Nest vs. Ecobee

[ghsDUDE]

I'm debating on whether or not to get the Nest or Ecobee3.

I like how the Ecobee3 integrates with Apple/Siri. But I also like how Nest works together with all their products (Thermostat/Smoke Detector/Camera).

Right now I'm just focusing on the Thermostat but I'd love to hear anyone's feedback on these companies and products.

Thanks

 

[caligurl]

I have a nest. however if I were buying one today with the choice between the two... I'd probably pick ecobee. I HATE that google bought nest. they are very Unresponsive to any suggestions regarding their app and every time they update there are a TON of complaints that the app is getting worse, more cluttered and bloated with each update.

the smoke detector has a lot of issues, as does the camera.... I refuse to buy any camera that google has any part of!

 

[chuyn]

Do you plan on using the smoke detector and camera at all? Even so, they work together, yes, but they don't do much together. What I mean is, the main thing I got out of it was viewing their status through one app. Thing is, I had the Dropcam first (used as a baby monitor), and its app was much much better than the current Nest app is for viewing the camera feed. Viewing the camera feeds through the Nest app is frankly quite aggravating. Other than that, the smoke detector will trigger the cameras to start recording if there's a fire alarm, or the thermostat can turn the cameras on when you manually set it into "away" mode.

I had all three, but recently got rid of the thermostat for the ecobee3. I still have the smoke detector and Dropcam and I don't miss any of the integration. For my household, having HomeKit/Siri was a lot better, not to mention the thermostat has been working better for us. The Nest would often go into "auto-away" while we were home, and the ecobee3 also has finer control/settings for your equipment. If you mainly use Apple products right now and for the foreseeable future, the only thing you're giving up in my opinion is the Nest's looks.

-edit- Forgot to mention... You have an Apple Watch... I doubt you'll be seeing a Nest app for it for a while. The ecobee3's watch app is pretty good. It has a glance, complication, and easy to adjust the temp using the crown (or through Siri of course).

 

[whodatrr]

Have had a Nest for a couple years. Some of it is great, like: monitoring and changing temps from my phone, easy to change temps, temp history form my phone, etc. really, I love the functionality.

But there's some quirkiness too. A while back, a guest cranked up the A/C one night. For weeks after that, the dang thing would freeze us out every night, regardless of how many times I'd wake up and manually turn it down. i called Nest support, and they had me scrub the whole memory and start form scratch, while saying it was a common issue. So much for the "intelligent" aspect of it...

 

[crzdcolombian]

I have nest because it was free when I moved to my new house and switched energy providers. If you signed a 2 year contract they gave you free nest. Best Buy gave me free smart bulbs from phillips for signing up for Comcast internet as well.

 

[maflynn]

I'm debating on whether or not to get the Nest or Ecobee3.

I just googled Ecobee3, and all I can say is holy cow that thing is massive

Here's an image I found on google. I'm sorry but I don't want a giant ugly back square on the wall surrounded by that ugly white collar. I can't answer about Nest and its app problems as noted above me, but I will say Nest is a beautiful, small device that people seem to really like.

Apple is about aesthetics, Nest being creating by a former Apple exec, embraces the same philosophy. Clearly Ecobee doesn't.

 

[satchmo]

To be fair, that white collar is optional.

 

[yg17]

To be fair, that white collar is optional.

View attachment 606434

Yeah, the Nest comes with one too. It's optional - in case you're too lazy to patch the screw holes from your old thermostat, you can use the white plate to cover them.

It took me 10 minutes to spackle then paint the holes from the old one, it looks so much better than with the white plate.

 

[maflynn]

To be fair, that white collar is optional.

View attachment 606434

Its still fugly and huge

 

[sdilley14]

I just bought a new house (moving in about a week) and would be very interested in hearing feedback on the comparison of these two products as well.

The aesthetics aren't tooooo big of a deal to me as both are fine looking in my opinion (especially compared to old school thermostats). I'm more concerned with pricing (bang for your buck), stability, versatility, etc. And for some reason the fact that the Nest doesn't display current room temperature really irks me...I don't think the Ecobee has that problem?

 

[ericgtr12]

I currently have the Nest and have been pretty happy with it, however I am disappointed to hear that it will not be integrated with Homekit. I like the idea of the Ecobee, outside of it's clownishly large size it allows for a remote sensor which is key in a larger home IMO. Our master bedroom is upstairs and quite a ways from the downstairs hall where the thermostat is. If I had it to do over I would probably go with Ecobee for that reason alone.

 

[yg17]

I just bought a new house (moving in about a week) and would be very interested in hearing feedback on the comparison of these two products as well.

The aesthetics aren't tooooo big of a deal to me as both are fine looking in my opinion (especially compared to old school thermostats). I'm more concerned with pricing (bang for your buck), stability, versatility, etc. And for some reason the fact that the Nest doesn't display current room temperature really irks me...I don't think the Ecobee has that problem?

