Great video. Very informative. I had the 1st Gen Nest in my first home, now moving into my 2nd one I am getting a Nest E instead. I felt like the 1st Gen was almost distracting on a white wall. The E should be alot more subtle. As far as the display, after the self-learning is done, you rarely go to the unit anyway.
I’d like the Nest E better if the screen had a dark background option. That might make it easier to read the light colored text on the white device. Because of this, I’d go with the 3rd Generation over the E for my parents’ house.
It shows up weird in the video but the frosted glass looks nice. I prefer how the Nest E looks. Doesn't draw to much attention and looks very modern. The Nest 3 gen is no doubt better (sharper screen and metal build), but it really draws attention to itself and I didn't want to spend that much on a thermostat when one half the price would work the same.
I totally agree. I just installed the E and it looks very stylish yet subdued on my off-white hallway wall. The Gen 3 would be loud in comparison. I much prefer the E.
If you live in texas, there is a rebate from the google store for a Nest learning 3rd gen from Encore (which services most, if not all, of the texas electrical power grid). The rebate is for $75 off and brings it down to $15 more expensive than the E. Check the google store for rebates in other states.
Thanks for this! I have the Nest E and wanted the 3rd gen just because it “does more,” but after watching this, it really doesn’t. It made me realize I havent even touched my E in months because I control it from the app on my phone. I’ll stick with what I have.😌
I have an E. It made a world of difference in temp dips. More consistent heating and cooling is what I noticed most. Now the convenience of saying Alexa...what is the temp set to? Or Alexa turn heat to 73....if I want to warm the house up quickly. Or vice versa if it seems warm while sleeping I just command it to get cooler. This is by far the most convenient feature. That being said I’m upgrading my hvac which will probably come with a 3 gen. While not totally necessary I still look forward to the upgrade. The display is worth it to me. Overall look is better.
I like the Nest E a lot and the price tag is great, especially now that I can buy remote temperature sensors. Dont know why it took Nest so long to add that functionality. The only Con for the Nest e that I have is that I cant tell if the AC is running or not by looking at it or the app. To me it always looks the same. Is there some color change or fade that I am not noticing? My AC runs quiet and I have high ceilings so its hard to feel the breeze from the vents. The only way I can tell if it is running is if I open my Sense energy monitor app and see the power consumption of my AC unit. Do you know if there is an easy way to tell through the GUI and/or the app if the AC is running or not?????
I think nest e looks better because it is a lot more subtle and blends in with a white wall much better than a shiny steel puck. I have nest 3rd get at home and between the two I would have went with nest e.
The home we just purchased has the Nest E. Wish it had the 3rd Gen and will probably convert. Definitely thought something was wrong with it when I first saw it. Was Nest like..."how can we make a perfectly good display look like crap so you can barely read it?? **engineer staring at his frosty mug**, "here, hold my beer!" WTF???!
I've installed both professionally. Nest E is great, but it shows dirt really bad. If you're a set it and forget it type of person, this isn't a big deal. But many people still seem ingrained to use the actual thermostat to make adjustments rather than the app or schedule, and they get really gross looking really quick from finger dirt. Also, if you have a heat pump system, or multiple stages of heating or cooling, you'll want/need the pricier model. They ARE compatible with many heat pumps, but they seem to have real issues with some. We quit installing the Nest E with our service as a result of this single issue.
The one thing he forgot to mention, I think, is that the Nest E is great if you have a heat only or cool only system that has no c-wire. Most smart thermostats require this wire to provide power to the thermostat. You'd either have to add the wire/power with a work around, or run wiring through the walls. I have an old boiler system that couldn't use any of these smart thermostats because I don't have a c-wire. Now, there are a few that homes with no c-wire can use. This happens to be one of them
I think the "blurriness" is being a bit exaggerated to be honest.. i have two thermostats using the Nest E and the look is good. I can see the temps perfectly from a far when it notices me walking in the room area or towards it (also take into consideration people's eyesight). And also like others have stated, you're also going to utilize your phone with the Nest app A LOT, and not to mention, asking Google assistant/Google Home/Amazon's Alexa to adjust settings anyway(if you have those of course). so you either want to save some money based on the display, or you don't. Good buy with whichever one you choose. Good luck, they are great!
I prefer the look of the nest e, but I had to upgrade to the nest 3rd gen because I just had a new AC system installed in my house and the nest e is not compatible with multi speed AC motors.
