This what I do (did while in an office). Set a schedule, modify it if leaving early or late so the house is nice and chilly/toasty just at the right time.
The geofencing never seems to have worked right.
Which I can already do with my “dumb” thermostat. 
Right, that’s not the most convincing argument to change to a smart thermostat. Is much easier to set a schedule on a phone though.
I mentioned earlier, i like being able change settings if i leave for a trip and forget to do it before i leave. I had a rebate that covered the cost for one of them, so it was a free upgrade.
It’s handy for remote “No, it’s not broken. The furnace just turned on right now.”
So, I bought the Nest.
Maybe it’s because I’m an old fart, but I’m somewhat frustrated over the set-up process.
Installation wasn’t too difficult but confusing at points because they don’t describe wth I was supposed to be doing and I didn’t understand all the words they used.
Also annoying, when I went “downstairs” to flip the breaker for the furnace the app on my iphone exited the installation, so I had to start all over…both when I turned the furnace off & when I went back to turn it back on.
I have no idea if I set up the app on my wife’s phone correctly or if it will work the way it’s supposed to (i.e., turn down the thermostat while both of us are away & turn it back up as one of us is getting home)…and to make things more complicated I seem to need both the nest app/account & the google home app/account.
I want to figure out how to automatically turn down the thermostat at night & have it go back up in the morning, but the “schedule” screen was non-intuitive & what I’ve managed to figure out makes it seem like I only set up one week’s worth instead of a perpetual cycle.
Is there other stuff I’m supposed to do?
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All I can say is “good luck!”
Please keep us posted with how it’s working out for you.
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Thanks. I also request your thoughts & prayers.
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You’re expecting to be tempted to shoot it?
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Well, I’ve already shot my mouth off at it…
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Has the toaster been laughing at you too???
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When I was done with the project I was so thirsty that I drank the dog water. ew!
No, I’m guessing they’re all like that. Trying to be all things for all people ends up being equally shitty for all.
Grab a beer, say “fuck it let’s go bowling.”
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My nest kept trying to auto adjust to make me less comfortable, so it’s a brick now. YMMV.
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yeah, the “smart” aspects of thermostats aren’t all that smart.
I think it’s because where the thermostat is is usually where I’m not, so it has no idea what I’m actually feeling.
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I think the major advantage of smart thermostats is for people who don’t want to bother to program a dumb thermostat that keeps a schedule. And if you like playing with the temp when you are out of the house.
We all work from home, now, and there’s only like one week in the year when no one is home, and that’s end-of-summer, when we don’t usually use much heat or AC. So my thermostat needs are currently pretty simple. (Cooler at night during heating season, cooler when i get up during cooling season, because I’m cranky if I’m sticky before i even get dressed.)
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We have a Sensi. Since my wife and I both WFH, we don’t use a schedule. We pretty much want the house the same temp all day and night. At this point I think there are only two features I use. One, if I happen to want to bump it up or down a degree, I can do it from anywhere. And two, I’m horrible about not changing it when we go on vacation. I usually get to the airport and realize I should have done that, and now I can do it from the airport.
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Some/most smart thermostats allow you to place additional sensors. So you can add one in your office or bedroom or whatever. I’m not sure if it takes an average, or if you can tell it you want your office at 70°, probably either.
This is one reason I’m considering an Ecobee, our thermostat is in the kitchen and I don’t know who put it there but that was a bad idea.
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Oh wow, yeah, the kitchen is the wrong place for the thermostat.
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Note that you can also get external sensors for Nest, although you have to pick/choose which sensor it reads from. (It doesn’t do a “take the average”, or auto-change which sensor(s) are read at which time of day.)
I liked Ecobee’s functionality more than Nest’s. However, I’m using Nest after having shorted out two Ecobees.
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You finally convinced me to schedule my Ecobee so it no longer kicks the heat down to 62 at 9 AM every weekday. I’ve just been cranking it back up every day as I pass by to grab a snack. Nice comfy 67 starting at 6 AM now and down to 62 at night.
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