Yes it does. 72 is what it's set to. 67 is current room temp

 

[sdilley14]

Yes it does. 72 is what it's set to. 67 is current room temp

That's actually my point. It displays the temperature that you set the room to, not that actual current room temperature.

 

[yg17]

That's actually my point. It displays the temperature that you set the room to, not that actual current room temperature.

Huh? That 67 on the ring is the current room temp. Not sure what you're talking about.....

 

[sdilley14]

Huh? That 67 on the ring is the current room temp. Not sure what you're talking about.....

I'm sorry, I meant the "main" display (where it is showing "72"). I'd like to be able to see the current room temp from across the room rather than having to walk right up in front of the unit to see the temp. I'd like to be able to walk in to the house and see the current temperature at a quick glance from a few feet away from the unit. It's silly that they haven't developed a software update yet that allows you to set the main display temp for either current or target room temp.

 

[laurim]

I'm sorry, I meant the "main" display (where it is showing "72"). I'd like to be able to see the current room temp from across the room rather than having to walk right up in front of the unit to see the temp. I'd like to be able to walk in to the house and see the current temperature at a quick glance from a few feet away from the unit. It's silly that they haven't developed a software update yet that allows you to set the main display temp for either current or target room temp.

I would agree with you. Who cares what it's set to; we want to know what the actual temp is. Fortunately, I have an ecobee that shows the actual temp

And, btw, the ecobee is a little larger because there is more information that can be displayed, like the weather forecast for the week. It's actually a little smaller than the programmable thermostat it replaced and much more modern-looking. Quite happy with it so far. I have suggested a feature called "Blast" where you can create a temperature bump for a few minutes, like a hit of AC when you come in from mowing the lawn. Currently, you can set a temporary temperature but the minimum time is 2 hours. I would rather just have a few minutes of cool or heat when I come in from outside to get me over a temp change hump. Anything longer than about 10 minutes is just a waste of energy.

A feature of the ecobee nobody has mentioned are the remote sensors that allow OCCUPIED rooms to have more sway on the thermostat. I have motion/temp sensors in my bedroom, kitchen and office so that when I am in those rooms the thermostat cares more about their temperatures than the temp in the living room where I'm not. I also have an IFTTT setting that uses my iPhone GPS to change the ecobee to my "Vacation" settings when I leave the state to go on a gig and vice versa when I get back. Saves me from having to remember to set it by hand.

 

[yg17]

I'm sorry, I meant the "main" display (where it is showing "72"). I'd like to be able to see the current room temp from across the room rather than having to walk right up in front of the unit to see the temp. I'd like to be able to walk in to the house and see the current temperature at a quick glance from a few feet away from the unit. It's silly that they haven't developed a software update yet that allows you to set the main display temp for either current or target room temp.

Doesn't matter because the Nest display is off until you walk up to it.

 

[laurim]

Doesn't matter because the Nest display is off until you walk up to it.

That sucks. The ecobee display always shows the current temp, the outside temp and an icon showing if it's raining or sunshine. Mine currently says 71F, partly cloudy and 33F outside and I didn't have to get up out of my seat.

 

[aristobrat]

I love the Ecobee because of the remote temperature/occupancy sensors. I live in a house that has a separate HVAC units for upstairs and downstairs, so I have two Ecobees. Downstairs one has three remote sensors attached to it, and the upstairs one has one remote sensor.

My roommate works from home, so one of the downstairs bedrooms is his office. All of the equipment in his office makes the temperature in there about 5'F warmer than the rest of downstairs. The Ecobee does this "follow me" thing where it reacts off the temperatures of the sensors that sense occupancy. We have sensors in the living room, the office, and his bedroom. So if he's in his hot office during the day, the Ecobee uses that room's temperature for running the HVAC. If the Ecobee is set to 72'F, it'll run the HVAC until his office reaches 72'F, even if that means the temp in the rest of the downstairs goes above or below 72'F. When he's done with work and leaves his office, the Ecobee senses nobody is in that room and starts not caring as much about the temperature in there and follows to favor whatever other sensors sense occupancy. It's not magic -- he could be constantly manually adjusting a thermostat throughout the day based on the rooms he's in, but that's a PITA and not going to happen, which means the HVAC would likely be running needlessly a lot.

Ecobee solved a similar problem upstairs. Thermostat is mounted on a wall in a hallway that will never cool to 72'F on hot (95'F+) days. So if I set the temp to 72'F for upstairs, since the hallway will never reach that on hot days, the A/C literally runs all day, the hallway stays warm, and the other rooms upstairs freeeeeeeeeeeze.. Since I'm the only one that lives upstairs, I have a remote sensor in my bedroom, and it I set the upstairs Ecobee to always use that temperature, and to disregard whatever the hallway temp is. Now the upstairs HVAC only runs a little bit to keep my room comfortable (when it senses that I'm in it).