Was just told the same by an HVAC guy for our 100 year old house & 50 year old Lennox furnace. Want the E because it's all we really need...BUT the 3rd Gen/learning will work better if/when we get a new furnace w/a/c, OR when we move to a new place...can just take it with us. Thanks.
excellent and very helpful/informative video. i actually was able to decide on which thermostat to get after this. (i’m going with the E if anyone cares lol) i’m one of those who is attracted to the frosted look of the E, the 3rd gen is too shiny for me 😬
I just bought 3 for $25.00 each thru a promotion by our electric co. Haven't received them yet but looking forward to installing them. Hope they are comparable with each other, Great video thanks for the help.
I keep seeing Nest E in two versions, a wall-mounted one, and a freestanding one with a receiver. They seem to be labeled the same, so I am not sure if the freestanding one can be mounted on a wall.
Im in the business the old thermostat must have wire connections, R, Y, W, G and C or for heat pumps also O/B and aux heat terminals... if its a furnace only no cooling you only need R, W and C terminals... G is optional its a fan ON option no heat or cool.... NEST will not work with 'communicating systems'.. these do not have the above lettered terminals
3rd gen is much better. Great functionality, great look on the wall with white side cover and compatible to all types of HVAC systems. I could also Save money and energy with iits ECO system. I love it.
Nest says the 3rd Gen is not compatible with high voltage systems but can the Nest Thermostat E be a replacement for an old high voltage thermostat (mercury based that are rated 30V max)?
As a pro installer I would recommend using the other face plates. In theory they should be as long as the correct wire goes in the right place. Remember to take pictures as a back up.
Do you need variable heating systems for temperature sensors to work in different parts of the house? I have one thermostat, 4 levels (backsplit house)
In your review you did not mention using any sensors being placed in any specific room. How is the thermostat to learn how to control temp in the house without sensors.
Smart Nest has been installed for over a year, was away for two months wanted to turn heat up nest is connected to wi if but no indication to turn heat on.
I like the frosted glass one because when you're trying to watch a movie you don't have this bright ass display distracting you like some idiot on their phone at a movie theater. It looks very modern sleek and incognito. I guess not everyone has the thermostat in their living room, some have it in the hallway or maybe kitchen. But mine is in the living room and I like the dulled down look.
How many times can you set on the schedule. For example I’d want the heating to come on for just 15 minutes 6-7 times in the day . Is there a limit on how many times you can set it to go on an off in the day?
+Sam F they charge from the wires in the wall. You can check the charge level of the battery in the app or on the thermostat to make sure it has enough juice.
We got our Nest E for free from the government through Alberta Efficiency to replace the home's original bimetallic thermostat so it's great for that price but really the efficiency comes from the programmable schedule which you can get from a $20 thermostat. Sure this allows control over the Internet but really what warrants the extra $200 and constantly exporting your setting and current temperature to a corporate server not under your control and perhaps in another country? What happens if Nest goes out of business, will this product work without their corporate server? Can it be hacked to use your own server in your home DMZ? Also, there are two thermostats in our home but the government only gave one thermostat per home, are there any less expensive internet in everything thermostats that would work in tandem with the Nest products? Perhaps they should have a product which only communicated locally to a home control product or a main thermostat so you can limit outside contact to a single contact or perhaps not have remote contact and data exportation at all. I would prefer a product that only connected with products on the local LAN cause then I would just VPN my phone in order to control it remotely hence removing exportation of data and restricting access to an encrypted connection with keys only available to me as well as giving me a product which I know will continue to function in 40 years even if the parent company goes under. These companies need to act like insurance companies and sign agreements with each other to assume each other's server roles if they can no longer do so. Even with the thermostat being free, I don't think these products are a very wise choice, the old Lennox bimetallic thermostat was 40 years old and could be expected to continue operating for another 40, will this Nest make it past twenty years, ten years or even five? There's certainly a potential for regretting the choice of such a product even if it's free.
Looking at the wiring plate, Nest E is not capable of fully controlling a 2-stage furnace. The furnace's MoBo is likely able to control staging, but you won't realize a primary benefit of the learning thermostat.
At Costco they had a deal where you could get a bundle of a Google home mini and Nest 3rd gen thermostat for 60 bucks, split that 50%, that's a $30 Nest 3rd gen thermostat.
Does the Nest 3rd gen would help saving money on energy VS regular Thermostat? I got the Honeywell ProSeries please let me know if it’s worth if I upgrade my thermostat to Nest 3rd gen
Why in the world would they frost... the lens on the E to make it harder to see? I am thinking of getting a 3rd genration for my parents, just so they could see it and read it easier.
Why is the Heat Link not mentioned? I got the Nest E free with a boiler purchase and it comes with the heat link which is installed next to the boiler (replacing the previous Wireless link) and the Nest E sits on a desk - The thermostat for the previous wireless link is set to Manual to allow the Nest E and Heat Link to be in charge. i can't see what features the 3rd gen has that would make it an option over the E other than the casing (is that really worth the price difference?)
