Smart Si Thermostat 2 Heat-2 Cool with Full Color NON-Touch Screen

Initially I wanted to purchase the "big brother" of this thermostat, the model with the touch screen, but hesitated a bit due to the two-phase installation (an additional attachment at the furnace) because my furnace is located on a third story with only rooftop access. When I discovered that this non-touch-screen ecobee model does NOT require a second unit to be attached at the furnace, but only requires replacing your existing thermostat, I was intrigued. Before ordering, I verified that I had the necessary wiring at my thermostat: I powered down my furnace at the breaker box, then removed my existing thermostat, to check if I had all the (5) requisite wires available for controlling both a furnace and AC, including the "common" blue (in my case) wire. Indeed, I did, so this was going to be a simple wire-for-wire unplug old and re-plug new. Being confident that I had the connections needed, I placed my order. Upon arrival, I made the switch, literally wire for wire from my old thermostat. Very simple. Powered back at the breaker box, and the unit "booted". Overall impressions: GOOD - very feature rich device, especially when coupled with the ecobee web site and tools. The online tools (haven't yet tried the iPhone or Android apps but will soon -- UPDATE: installed the android app, it is more limited in features than the web portal, seems okay, but given the choice the web app is better) are very nice and include such things as: showing current temperature, setting schedules/programs, seeing current humidity, graphs and historical data/trends over time, adjusting thermostat settings, and so forth. Very well done. One or two items in the online user interface were a bit counter-intuitive at first, in particular I found it a bit confusing as to how to change the time/date ranges for the program schedules, but there is online help and with a bit of trial-n-error it was not that hard to figure out in the end. NOT-AS-GOOD - using the thermostat from the wall requires using a few buttons/arrows and navigating some hierarchical menus to reach the items of interest. From the wall, these hierarchies of menus can, at first, seem a bit tedious to traverse. However, most of these settings are things you would not tweak frequently - unlike the basic temperature setting (which doesn't require much for menu traversal) - so it's not a huge drawback. Moreover, all of the settings can be manipulated online or via apps, so that is always an option and may be preferable in many cases. I cannot compare this to the touch screen, as I haven't used it, but I don't think the touch screen would actually "solve" this, as in any case you would probably have to traverse a hierarchy. Note that this is almost an inherent "drawback" to having a lot of features over and above a traditional thermostat, coupled with a small display; given that thermostats are by nature not very big, you can only cram so much information onto a screen, requiring some menu traversal. I don't fault ecobee so much as the form factor here. The web interface of course provides more screen real estate, and less of the hierarchies of menus to move around. One other minor issue was that it initially failed to "see" my wifi network when I scanned for wifi networks. It simply hung at a screen indicating that it was scanning and to "please wait". After two or three attempts, and after consulting the manual, I decided a "reset" of the device was in order, so I depressed the reset button (small pinhole at bottom left of device). The device appeared to reboot itself, after which I tried the network scan again and VOILA it worked. After this process was complete, everything "just works" and is very nice. UPDATE: humidity sensor was not working, always reading 24 percent; contacted ecobee support and they told me that it should be replaced; getting a new unit from amazon cross-shipped, and will install new unit when it arrives, hopefully will cure the humidity reading issue. Overall, still satisfied assuming that the new unit works properly. INTERESTING: ecobee recently published an API (application programmer interface) which - for software guys like myself at least - can be used to interface with the device using one's own software; most regular users may not be interested in this feature; the Iphone and Android apps and/or web interface from ecobee will be all that one would need for normal use. However, for geeks or tinkerers (or third party integrators such as home automation vendors, etc) this API makes it possible to create other software that interacts with the ecobee. NICE; at least for me. However, for reasons unknown to me, it appears that the API goes through ecobee's web site before hitting the thermostat; i.e. you don't "talk" directly to the thermostat but instead ecobee.com acts as an intermediary between your program and the thermostat. Not a huge thing, unless 10 years from now ecobee isn't around, gets bought out, or whatever. I'll cross that bridge if it ever happens, not too worried about it frankly as I think ecobee will succeed with flying colors.

I have tried 4 different connected thermostat: 2gig CT100, ecobee Smart Si, Honeywell, and RCS. Ecobee Smart Si is more stylish than than others. It also provides an additional back panel just in case that the user wants to cover a bigger wall. (Very sweet!) It is easy to set up the the WiFi connection. The website also has nice user interface. However, it also requires a C-wire in order to function. There is no diagram for just to wire a one-stage heater without AC. Finally, its price is higher than others. For comparison, (1) 2gig CT100 has a very slim design. It can operate without any common-wire. This is very good if you retrofit your old-style thermostat (e.g., Honey T87F) with only two hires. However, you cannot program it on the panel. You have to program it from a Z-Wave hub. (2) Honeywell seems to be comprehensive than other. You can program the schedule and still have the Z-Wave command to overwrite it. Although it seems to be a good combination of pre-set schedule and context-dependent operation, the schedule will not kick in once the Z-Wave hub sent the command to the thermostat. You have to touch the schedule button on the screen to ask it follow the schedule. By the way, my module kept losing its communication to the SmartThings hub. (3) RCS looks more like a traditional thermostat than others. You can program the 7-day schedule. When it is connected to the Z-Wave network, it won’t use its schedule anymore. It is very different from my expectation. Furthermore, the backlight never goes to complete dark. It could be good or bad. In my personal opinion, 2gig CT100 and Honeywell are top choices. 2gig CT100 is really inexpensive and very nice looking. Honeywell provides a better capability, in particular, the programmable schedule. If you Z-wave hub is down, it can still adjust the temperature according to a pre-set schedule.

This is the most economical choice if you have a newer Modine or Reznor, want wifi control, and to take advantage of that sweet sweet c wire without spending big money. Installs easily and works with my ecobee 3 lite in the official app and existing home assistant integration.

I own the expensive round ecobee and works great, bought this one for the garage and is just as good as the round smart ecobee. Wifi work flawlessly I would buy it again in a heartbeat

Installed this in my 2010 Keystone Retreat Park Model RV, and although it works fantastic for the Air conditioning in the summer and I can adjust it before I head up to my campsite the heat does not work as good, as soon as I select heat the Ecobee reboots over and over. To fix the reboot issue I had to disconnect the heat wire, I found that the voltage drop is significant when calling for heat and that I would need a power booster to make heat work. Not an issue with the Ecobee more with my wiring. I installed this myself I would recommend a professional HVAC tech install for you into an RV, I have another Ecobee at home which I installed myself with no issues at all, works fantastic.

There is no customer service or warranty after the Amazon 30-day return. I received one that was DOA but did not return in time and when I spoke to ecobee customer service they told me this model is discontinued and no longer supported. So apparently that means I'm on my own... Scam.

Replaced my 5 year old thermostat with this new one because it would no longer conect to server. Took it out of the box and plugged into existing pin connections and it works great.