Hello, I just want to share my 2-cents about this thermostat. I installed 2 of them.
1. This thermostat layout and appearance is similar to traditional one. This help for all age at home to adjust thermostat without learning curve. LCD screen and silver color case is elegant to me. this is the reason I choose honeywell over Ecobee.
2. Need C wire. It is clearly stated. Giving bad rating because you do not have C wire at your home is unfair. You can buy the one doesn't need C wire.
3. Smart Response Technology - this is your option to thermostat to run ahead of time to get desire temp at your set time. If you do not want this, you can turn off this feature.
4. You can adjust or set temp day by day. As far as I know , traditional one cannot do it . This help to adjust family members with different work schedule and off day. This work for me.
5. This thermostat has no feature to connect to remote sensor. My understanding , if your thermostat adjust temp to a room sensor that is colder than other, other rooms may have grilling temp. I will adjust vent louvers to adjust each room temp, no need of sensor.
6. Wifi work well as well as online registration. Installation takes only 15 to 30 minutes if you have c wire.
7. Face plate pins to connect to base are small and look fragile, carefully plug in. Reality is we only do this once. We are not removing face plate everyday to bring to work.
8. LCD brightness - you can adjust to too bright to totally dark from score 0 to 10. Is this enough for you?
9. We are human. Sometimes we forgot to adjust heat or cold, when we rash to go out, you can adjust from your phone. This is cool.
10. Homeowner has to be smart , not thermostat. Do your home work that will save your bills.
11. I know it seem biased , if I do not say any drawback about this thermostat. Online control menu, there is two choices, setting and schedule. I wish default should be schedule, not setting. We do schedule change often, setting may be once. What I want to say is I have to do one more mouse click to get to schedule . Lazy bear.
I do not get any promotion price or pay for this review. I paid full price for this thermostat. My reason of this review is for future homeowners to get more information. Thanks for reading my review.
This is my second Honeywell smart thermostat. I have two systems in my house that are fully independent and I wanted both that I can manage with one app.
Installation:
The device is really easy to install. The instructions have several alternate configurations in there which makes it seem complicated but for me it was installed in about 20 minutes. The disclaimer that I have to make is that my HVAC system is 12 years old, and is just standard gas heat and A/C. I have a "C" wire pre-installed so i didn't need any workarounds. Honeywell provides little stickers to wrap around each wire as you take them off the old device so you know what terminal they were attached to. I found this helpful. It was easier to connect the wires to this device because it uses push terminals instead of screws, though this didn't really matter to me.
Unfortunately this device is quite a bit smaller than the previous one so I can see the old mounting holes next to it. Doesn't really bother me but it may bother some. There is no "cover plate" to take care of this. I believe Nest provides one with their thermostats.
Powered it up and it comes right on.
Configuration:
Honeywell devices always seem a bit unfriendly in terms of UI. However, once you connect to the wi-fi you are instructed to go to the PC to finish setup. I did this and set up my program there. However, there are a few things you cannot do remotely. First if you choose to lock the screen, as anyone with kids will do, you have two options. The first option allows you to lock out all functions (it runs based on your program) or lock out programming settings and allow the users to still change the temperature temporarily. The issue here is that you have a pre-set lock code that you cannot change. I have a pre-set 4 digit code that is soon to be lost forever.
The most annoying option though, and one that almost made me send it back, was that you have to find the option for auto-switchover in the menus and turn it on if you want the system to switch from heat to cool on its own. I need this where I am in the SE because it is cold in the morning and very hot by late afternoon. There is nothing in the instructions about turning this on. I stumbled across it.
Programming:
All programming can be done on the PC in a browser or on the app. Both are pretty intuitive and give you good control. I use the circulate option for the fan and it makes a huge difference. Highly recommend you use that to move the air around without the A/C needing to run.
Integrations:
I have this connected to SmartThings and Alexa. Smartthings shows this as a thermostat, a thermometer and a hygrometer which lets me set triggering events. I don't find Alexa to be very useful so I don't use it often but the integration does seem to work.
