false, PDP Info Banner Theme: "title": "Get Up and Running: How to Install", }, Top Seller: It adjusts the temperature foryou. Which Brands Make the Most Reliable Appliances? Vacation mode, Brand: Programming just doesnt work. ### Before You Buy: Check if Your Equipment is Compatible The Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Thermostat E fine-tune your schedule as the seasons change to help you save. How drafty is it? The budget-friendly Energy Star-certified Google Nest Thermostat is polished and pretty, but it isnt a true smart thermostat, at least not like its older sibling, the Google Nest Learning Thermostat, which attempts to learn your preferences and routine and creates a heating and cooling schedule for you. Flexible scheduling Its also better suited to those who want light automation features, such as sensing when you leave and return home, as opposed to trying to learn and anticipate your behavior (some feel learning thermostats tend to get it wrong, requiring more manual adjusting on the part of the user). How long does it take to heat up or cool down? Nest, however, recommends that you connect a C-wire if you already have one. If you find a smart thermostats attempts at 'learning' your routine overbearing, then this convenient option may be just smart enough. Alerts and reminders That means the Nest Learning Thermostat paid for itself in under twoyears. Many older homes dont have a C-wire because mercury and battery-powered thermostats didnt require one. "description": "For more help installing:\n\n**[View Google Nest Learning installation guide](https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9274936?hl=en{openNewTab})**\n\nCall Google Nest Customer Support at 1-855-469-6378" We also happened to evaluate the thermostat in a home with Google Nest Protect smoke/CO detectors and discovered that the thermostat uses not only its own motion sensor, but also the motion sensors in other Nest products to more accurately determine whether someone was home. We installed it fairly easily in a renovated 1950s house with a forced-air HVAC system. Check out what we learned about Seasonal Savings and Rush Hour Rewards, two programs offered by our energypartners.

Putting in new light bulbs. But its a drop in the bucket compared to what a thermostat can do. Why should you have to figure out your thermostat? Yes, On Sale: Thats how it gets to know yourschedule. So despite their claims, most programmed thermostats stay at the same temperature all day. Best of all, at $130, the Google Nest Thermostat is one of the more affordable smart thermostats on the market. None, Show PDP Info Banner in Product Details: A C-wire (common wire) is a low voltage power wire that many modern thermostats require for their features to work. Programmable thermostats claim savings on your energy bill. Heres what we found: The Google Nest Thermostat is very easy to manually operate and control, but it doesnt offer a ton of smart features compared with other smart thermostats and it lacks the ability to learn your behaviors and routines. Efficient appliances. So Nest found a better way. To calculate the total savings, we apply these savings percentages to the actual heating and cooling hours of all Nest Thermostat E and Nest LearningThermostats. Maybe its 72 at 6 a.m. Or 66 when you go to bed. For my latest obsessions, follow me on Then it programs itself and creates a schedule for you. The Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Thermostat E learn from you. Color display Learnmore>. Learn more. Location-based triggers Farsight "icon": "install",

We also account for machine learning and automation features, which allow smart thermostats to adjust temperatures as they learn your habits and routines; as well as voice control with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit/Siri, and Google Home/Assistant, if those integrations are available.

Each smart thermostat that enters Consumer Reports labs undergoes stringent tests to determine how easy it to use and how well it automates your heating and cooling. And that wastes energy. Its annoying and complicated most people dont even bother. They make you punch in every temperature change you want throughout the day, and usually you can only program 2 or 3 changes.

In February 2017, the Nest Learning Thermostat became the first thermostat to get ENERGY STAR certified by the EPA. And a whole new way: itlearns. Their rigorous testing confirmed what weve been saying all along the Nest Learning Thermostat savesenergy. All email addresses you provide will be used just for sending this story. I'm obsessed with smart home tech and channel my obsession into new stories for Consumer Reports. Nests kilowatt-hours (kWh) ticker features an estimate of how many kilowatt-hours all Nest Learning Thermostats have saved to date, since October2011.

Our engineers factor in smart features like alerts, app control, and geofencing (where the thermostat tracks your phones location to know whether youre home). We respect your privacy. Consumer Reports has full test results for the Google Nest Thermostat and more than 80 other thermostats. And its wastingenergy. To prove it, we looked at the energy bills of real people in 41 states before and after they got Nest Learning Thermostats. Then we watched the data roll in from two independent studies from real homes with real families and real Learning thermostats.

