Ecobee Smart Thermostat Models Reviews: Ecobee3, Lite & Ecobee4
Ecobee is a company based in Canada. It’s founded in 2007 by Stuart Lombard whose mission was to reduce the carbon footprint of his household and to save money. He found out that heating and cooling systems take the majority of house energy use and home budget. He tried different thermostats on the market, but he was not satisfied with any of them, so he decided to design his own programmable thermostat. His mission was to build smart thermostat which would be easy to use and easy to install, and before anything that it would help reducing energy usage and in the end, reduce utility costs in the household.
The company produces Wi-Fi smart thermostats for residential and commercial use. The thermostat is a device which is a part of the heating or cooling system. It has temperature sensors which measure the temperature of the environment and it helps keep the temperature on the desired set point. One of them is Ecobee3 smart thermostat which allows remote control of the room temperatures because of the ability of the connection to smartphone devices. Its design is simple with touch screen LCD display. It supports Android and iOS operating system.
I want to show you the two most popular Ecobee models that are on the market and their features and performance can greatly improve the environment in your home and decrease bills for heating/cooling.
Most popular Ecobee Smart Thermostat Models on the Market
Ecobee3 Smart Thermostat
Ecobee3 allows you to easily adjust the temperature on your Android or iOS device, including Apple watch. All you need is Ecobee3 app available in App Store and Google Play. With the app, you can set the temperature of your home even if you are not present there. Ecobee thermostat is connected via Wi-Fi and it is sending data to the app. Slight inconvenience might be that if the device disconnects from Wi-Fi due to power loss or any other reason, you have to manually set it up and reconnect it. This can be a true problem if we are talking about weekend get-away houses which you can’t reach at any time.
Through the app, it is easy to adjust the temperature of the room or to make different kinds of settings. Ecobee3 differs three different situations – Home, Away and Sleep, and each one of them is easily customized. With the sensor in the main thermostat, it recognize your presence and turns on option Home for you and turns the heating or cooling system on, and vice versa. The Away option will turn on when you are away. Option Sleep adjusts the temperature in the bedroom in the time frame you set up.
Ecobee3 also supports Geofence feature which allows the thermostat to recognize the presence of the mobile device and turn on the heating system when you are home. Some customers have reported that it connects only to one device, and when the device is not there it does not recognize the presence of other people at home and it turns off the heating system.
The installation is pretty simple, Installation guide comes in a box with the device and if that is not enough there are more instructions on the Ecobee website or in the mobile app, and for those aren’t handy, there is telephone technical support which guides you step by step or you can even schedule a professional to come and install Ecobee3 smart thermostat for you. Power Extender Kit is included in the box with the device for those who do not have regular C – wires. Once the device is installed it is quite easy to set everything up since the interface is pretty intuitive. Once you set it you can forget it. Ecobee3 integrates very well with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Microsoft Cortana, SmartThings and IFTTT and that feature is one of the most important ones when you compare Ecobee vs Nest 3 smart thermostats.
Another advantage is the ability to set up the remote sensors and connecting them with the main thermostat and mobile app, especially for people who have a home with many rooms and have trouble with regulating the temperature. Sensors allow setting the different temperatures in each room separately and by that, they are making the living much more comfortable.
Features:
Colour: Black
Dimensions: 4.05” width x 4.05” length x 0.84” depth
Compatibility: with gas, oil, electric or dual fuel heating systems, also conventional (2H/2C) or heat pump (4H/2C)
Works with: Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Microsoft Cortana & SmartThings.
Temperature range: desired operating temperature range is 44℉- 92 ℉
Ecobee4 Smart Thermostat
Ecobee4 smart thermostat is the new generation of smart thermostats and it comes with integrated Amazon Alexa Voice Service and one remote room sensor. Besides Amazon Alexa being built-in, some cosmetic changes were made, which means it is mostly on the design of the device. User interface and controls are like from the previous model Ecobee3.
The installation is pretty easy, the device comes with the printed instructions in the box or you can download the Ecobee app and follow step-by-step instructions with graphics schemes and videos to help the installation. For those who don’t have regular C – wires, the power extender kit is included in the box. The Ecobee4 unit walks you through a troubleshooting tutorial to ensure you did everything right because if you don’t you can damage your A/C or furnace. If you don’t dare to do it yourself there is an option of professional installation.
Ecobee4 also comes with a remote room sensor you can place in any room of the house you think it is necessary, but don’t forget that the unit itself has temperature sensors built-in. You just have to connect the sensor to the app and start with your setups. Remote sensors allow adjusting the temperature in the house considering different temperatures of some rooms, making everyone comfortable. The smart thermostat has an option to pull the average values of all sensors attached or ignore certain sensors.
As like the previous model, Ecobee4 is also easily controlled via the mobile app which is available in App Store and Google Play. Besides the mobile app, you can also make the adjustments directly on the thermostat itself or you can use their website to make some finer adjustments since every interface offers various options and features. And from now on you can use built-in Amazon Alexa to control your Ecobee4 device. Besides Amazon Alexa, it also works with Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, Microsoft Cortana, SmartThings and IFTTT.
So far Alexa has some limited possibilities. For instance, you can ask her to change the temperature, set the schedule, google a recipe, make a list or even play music. There were some complaints regarding synchronizing with other Alexa devices but since they have made the software update and they added the ESP feature and that problem is gone. The speaker is loud and good quality except for playing music. Unfortunately, it does not have AUX 3.5 mm jack input nor the Bluetooth option.
In order to update your device, it is necessary to send an e-mail with your Ecobee serial number to Ecobee Support who will then push an update to your device. Ecobee4 requires Wi-Fi for it to be “smart”. The Amazon Alexa Voice System, the connection with the Ecobee app and collecting data, the adjustment of the temperature remotely, they all require Wi-Fi. Sometimes due to power loss, it can disconnect from the network.
It seems like they have solved the problem and enabled automatic reconnecting, but still, sometimes you will have to do it manually. However, you don’t need to worry, if the device is disconnected from Wi-Fi, your house won’t cool down because Ecobee4 will be still performing as a thermostat and keeping the house warm, it is only that you won’t be able to follow it through your app.
Features:
Dimensions: 4.29” width x 4.29” length x 0.84” depth
Ecobee has Energy Star certificate, and it helped customers of the US to save up to 23% on their cost for heating and cooling system. Ecobee thermostat calculates the running time of the cooling and heating equipment to the outdoor temperatures. By doing so Ecobee thermostat compares the difference between the outside temperature and the inside temperature and it adjusts the work of the cooling and heating system to achieve an optimal temperature. That allows it to set the indoor temperature value on a higher point when the outdoor temperature is higher and also to set the temperature value on a lower point when the outdoor temperatures are lower, and by doing so Ecobee smart thermostat reduces the difference in between inside and outside temperature which results in reduced running hours of cooling and heating equipment and reduced energy consumption.