Overall:
As I said, this is my second Honeywell and I like them both. The upstairs is well controlled now and is more comfortable than it was with the old device. The wi-fi is solid, no drops, and the app is functional and I have no complaints.
I love this thermostat. We're using it with a new modulated carrier HVAC. This thermostat has a very neat feature called 'fan circulate' that runs the fan about 30% of the time. Before the new HVAC home temps would vary 3 to 4 degrees from one room to another. The combo of this thermostat the new system are just plane awesome. the whole house now stays within 1 degree all night.... Carrier and the pro install guys all helped in my super satisfaction with this thermostat.
Honeywell RTH9585WF1004/W Wi-Fi Smart Color Programmable Thermostat, V. 2.0,"C Wire Required
(About 6 weeks later from 1st review) I don't review most products we buy, but this thermostat has added so much satisfaction I had to report it. Also I wanted to share why our old system failed. We replaced the old system because the heating system was too large for size of the house thus when the thermostat would call for heat the furnace would come on and provide too much heat, thus causing huge temperature swings.. ( lesson learned = bigger is not always better) Maybe this failure will help someone else when sizing their HVAC systems. One reason for the new modulated efficient heating system is because this system only uses half of it's heating capacity most of the time... Full heating capability is used when the first stage can't keep up. Remember 100% satisfaction with this thermostat requires that it be paired to the correct HVAC system.
Connected perfectly to my trane units. Bought two of them for my house because I wanted to control them wirelessly. Tried the trane version but you have to have an account. These connected seamlessly to my WiFi and I can control everything through an app on my phone.
The instructions do a pretty good job of giving multiple alternative wiring diagrams for different applications. In my case, I didn’t have a clearly labeled ‘c’ wire, but I had a blue wire which the instructions allowed for. I included pics of how the instructions mapped out my current wiring to the new unit. Colors don’t always match up, but In my case the wire colors matched the inputs on the old trane Tstat. Also used Honeywell’s trim plate as seen in pics.
The Bad: I DO have a C-wire and it IS wired correctly (confirmed by an HVAC guy), but the fan/circulate functions do not work; I could turn the fan on to refresh the air with the previous thermostat, so there's something wonky with this one. It was also a nightmare to install. After two weeks and getting help from an engineer, I finally called electricians and HVAC. In the end, I got it to work by putting the wiring back exactly like I'd had it three times, no clue what the sudden magic was. Again, all this trouble was with a system that has the C-wire, so I don't even want to think about the nightmare of using the alternative installation instructions. (The links for those instructions provided in the set-up manual are incorrect, so you'll have to search around for them, not that they are helpful.)
The Good: Being able to control my thermostat from my phone rocks! It can easily be 13 degrees hotter upstairs at my house because I only have one unit. This lets me adjust it when I wake up hot in the middle of the night without getting dressed and going downstairs, it lets me manage it when I'm away from home, and even though I had scheduling on my old thermostat, this one seems to run a lot less.
