Nest Announces a More Affordable Smart Thermostat

Nest Announces a New, More Affordable Smart Thermostat

Nest has announced a new and more affordable version of its smart thermostat, called Nest Thermostat E.

“We set out to create a simpler, more affordable thermostat,” Nest’s Maxime Veron explains. “One with the same energy-saving features people have come to expect from a Nest Thermostat. But with a friendlier, streamlined design that fits into any home.”

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Nest Thermostat E—I’ll just use the friendlier Nest E—looks a lot like its more expensive sibling, the Nest Learning Thermostat. But it features a frosted display that I think is more friendly-looking and less techie. More to the point, it’s a lot less expensive: Where the Nest Learning Thermostat clocks in at about $250, the Nest costs just under $170.

The Nest Learning Thermostat retains some advantages over its cheaper new stablemate, including a more premium design, a higher-resolution display, and four color options. But the Nest E provides most of the same functionality, and it provides the same energy savings.

“Like the Nest Learning Thermostat, it turns itself down when you’re away, so you don’t waste energy heating or cooling an empty home,” Veron says. ” You can control it from anywhere with the Nest app. Based on typical energy costs, we’ve estimated average savings of $131 to $145 a year, which is great for a thermostat with a suggested retail price of $169.”

Also, Nest notes that over half of U.S. households may be eligible for a rebate from one its energy partners, helping Nest E pay for itself even more quickly.

Given my ongoing home tech makeover efforts, I’m particularly interested in this new version of Nest, though I’m not sure yet if our current heat/AC systems are compatible. So I’ll be looking into that.

You can find out more about the Nest Thermostat E from the Nest website.

 

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Conversation 20 comments

  • emanon2121

    31 August, 2017 - 8:27 am

    <p>Paul, also take a look at the options from Honeywell. Great products for cheaper than the nest. Also, once you get Alexa up and running you will live it even more. </p>

    • MikeGalos

      31 August, 2017 - 9:38 am

      <blockquote><a href="#170306"><em>In reply to emanon2121:</em></a></blockquote><p>But then it wouldn't be a Google product. :-)</p><p>Seriously, though, there are a lot of good "smart thermostat" products out there. Honeywell <em>is</em> a good choice (and the one we currently use) but there are a lot of interesting choices depending on your needs.</p>

    • Stooks

      31 August, 2017 - 10:41 am

      <blockquote><a href="#170306"><em>In reply to emanon2121:</em></a></blockquote><p>The Nest works with Alexa, even multiple Nest devices. It is a skill card you have to get and setup.</p>

  • Polycrastinator

    31 August, 2017 - 8:33 am

    <p>Given your troubles with individual thermostats room by room, I had been wondering if there was a smart thermostat that would network and help deal with that. No idea if Nest is that solution, but I'd be interested: managing the temperatures of individual rooms, and the whole house being aware of what is hot and what is cold seems like it should make sense, but the challenges of making it work seem formidable.</p>

    • richfrantz

      Premium Member
      31 August, 2017 - 8:53 am

      <blockquote><a href="#170307"><em>In reply to Polycrastinator:</em></a></blockquote><p>"troubles" like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. I have 7 zones in my house and think it's great. It made for a level of customization most houses can't offer when the kids were home, now that the nest is empty, I can run "empty" zones really low in the winter. I'm the smart thermostat. But I like your idea of networked thermostats.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      31 August, 2017 - 9:42 am

      <blockquote><a href="#170307"><em>In reply to Polycrastinator:</em></a></blockquote><p>All the houses I've lived in Germany have decentralized heat control. You set the boiler for the maximum temperature you want, then you set the thermostat on each radiator in each room for the temperature you want.</p><p>So that means in winter, the lounge is a nice, warm 22°C, the bedroom is unheated (14 – 18°C in winter, windows open (tilted) at night), for example.</p><p>I don't see how you can control the whole houses temperature with just a single thermostat? For example, the kitchen needs some heat when you are not cooking, but when you are cooking, the heating in that room should shut off for the duration – we generally have the radiator off and the windows open (tilted) when cooking in winter.</p>

      • jwpear

        Premium Member
        31 August, 2017 - 2:56 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#170324"><em>In reply to wright_is:</em></a></blockquote><p>This was common in the US at one time, at least for those homes not heated by wood fireplaces and stoves, but central heating and cooling have displaced it. It certainly seems like a potential step backwards to only have one or a few zones to control comfort and energy use, reflecting back. We've also moved away from having trees around homes to help cool them in the summer. Many developers clear all the trees before building. It takes 30 years to grow a quality tree to provide decent summer shade. When I was a kid, we didn't have air conditioning. We had some beautiful Oaks, Pecan, and White Pine trees around the house to keep it shaded. It was comfortable on all but the hottest and most humid days.</p>

