gentle rolling hillside, to provide natural warmth in the winter, and the front would be two stories of mostly glass with a balcony running the entire length of the second floor, and both levels would have ceilings around 12ft. It would run off of a mix of solar and geothermal energy, with water from a natural spring, and it would only be around a 45 minute drive from a moderate sized city, such as Colorado Springs or something, for example.

Why not dream of a home with the front door opening to a lively downtown and backyard overlooking the rolling hills with the mountains in the background?

On second thought, I'll take a lake in the back rather than rolling hills, but stick with the mountains as the backdrop.

 

[doelcm82]

LOL, if you've got the land, better to build out than up. It's just less of a hassle (you didn't include an elevator…hah) with less settling and living in Florida, less prone to wind damage. Unless it's just solid concrete.

My dream home is overlooking the mountains at a moderate elevation—enough to stay mild and less humid in the summer, but not enough to make the air very thin. It would be partially built into a gentle rolling hillside, to provide natural warmth in the winter, and the front would be two stories of mostly glass with a balcony running the entire length of the second floor, and both levels would have ceilings around 12ft. It would run off of a mix of solar and geothermal energy, with water from a natural spring, and it would only be around a 45 minute drive from a moderate sized city, such as Colorado Springs or something, for example.

I want to use the land for the lazy river, and also for another house. Concrete construction is part of the plan, and so is an elevator, geothermal (heat pump for heating and cooling the house and the lazy river), solar (the deck at the far end of the house will actually be a peaked roof using solar shingles). Ten-foot ceilings in most rooms.

The property I own has no hills to build into, but I wouldn't mind going that route. It's across the street from another property I own jointly with my siblings that has a dock and boathouse with access to a large lake.

My skills with Unreal Editor are rudimentary, and this model is far from complete, but it helps me to get an idea of what I want and what works if I can "walk" through my plan.

 

[Weaselboy]

How can you tell if you have a C-wire? Our house is pretty old but the furnace was replaced about 15 years ago and the thermostat more recently.

You can look at the control board inside your furnace and see if there is a wire attached to C on the panel. For example, this one has no C wire connected.

 

[Le Big Mac]

What's the limit on the Ecobee sensors? I'd put a sensor in the Kitchen, 2 bedrooms, attic, basement, wine-cellar w/ thermostat being in the living room. So that's 6. too many?

32.

https://www.ecobee.com/faq/how-many-remote-sensors-can-you-support-on-the-thermostat/

I'm curious about the wine cellar, though. The temperature of that should be lower than what you'd want your house at, and certainly not heated.

 

[adamjackson]

32.

https://www.ecobee.com/faq/how-many-remote-sensors-can-you-support-on-the-thermostat/

I'm curious about the wine cellar, though. The temperature of that should be lower than what you'd want your house at, and certainly not heated.

32 is more than enough.

Wine Cellar has its own AC unit that sets the humidity and temp and cellar is heavily insulated. I just want the sensor in there as a data point. I want to know the temp of the cellar on my phone w/o having to go down and check. I've used some wireless thermometers before but the range on multiple floors sucks.

 

[IJ Reilly]

You can look at the control board inside your furnace and see if there is a wire attached to C on the panel. For example, this one has no C wire connected.

Thanks for the info! My furnace is really difficult to access. Can I find that wire on my thermostat as well?

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks for the info! My furnace is really difficult to access. Can I find that wire on my thermostat as well?

Maybe... if you have a C wire in use, it would be attached to the back of the thermostat. But it is possible you have a C wire and it is attached to the furnace, but the thermostat you have does not need a C wire... and the installer just stuffed the C wire in the wall.

 

[macduke]

Why not dream of a home with the front door opening to a lively downtown and backyard overlooking the rolling hills with the mountains in the background?

Sounds impossible! My dream home might be expensive, but it's not impossible, lol. I figure if I do well enough for myself it may one day become a reality. My dream home is fairly modest compared to some, but the main expense points are location, the unique construction, and the custom design with the large glass panels. Square footage wise, I don't expect it to be very big. My current house is already too big (necessary for our in-home daycare), so I'd like to keep my dream house under 2000sqft. I don't actually like having a ton of space because it's more to take care of, but between having kids and a daycare in our home, it was necessary. When our little babies grow up, I'd be completely fine with a master bedroom, guest bedroom, and an office with everything running on renewable energy.

 

[dwaltwhit]

I have the lyric round and like it alot. What I really like about it is that honeywell updates it frequently so the minor issues I have had with it are fixed reasonably quickly. The aesthetic on this model doesn't suit my taste for a thermostat, but that's about as minor a complaint as one can find.