Feature Product
- Works with Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, Google assistant, IFTTT, stringy, wink, Bonomi, Cortana (devices sold separately)
- Check to see If your new thermostat qualifies for a utility rebate
- Customizable touchscreen in full Color with easy to read numbers and text, view your local weather including indoor and outdoor relative humidity levels
- Flexible programming options available based your home or small business schedule, or based on your utility ; s peak rate pricing through their demand response programs
- Receive intelligent alerts like air filter change reminders, humidifier pad replacement reminders, high/low temperature warnings, and status of internet connection
Description
This second generation Wi-Fi smart color thermostat is ideally suited for the connected home. Its packed with smart features, a customizable color touch screen and a simple, DIY set up. You can control the thermostat using the touch screen and change the background color to match your paint color or personal preference or use your tablet or computer. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection, or use the free app for smartphone/Tablet to mange the thermostat remotely. Intelligent alerts help to keep your equipment running at peak performance by sending you air filter and humidifier pad Change reminders, and also to notify you of extreme high or low indoor temperatures and humidity. 1) View local weather - daily forecast on screen and 5 - Day forecasts on app, 2) fully flexible progamming options, 3) Auto change from heat to cool - automatically determines if your home needs heating or cooling to provide maximum comfort, 4) reliable, secure network ensures app availability, 5) permanent/temporary/vacation hold - adjust temperature to suit your schedule. Does not work with heat pumps with electric baseboard heat (120-240 volts)
Bought this upon my recommendation of my AC technician.Chose over Nest and Ecobee because of contacts burning up on Nest and frequent hreplacement of Ecobee units he has serviced.Lowes has this same Honeywell unit for 199 so it was a no brained to buy on Amazon for 134 dollars.Took AC tech about 10 minutes to replace.Connected to wifi ,Set up password for Honeywell app and I was up and running in 10 minutes.Downloaded Honeywell thermostat app from iOS and enabled Honeywell thermostat skill on Alexa app for my Amazon Echo.Now I can voice control thermostat by telling Alexa to lower or raise thermostat to whatever degree you choose.It will respond with the current ac temp.You can also control your thermostat with your mobile device.Screen can be set to a large selection of color displays or custom color.Programable to set daily schedule,Vacation schedule and can set to hold temp for a desired amount of time.Have bought Honeywell products before that have proven to be reliable.
Very cool device! I thought I was going to need a C wire installed, but luckily I had one which was not being utilized in the furnace and behind my old thermostat base plate, so it saved time. I am moderately handy, and the whole process took less than 90 min. 20-30 min of that was in the furnace verifying my connections were correctly connected. Now that I have done it once I could do it in 1/2 the time. My only gripes are no 5ghz WiFi and I thought the display would be bigger. However, I am very happy and would buy it again.
Had a friend who is doing my home renovations install this yesterday, along with the Venstar 4 to 5 wire adapter kit. I like it. The only thing we didn't like? First, it's summer and AC weather here. This one SEEMS to take a bit longer to kick the compressor back on after it's powered off, which I read is a safety mechanism (neither of us are HVAC people). This longer time to turn the compressor back on can be very misleading after you've ALSO installed the 4 to 5 wire adapter kit and if you're unaware of what it's doing (it says "Waiting for equipment"), then you're left wondering if you've miss-wired something either in the 4 - 5 wire adapter, or to the thermostat, when it fact, it was setup and working correctly and if you just give it long enough time, the compressor does kick on. Note that restarting the thermostat won't clear that message. Setup was easy, setting the schedule is easy and can be done either on the thermostat, via the web, or via the Honeywell app, the weather works. Integration with Alexa is easy, just add the appropriate skill and link it with your Honeywell account. Wording with Alexa has to be done a certain way and there are articles out there on what to say, but it works well. Overall, I like it and I'm hoping that with an easier to access schedule that I can get at from anywhere, we'll cut down on our gas and electric usage. One thing - I did try to go through the entire setup process on my phone, but when it came to the registration part at the end, I ended up having to finish it on a desktop with a regular browser. They'll have you set the thermostat to different settings as a check that it's actually YOUR thermostat.
We installed this Honeywell rth9585wf smart thermostat and I was concerned at first as it had our AC running every 3minutes. I contacted the HW CSR and she mentioned that it has to register the atmosphere in your home so that it can figure out the cycles per hour. Ounce it does your home will remain at a constant temp set by you. After about 3days the cycles went from20 per hour to 6 minutes or 10 cycles per hour, 2 days later 9 minutes or 6.5 cycles per hour and 2 days later 12-15 minutes or 4 cycles per hour and that is where it stands. Our home is well insulated and it keeps our home at 75 all day long without even messing with the thermostat. OH!! forgot to mention, she also said it will remember the cycles next year and will go though the process for heat as well. We have a split level home and the key as I see it is a well insulated attic.
While this thermostat may lack some of the modern "smart" features of competing products, its "smart-learning" ability can't be beat. With this feature, the thermostat learns how long it takes to heat or cool your house. It will then start the furnace or air conditioner so the house reaches the set temperature at the time you program. It really works.
