![]() The simplicity might actually be pleasing to users who don’t appreciate having every last option available on the thermostat. Some thermostats give the fan its own button, but this one treats it as one of up to three possible modes to step through. If you do have a fan, take note that have to switch to “fan mode” by stepping through the heat / air conditioning / fan options via the middle button on the thermostat. It’s very rare that someone would want to turn a thermostat all the way off, so I would hope that this button would just do nothing if there are no other modes to switch between. Alas, there is no screen lockout feature, so if you have small children and your house is becoming unbelievably cold… see if the thermostat got turned off. I didn’t like this – it’s too easy to accidentally touch the middle button with another finger or knuckle while you’re adjusting the temp, and it’s an tempting target for children. If you’re running a heat-only system, be warned that when there is no A/C or fan to switch to, then tapping the middle button simply turns the thermostat off. Say what? In a heat-only system (and probably in a cooling-only system, too), the middle button simply turns the whole thermostat off. I needed a C-wire for this setup (3 wires total). That’s all we had at our last two homes, so I wanted to see how it handled this common use case. There is almost nothing to do from the thermostat itself besides adjusting the target temperature and changing the system’s current “mode” (heat, cool, fan). The “buttons” are actually touch-sensitive regions marked by little raised bumps near the bottom of the thermostat’s face. You might not even realize they’re there until you set it up and they start glowing. Notably, there are just three “buttons” on the Amazon Smart Thermostat. ![]() The app behind this thermostat, the same Alexa app you’re already familiar with if you’ve got an Echo or similar, is stable and well-designed. The whole point is to automate it and forget it. You shouldn’t spend that much time at the thermostat itself anyway. The Amazon Smart Thermostat is made of a lightweight plastic but the face of it has a nice feel to it. It doesn’t have the metal and glass heft of the Nest or the large almost smartphone-like screen of the Ecobee. First Impressions Thoughts on the thermostat itselfįirst off, it feels like a $60 thermostat. We hope you find our site useful and we welcome your comments and corrections. This review is intended for visitors in the US and Canada. We source opinions from local HVAC installers and friends and family who are long-term users of various smart thermostats. Photos are our own unless otherwise noted. We are independent and unbiased home automation enthusiasts who buy, try, and review smart thermostats with our own funds (no freebies).
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