Hah, they finally add this right after I move to a new house and leave my Nest behind! I loved my Nest at first, but then Google bought it and the innovation died with very little in the way of updates or functionality that other smart thermostats have.
Luckily I have my Ecobee now. I've got four sensors covering my house and it stays much more comfortable than the Nest which only knew the temperature on my main floor. It's also a lot smarter about auto-away since each sensor throughout the house is also motion-detecting. It all works great with Homekit scenes, Siri and geofencing, and has an Apple Watch app and Today View Widget. The interface is also easier to use on the unit itself. It shows the current weather forecast when I walk by and it can even be set to keep the humidity in my house lower (to whatever I set), which my Nest couldn't do even though it had humidity sensors. And during the day it prioritizes sensors based on what room you're in. This is really handy because my wife runs a daycare which is downstairs all day, so it prioritizes that and lets the upstairs get warmer, saving on cooling costs. And it will make sure my newborn's room doesn't get too hot with that remote sensor, which helps mitigate the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
As a bonus, you can even setup triggers that integrate with IFTTT. I've got some that will warn me if the temperature inside my house gets too warm or too cool, which could indicate that my cooling or heating went out while on vacation (in which case I can remotely unlock my house using my Schlage Sense Deadbolt for a repairman to come fix it to keep my pipes from freezing or whatever), and I've got another trigger set in case the temperature goes over 100 degrees which could indicate a fire.
Bottom line is the Ecobee is what a smart thermostat should be. It's not perfect and has some room for improvements, but it is SO MUCH better than my old Nest. My biggest complaint is that the range on the sensors isn't that great, but I think that's partially because my thermostat isn't centered in the house, so the furthest downstairs bedrooms have issues. I wish I could get a range extender, or perhaps if the sensors could operate like a mesh relay network across the home. And I also wish I could ask Siri directly about the temperatures of the different sensors. But for $198 when I bought it on Amazon last month (price has gone up since then but it varies), it's definitely worth it. I'd say even worth $300, which is about how much it is currently if you add two more sensors, which is definitely worth it if you have a bigger house.
Forget Nest. They've been in decline for a while, and then Tony Fadell left them to rot. They're not nimble at all and have been bleeding out employees like crazy. Ecobee is a great solution and I highly recommend it.
Luckily I have my Ecobee now. I've got four sensors covering my house and it stays much more comfortable than the Nest which only knew the temperature on my main floor. It's also a lot smarter about auto-away since each sensor throughout the house is also motion-detecting. It all works great with Homekit scenes, Siri and geofencing, and has an Apple Watch app and Today View Widget. The interface is also easier to use on the unit itself. It shows the current weather forecast when I walk by and it can even be set to keep the humidity in my house lower (to whatever I set), which my Nest couldn't do even though it had humidity sensors. And during the day it prioritizes sensors based on what room you're in. This is really handy because my wife runs a daycare which is downstairs all day, so it prioritizes that and lets the upstairs get warmer, saving on cooling costs. And it will make sure my newborn's room doesn't get too hot with that remote sensor, which helps mitigate the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
As a bonus, you can even setup triggers that integrate with IFTTT. I've got some that will warn me if the temperature inside my house gets too warm or too cool, which could indicate that my cooling or heating went out while on vacation (in which case I can remotely unlock my house using my Schlage Sense Deadbolt for a repairman to come fix it to keep my pipes from freezing or whatever), and I've got another trigger set in case the temperature goes over 100 degrees which could indicate a fire.
Bottom line is the Ecobee is what a smart thermostat should be. It's not perfect and has some room for improvements, but it is SO MUCH better than my old Nest. My biggest complaint is that the range on the sensors isn't that great, but I think that's partially because my thermostat isn't centered in the house, so the furthest downstairs bedrooms have issues. I wish I could get a range extender, or perhaps if the sensors could operate like a mesh relay network across the home. And I also wish I could ask Siri directly about the temperatures of the different sensors. But for $198 when I bought it on Amazon last month (price has gone up since then but it varies), it's definitely worth it. I'd say even worth $300, which is about how much it is currently if you add two more sensors, which is definitely worth it if you have a bigger house.
Forget Nest. They've been in decline for a while, and then Tony Fadell left them to rot. They're not nimble at all and have been bleeding out employees like crazy. Ecobee is a great solution and I highly recommend it.