I installed my first Honeywell smart-learning thermostat 20 years ago. That house had passive solar and radiant floor heat. The house got toasty warm during the day. With a traditional thermostat, it would not cool off enough for the heat to come on until after midnight. However, it took several hours for the floors to heat up enough to actually warm the house. So it would still be cold when we woke up. Then the sun would come out and heat the house to a comfortable temperature before the hearing system could catch up. Basically, then, the heat ran for several hours for no reason.
The Honeywell thermostats were smart enough to turn the heat on early in the evening. The floors were just warm enough when the house temperature started dropping to keep a uniform temperature. The thermostats even knew to turn the system off early, so the heating system would not overshoot and make the house too warm.
I tried a Nest thermostat at another house (conventional forced air heat and A/C, no passive solar). It worked fine and it looked nice. I never really liked the way it learned my schedule, so I ended up manually programming it. The automatic home/away feature was okay but not entirely reliable.
When I moved into my current house (conventional forced air hear and A/C, no passive solar), I gave the Ecobee 3 a try. It looked nice and has a nice interface. I never found the multi-room sensors that useful. The main thermostat tended to lose contact with them, perhaps because of the size of the house (aren't they supposed to be for larger houses?). They did help some rooms that don't heat or cool enough maintain a better temperature, but then other rooms get too hot or too cold. I found it better just to find a temperature at the main thermostat that keeps all of the rooms at close to a reasonable temperature. Plus my system actually ran more with the Ecobee, trying to get those outlier rooms to the set temperature.
What killed the Ecobee for me is that it almost destroyed my air conditioner. It worked fine all summer and for the first month of the heating season. But then one morning this terrible rumbling started coming from my roof (where the A/C unit is mounted). The Ecobee was trying to run my air conditioner in sub-freezing weather. Although it was set to heat, it would cycle the A/C on. The A/C would shut itself off, so as not to destroy itself, then the Ecobee would cycle it back on. I spent a lot of time on the line with customer support, who eventually concluded that the unit was defective. They offered me an RMA, but I couldn't trust that it wouldn't happen again.
So I went back to the Honeywell smart-learning thermostat. It took about a day for it to learn the heating times for my house. You can't set the temperature differential for cycling, but it keeps the temperature even to less than a degree without excessive cycling of the unit. For cooling, I set the thermostat to 73 F. It never moves off of 73 once it reaches that temperature.
Programming is easy. You get four temperature changes per day, like a traditional programmable. That is plenty for my needs. The touchscreen and app interfaces make the programming easier than with the older thermostats. Temporary and permanent holds are easy to set - just change the temperature and make it permanent or set a time when it should revert to the schedule (although that appears to be the time the system comes back on - it does not appear to use smart-earning to hit the programmed temperature at the time the hold expires). Changing settings remotely with the app is also simple. So far, I don't miss any features from the Nest or Ecobee. The Alexa interface isn't very good, but even with the Ecobee I found it more of a gimmick than useful. I haven't tried using IFTTT for additional controls yet.
The thermostat can be set to either home or business mode. The business mode has some additional programming options that would also be useful for home use. However, smart-learning is not available in business mode. I don't see why - if any developers are reading, please add smart-learning to the business mode. Make it an on/off option if necessary.
The one negative is that customer support is terrible and non-existent. I installed on a Saturday and had an issue. I tried to call and got a message that said due to high call volume the call could not be answered. It then hung up on me, no chance to leave a message or anything. I went to the web site which offers live chat. There was a message that chat was down and I should call. I tried email and eventually heard back after a week, but the suggested fix was something I had already tried and described in my original email.
The issue, in case you run across it, was that the thermostat would say "waiting for equipment" while the room temperature was well outside the set temperature. Eventually the A/C would turn on, run for a few minutes, then turn off and repeat the cycle. It may have been user error (I pulled it off and reinstalled), or it may have been something related to the smart-learning system doing its initial learning. But either way it resolved itself that day.
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