Adjust the temperature fromanywhere. Energy Star: Use it like a regular thermostat for a week. Connects to Wi-Fi The Google Home apps step-by-step guidance made it easy, and the thermostat even worked without a C-wire, or common wire, a typical requirement for other smart thermostats to provide a continuous supply of power. All the numbers are in our white paper. For Nests kWh ticker, we calculate the current savings estimate from the total savings estimate at the end of the prior month, and increase that number going forward using the average rate of savings from the same month of last year (adjusting that rate downward by 25% to beconservative). When you shop through retailer links on our site, we may earn affiliate commissions. These energy savings are calculated based on the typical percentage of heating and cooling savings found in real-world studies of the Nest Learning Thermostat (download the energy savings research in PDF format). You can earn rewards from your energy company by using less energy when everyone else is using more. Safe Summer Activities for Kids During the Pandemic, What You Need to Know About Bug Spray for Kids, Best Cooling Mattress Toppers From Consumer Reports' Tests, Matter smart home interoperability standard, test results for the Google Nest Thermostat and more than 80 other thermostats. To determine if you have a C-wire, please consult Nests [**compatibility checker. When you leave your house, it turns itself down. But they cant prove it. No, Features: This Nest Learning Thermostat does *not require* a C-wire to work. We ran the Google Nest Thermostat through CRs lab tests and used it in real-world situations at home. It will get to know the temperatures you like and when you like them. 100% of the fees we collect are used to support our nonprofit mission.

Finally, we favor models that are easy to set up wirelessly and simple to operate manually. It saves energy, sure. Based on typical energy costs, weve estimated average savings of $131 to $145 a year. Energy savings are an estimate, not a guarantee that any individual user will saveenergy. Programming was easy, too, though the app lacked a way to copy a days schedule from one day to another. download the energy savings research in PDF format. dHKD-9uI24I, Show PDP Info Banner in Media Feature: Twitter (@danwroc). Thats not the only study to show Nests energy savings are real. These criteria factor into our unique Smart IQ and automation scores for smart thermostats. Before you purchase your Nest, make sure that your heating and cooling system(s) are compatible using Nest's [**compatibility checker.

Facebook and Plus, the Google Nest Thermostat can still do some basic automating, using your phones location and the thermostats motion sensor to figure out when you leave and return home. Yes, Water Sense: **](https://store.google.com/us/widget/compatibility/thermostat?hl=en-US&GoogleNest{openNewTab}) Because the Nest Learning Thermostat learns how and when to keep you comfortable, it knows how and when to save energy. $131 to $145 estimated average savings peryear. So youre not heating or cooling an emptyhome. ### What's a C-Wire? The Google Nest Thermostat is a great option if you want the convenience of a WiFi-enabled thermostat without a high price tag. This can actually be appealing for some peoplenot everyone wants their thermostat to adjust temperature settings for them, and there is plenty of convenience to be had in a thermostat that you can control from anywhere with just a few taps on your smartphone. **](https://store.google.com/us/widget/compatibility/thermostat?hl=en-US&GoogleNest{openNewTab}) **, Media Feature Disclaimer (JSON): But once the cumbersome task of recreating the schedule for each day of the week is done, the thermostat is quite easy to adjust and tweak from the Google Home app. All these test results are then folded into our comprehensive smart thermostat ratings. **This thermostat is not compatible with electric baseboard heating systems. { Nest Sense helps your homes system work moreefficiently. But at home, we didnt mind that so much. Your thermostat controls half your energy bill. Google Nest. It even learns from your home and figures out how it heats or cools, because no two homes are exactly thesame. With the Nest app, your thermostat is on your phone. That explains its low ranking in CRs tests: It performs poorly in our automation test, which looks at how well the thermostat makes changes on its own. Provides energy usage report

The newer Google Nest is essentially a WiFi-enabled programmable thermostat, requiring you to program it when you initially set it up. Just turn it up and down for the first few days. Like on hot summer days when everyones running the AC at the sametime. true, C-wire required:

Unplugging everything when you leave. We've seen Nest users save 5-10% with their newschedules. Nest has a built-in battery that can be charged using the heating and cooling wires. It explains in detail how we did our internal studies and what independent researchers foundout. No, Media Feature: false, Media Feature Markdown: The results were clear: on average the Nest Learning Thermostat saved 10% to 12% on heating and 15% on cooling. The thermostats presence-sensing feature also worked as advertised, but it took up to an hour for the thermostat to realize we were no longer home, which seemed a bit too long. When I'm not writing about products, I spend time either outside hiking and skiing or up in the air in small airplanes.