Great video. I've been thinking of getting a smart t-stat and am looking at the Nest 3rd Gen or E and the Ecobee 3 (not 4 don't think I need the Alexa part of it since I have Google Home). Any thoughts on the Ecobee? Keep the great smart home info coming.
Thanks Michael. Ecobee would be good for a two-story house and the thermostat is upstairs but everyone usually hangs out downstairs. So you could have that Ecobee 3 sensor downstairs to sense when you are in the room and to keep you comfortable. We are going to be looking at using the SmartThings Multi Sensor with the Nest since the Multi Sensor detects temp to see if we can do something similar but right now Nest doesn't offer anything like this.
Michael Holland love my Nest 3rd gen. Going on two years with it. Contrary to comments on video I love the current time feature. It is ridiculous to put yet another device on the wall for a clock. I use my phone, tablet to check schedules or current temp having clock there is handy as it's visible from kitchen and dining area.
Also I'm looking forward to adding the new Nest Temperture Sensor device in my bedroom. nest.com/thermostats/nest-temperature-sensor/overview/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1-fVBRC3ARIsAIifYONrsL4DvLSMS9_cWAR0u3j9fUhDTFRq7UTwaAZju72BODkgC_LyHZoaAvAuEALw_wcB&dclid=CKL-iKTIjNoCFUTZwAodwLUF8w
+Zenairo thanks! It's not an Embr ring, but those Embr rings look pretty good. Mine is some inexpensive tungsten ring I got on Amazon. Maybe I should turn up the temp before my family gets sick.
lol,66 is freezing?you must live in the south?my new construction house rarely sees above 67 and turned down to 65 or lower at night or my family will literally wake up because to hot in house.a wisconsin thing maybe! ha ha
Hey...thank you for your excellent description of the Nest. I was offered a nest plan with my electric company, but it sounds a bit intimidating....like big brother is watching, and controlling my thermostat. Do you have any information regarding this plan? Reliant is giving a nest away free if I sign up for the plan. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Great review, thanks. Are you aware of the "No C-wire" issues many are having? I was just about to order the E but I'm concerned I may have the cycling issue on my older HVAC system that does not have a C-wire. Nest compatability says it'll work for the wires that I currently have but the said that for many who have the cycling issue die to no c-wire. Any thoughts regarding that?
I hope I read your question correctly. The nest 3rd gen wiring bracket comes with aux slot. I would recommend taking of old thermostats and taking pic to identify wires. If have any wires you not sure about use aux. The nest will check wires also to confirm correct wiring.
@@jarotblackmon I have 4 wires and I know what each one is for. However, I've seen online many people have issues running a nest without the C wire. The C wire provides constant power to the nest battery. Without the C wire the nest battery is only charges when the HVAC is running. Which could lead to the cycling on/off issue. I just ordered the Nest E anyway. It's super easy to add the C wire. In fact, there are kits to add a C wire to the HVAC for about $15.
@@jarotblackmon No worries. I was concerned too until I saw my friends E installed. For my situation, that frosted muted look on my wall is what I want. Now if the make a while body like the E with the gen3 clear display I'm sold LoL.
Hi Mate I love your videos and have followed alot of your advice. I have the smartthings hub like yourself and I'm looking to buy a thermostat to run off smartthings, I like the hive but do I need the hive hub too? Or can I run the nest and hive off the smartthings hub?
Great video. I have seen in some reviews mentioning that the thermostat tends to act up turning it on and off a couple of times when it is on learning mode. Have you noticed that? Is it something we should be concerned of?
+webbezzy thanks! I actually didn't run into that issue when using them. I have seen people mention that before but I think it might be more of a rare case.
How accurate are they and what is the temperature spread? If I have it set to 74 on air conditioning, will the lowest spread be like 74.5 and the air will go on? Or is it like a whole degree before it goes on or off? Great review. 👍🏻
Thank you for the great video and the information! I'm a little nervous to buy and try to install Nest E. My thermostat only has 4 wires? It is for both A/C and Heater. Do you think it is hard to figure out which wires go th which connection?
Red - Power Black - Common Yellow - Cooling White - Heating Green - Fan Those are the standard for how your furnace should be wired up if your confused about it or its not wired up that way you can look at the board on your furnace to verify which color wires are going where on your board ( R W1 Y1 G C ) If you have any questions shoot me a reply I’m an HVAC service technician
Am I stuck with buying the Gen3 since I don’t want to install the needed extra wires ? I don’t have a modern setup (2001) and don’t want to run any wires and just stick with Gen3 to be safe???
