ecobee3 Smarter Wi-Fi Thermostat with Remote Sensor, 2nd Generation, Compatible with Alexa

The ecobee3 is an excellent smart thermostat. Installation was relatively painless, I had it up and running that night! A couple notes about my installation to hopefully be helpful:1) I used the included large backplate to cover up the lack of paint behind the old thermostat. I simply had to remove the back-side of the ecobee and snap it into the larger backplate, then install that on the wall.2) I did not have the C wire that the standard installation instructions talk about, so I had to follow the instructions that install the power adapter kit. I was initially very nervous about the idea of opening up my furnace and rewiring the control board (sounds intense) but it turned out to be super simple. The hardest part was getting into my attic where my HVAC was. Otherwise I simply had to open the front of the unit, pull the appropriate wires off the control board and label them with the included stickers, then attach them to the power adapter kit and that kit back to the control board. Just so long as you make sure you turned your breaker off for the HVAC, it's extremely painless. (minus the leg soreness from crouching in the attic)2.a) One of the steps was to put the sticky tape on the power adapter kit and stick it to a surface in the HVAC, that didn't work at all for me despite cleaning the area. The sticky tape was quite weak, so if you really want it stuck to the side I would consider other options. As for me, I didn't care, so I just let it hang off to the side.3) Definitely install the smartphone app and do the installation using that, I found it extremely helpful. It even has you input all the different wires you have so it could give you completely personalized instructions on how to install. I was worried about trying to figure all that stuff out myself, but it was super simple. Major props to ecobee for designing the app so well. They also have helpful videos on their Youtube channel about the installation, I watched those before my ecobee3 arrived to get an idea for what it would be like.My major concern for this was that I would need to have a professional install it for me. I couldn't have been more wrong, and I didn't even have the easiest installation option. For those that have the C wire, it'll be far far easier than my experience even.As for the thermostat itself, we've loved it so far! I love being in bed and deciding I want it to be warmer or cooler that night and simply opening the app or telling my Echo Dot (which I ordered with this thermostat) to change the temperature a couple degrees. I even went on vacation a few days after installing this and realized I had left the air conditioning set to a cooler temp, which we obviously didn't need while we were gone, so I simply changed it. Or you're driving home in the freezing weather and you set the heat up a few degrees so by the time you get home you have a nice warm house. Seriously such a great thermostat. Oh and I haven't even set up all the home/away/asleep settings yet. I'm sure things will get even nicer once I do.I can't recommend this thermostat enough. It's super easy to install, it's smart, it can be controlled from an excellent app, it has remote sensors to place through the house, it can be controlled easily by voice with Amazon's Echo, and apparently it can even use HomeKit, although we are an Android family so that doesn't really apply to us. If you're on the fence about this vs the Nest, I would personally recommend you go with this, no question.

It's a great ecobee3 Smarter Wi-Fi Thermostat but I could not use it on my in floor slab heating with a gas boiler. With in floor heat you nee to set at one temp and leave it, in cement it takes more than a day to cool or heat back up. Great for forced air heat system. Not in floor slab heating though! now I need to sell mine!

Not smart at all! Ecobee claims to have to a "smart" away/home option. It allows the thermostat to change comfort profile to HOME if it senses your motion in a scheduled AWAY mode; and it can change to AWAY if it does not sense your motion in a scheduled HOME mode. This sound's cool, but it does NOT work as you imagined it would be. Say my schedule is: 8AM-9AM HOME; 9AM-5PM AWAY. I am late for 1 minutes and I am home until 9:01AM. At 9AM, ecobee changes to AWAY as scheduled, and then changes to HOME because of the "smart" away/home feature. It is fine. However, the change to HOME will HOLD FOREVER. You leave at 9:01AM. The thermostat will hold HOME FOREVER, until you change it. This is MANUAL, not "smart" at all.

Bought 2 of these for my home over the Nest thermostats, which I owned previously. I bought these over the Nest due to lower price and sensors.These things were pretty simple to install and set up.It has a ton of different settings you can play with, which can be fantastic or useless depending on how much control you want on your thermostat.The tough interface is easy to navigate and responsive. The app is also user friendly.They look nice and happy they have a 3 year warranty. I also liked that they have constant power running to them, unlike the Nest.I thought having the senors would be nice, however it just makes AC/heater run longer to either cool or heat the rooms I have the senors in. Which makes the parts of the house warmer or hotter. I can't see how that would save me money, although it claims to save 23% on your energy bills. They are better than the Lenox Thermostats I had, but not by that much.The Nest on the other is a learning thermostat, which was something I overlooked when buying these ones. You have to program these ones and though it has features to adjust the schedule if it detects whether your home or not, I think the Nest is simpler.I am happy with these thermostats, however for me the Nest is a better choice.

I've been looking at wifi thermostats for some time now and chose the Ecobee3 over other devices like the Nest because of the remote sensors and the relatively good reviews of how well this device functions in the real world. I use 3 sensors (plus the one on the thermostat itself.) It does a good job of comfort levels where the sensors are placed and generally they detect occupancy and balance temperatures well. The setup is straightforward provided you follow the instructions closely. I especially like the easy way to program automatic temperature setting by time and conditions, and the ability to read the area weather conditions from the internet gives the system a lot more information to optimize ramp up times and demand. It also keeps detailed records of how long the system run and the inside temperature and humidity levels and outside temperature. The smartphone interface is quite detailed and starts at the simple, basic screen showing the measured temperature, heat/cool setting and the temperature setpoint, but is is easy to go into more advanced settings with the menu system. It also has a very easy to read, attractive display and accurate touch screen. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get it to work with Apple Homekit yet, but the voice-controlled skill for my Amazon Echo system is functioning nicely, allowing me to control the temperature verbally with Alexa.