        • wright_is

          Premium Member
          01 September, 2017 - 12:52 am

          <blockquote><a href="#171108"><em>In reply to jwpear:</em></a></blockquote><p>Our house was built in the 70s, but it has a nice magnolia out the back, which is great in summer. The first thing my wife did was buy a red maple and put that on the south side of the patio, it is now around 3M and is starting to provide some shade.</p><p>She has actually put in about 6 or 7 different trees around the garden, mostly fruit and nut trees and we have a lot of shady, cool spots in summer.</p><p>But being able to "shutdown" different rooms (E.g. when they are empty or rarely used) or to have big temperature differences, because they are used for different purposes is a luxury I wouldn't want to give up.</p><p>In North Europe AC is very rare. For the couple of weeks a year when the temperatures exceed the mid 20s centigrade, it just isn't worth the investment.</p>

  • drbohner

    31 August, 2017 - 9:43 am

    <p>Hmmmm… a $170 Thermostat that might save you $150 a year….&nbsp; My home would require two of them (Upstairs and the wife's area)…&nbsp; I'm not feeling the love for the cool-factor (even if there is a lower/higher resolution on the LCD)….&nbsp; Who stares at the thermostat, anyway (what type of geek is that)?&nbsp; Does it change colors at night (remove the blue, like Windows Displays)?</p>

  • Rob_Wade

    31 August, 2017 - 9:53 am

    <p>I admit that I really like the look of the Nest. But our Vivint home security/automation system already came with a really nice touch-screen, full color system that appears to support the same features. Any device that can support Z-wave can be added as a device controlled by the main panel and, by extension, the web app. I'm wondering what the Nest might bring to the table that's different/better.</p>

  • the_risner

    31 August, 2017 - 10:11 am

    <p>I have 3 HVAC systems, one is a heat pump. I have Nest thermostats on each. I called Nest Support about the wiring for the heat pump, and they were excellent. They confirmed my wiring assumption, I hooked it up, and it works like a charm.</p>

  • Stooks

    31 August, 2017 - 10:40 am

    <p>Paid $189 each for my two Nest III devices last year on sale. My power company gave me $100 refund for each. I did this when I replaced my 30 year old dual zone heaters and 15 year old dual AC units. The combo saves me over 100 a month in utilities. It probably has way more to do with the new HVAC but the Nest devices are great.</p>

  • david.thunderbird

    31 August, 2017 - 11:24 am

    <p>nice popup over and out</p><p><br></p><p>sure know how to piss off yer teck friends !!!!</p>

  • lordbaal1

    31 August, 2017 - 2:15 pm

    <p>My $30 programmable Thermostat works good. I don't need it to learn anything. If I need the temperature higher when I come home at a time when it would be lower, I'll turn it it up.</p>

  • bradster62

    31 August, 2017 - 2:34 pm

    <p>I like the Ecobee3 units with remote sensors. That's smart.</p>

  • jwpear

    Premium Member
    31 August, 2017 - 3:04 pm

    <p>I'm curious, is the Nest more efficient at controlling the climate control system than a typical programmable thermostat? Has anyone seen a comparison? In my area, we pay peak demand-based rates–higher between 4 and 7 PM in summer and 6-9 AM in winter. So I program my thermostats to cool or heat the house before this period and then have them cut way back during the peak time. I also cut back during the times of day that we're away. During the winter, I cut back the heat dramatically at night while we're asleep. I've been able to cut my energy cost and use despite our rates increasing five times over the last eight years and a switch to this peak demand billing two years ago. I'm not sure that Nest would handle this as well unless it also provides some explicit programmability as well. Nest E puts Nest within reach for me, but I am uncertain of it doing better than I can do programming my two current thermostats.</p>

  • Minok

    31 August, 2017 - 3:30 pm

    <p>Friendlier? Who really cares. At $170 its still a full blown thermosat, just made of cheaper materials.</p><p><br></p><p>What is needed and Nest refuses to implement for reasons that they only know or that will effectively result in "usefull to the user" but not energy efficient behaviour (as if the leaf reports are in any way usefull) is a dumber wifi companion/remote thermostate that has the same look and fell (can can be slimmer) which is powered by a thin cable and can be mounted on a remote wall that does not interface with the HVAC but interfaces with the main NEST in order to override the main NESTs temp requirements. That way I can set my remote NEST in the bedroom to maintain a 68 degree temp in THAT room, regardless of what the nest downstairs (where no one is at night) thinks the temp should be.</p><p><br></p><p>This, nope.</p>

    • a113e21

      31 August, 2017 - 7:38 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#171114"><em>In reply to Minok:</em></a></blockquote><p>What you are describing is already produced by Ecobee. The Ecobee 3 &amp; 4 both support remote sensors.</p>

    • MikeGalos

      31 August, 2017 - 10:54 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#171114"><em>In reply to Minok:</em></a></blockquote><p>Insteon has this with their remote thermostat.</p>

  • neil121

    03 December, 2017 - 7:02 am

    <p>Every 24 hours, enough sunlight touches the Earth to provide the energy for the entire planet for 24 years.&nbsp;</p><p>The sun is simply one big battery for us <a href="https://asolarindia.com/home-solar-panels/&quot; target="_blank">solar panels</a> can help us in lessening the negative impact on our planet.</p>

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