Regarding HomeKit, the only thing I noticed from that is that I can do Ecobee stuff with Siri. The Ecboee iOS and web apps work the same, regardless of whether you enable HomeKit or not. So even if this system didn't have HomeKit, it'd still be a huge win in my house.

 

[sdilley14]

That sucks. The ecobee display always shows the current temp, the outside temp and an icon showing if it's raining or sunshine. Mine currently says 71F, partly cloudy and 33F outside and I didn't have to get up out of my seat.

Nice. I actually don't mind the larger hardware/display. I actually kind of prefer it. As long as it is sleek and modern looking and provides nice function and useful info, I'm happy to have a larger display on the wall.

The more I read about and research the Ecobee, the more I'm leaning towards getting one over the Nest. The Nest is sleek looking and has more of an "Apple" aesthetic...but the Ecobee has a nice enough aesthetic + more functionality and a more useful UI from what I can tell.

 

[aristobrat]

but the Ecobee has a nice enough aesthetic + more functionality and a more useful UI from what I can tell.

One thing I really like about the Ecboee UI is that it's pretty much consistent, whether you're interacting directly with the thermostat through the touchscreen, or remotely through the iOS/webapps.

 

[laurim]

And the Ecobee has an Watch app AND, it doesn't send your data to GOOGLE

Oh, and ecobee provides an easy way to create a power wire to power the thermostat if your current wiring doesn't include a power wire (aka C common wire). I used the adapter and now I no longer need to worry about changing the battery like I did on my old thermostat.

 

[thelookingglass]

A feature of the ecobee nobody has mentioned are the remote sensors that allow OCCUPIED rooms to have more sway on the thermostat. I have motion/temp sensors in my bedroom, kitchen and office so that when I am in those rooms the thermostat cares more about their temperatures than the temp in the living room where I'm not. I also have an IFTTT setting that uses my iPhone GPS to change the ecobee to my "Vacation" settings when I leave the state to go on a gig and vice versa when I get back. Saves me from having to remember to set it by hand.

Absolutely. The remote sensors are the biggest reason I'm taking my Nest back to Lowe's and picking up an Ecobee. Our thermostat is placed in a region where the temperature is often at least 10-15 degrees (F) different than the temperature in other rooms. The remote sensor is huge for solving this problem.

That and HomeKit compatibility is huge too. I'm all in on HomeKit. Excited to see more HomeKit devices in the upcoming year.

 

[ericgtr12]

It would be interesting to see what impact the remote sensors have on the gas bill. For example, my house is around 2700 square ft and our bedroom is upstairs and in a corner, quite a ways from the thermostat. In order to get the room up to 70º the rest of the house usually gets up to 78º or so. Seems pretty inefficient but not sure what else you can do without zoning.

 

[bgro]

I love the Ecobee because of the remote temperature/occupancy sensors. I live in a house that has a separate HVAC units for upstairs and downstairs, so I have two Ecobees. Downstairs one has three remote sensors attached to it, and the upstairs one has one remote sensor.

My roommate works from home, so one of the downstairs bedrooms is his office. All of the equipment in his office makes the temperature in there about 5'F warmer than the rest of downstairs. The Ecobee does this "follow me" thing where it reacts off the temperatures of the sensors that sense occupancy. We have sensors in the living room, the office, and his bedroom. So if he's in his hot office during the day, the Ecobee uses that room's temperature for running the HVAC. If the Ecobee is set to 72'F, it'll run the HVAC until his office reaches 72'F, even if that means the temp in the rest of the downstairs goes above or below 72'F. When he's done with work and leaves his office, the Ecobee senses nobody is in that room and starts not caring as much about the temperature in there and follows to favor whatever other sensors sense occupancy. It's not magic -- he could be constantly manually adjusting a thermostat throughout the day based on the rooms he's in, but that's a PITA and not going to happen, which means the HVAC would likely be running needlessly a lot.

Ecobee solved a similar problem upstairs. Thermostat is mounted on a wall in a hallway that will never cool to 72'F on hot (95'F+) days. So if I set the temp to 72'F for upstairs, since the hallway will never reach that on hot days, the A/C literally runs all day, the hallway stays warm, and the other rooms upstairs freeeeeeeeeeeze.. Since I'm the only one that lives upstairs, I have a remote sensor in my bedroom, and it I set the upstairs Ecobee to always use that temperature, and to disregard whatever the hallway temp is. Now the upstairs HVAC only runs a little bit to keep my room comfortable (when it senses that I'm in it).

Regarding HomeKit, the only thing I noticed from that is that I can do Ecobee stuff with Siri. The Ecboee iOS and web apps work the same, regardless of whether you enable HomeKit or not. So even if this system didn't have HomeKit, it'd still be a huge win in my house.

This is exactly why I love my Ecobee as well. Same exact reasons. I don't even use the home kit aspect of it (although that's why I chose Ecobee over nest in the first place). I love the remote sensors, biggest feature imo