Best Wifi enabled thermostat

[AW10]

I installed multizone UFH with floor probes (which Tado sadly doesn't support) and wish to deregister my Tado components so that they can be transferred to a friend at a different address. OK, so they won't get any revenue from my request but it hardly seems like a major task for them to resolve.

[dickymint]

AW10 said:

I installed multizone UFH with floor probes (which Tado sadly doesn't support) and wish to deregister my Tado components so that they can be transferred to a friend at a different address. OK, so they won't get any revenue from my request but it hardly seems like a major task for them to resolve.

Can't you just change the email address, password and home location?

Obviously ignore this if you're renting.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

AW10 said:

Anyone else having Tado support issues? Put a request in via their app 8 days ago and have had two "sorry but we're real busy" replies but no action on the request. P*ss poor service.

Yes huge amount of trouble! 17 phone calls in one day before they even picked up. Support tickets going unanswered for days if at all.

[roadie]

I've had no issues with Tado other than it being necessary for me to be on their beta Windows Phone app. They answered my support tickets swiftly.

[AW10]

dickymint said:

Can't you just change the email address, password and home location?

Obviously ignore this if you're renting.

I may have to try that route if all else fails. I was trying to use their online installation guide that takes into account the boiler and current controller/thermostat.

[paulrockliffe]

Not looked at those TRVs, but don't forget that if you can get them onto something like IFTTT it's trivial to use that service to have them trigger the boiler.

IFTTT is one of my favourite bits of Tado, I use the Home/Away detection as a trigger for a few thigs, eg I have the amplifiers for my ceiling speakers turned off if we all go out and I have some room lights come on if it's after dark and no one is home.

If I had some free time to mess around I'd get the alarm auto-arming too, but that needs a bit of wiring and a relay.

[Roger645]

Just saw this which contains some updates about Wiser.

http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/hvac/drayton-wiser-...

I hope they manage to get it to an acceptable level of performance as I want to switch to this type of device, the problem for me with evohome is having to have the unit thermostat connected to the mains.

[shady lee]

Roger645 said:

Just saw this which contains some updates about Wiser.

http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/hvac/drayton-wiser-...

I hope they manage to get it to an acceptable
level of performance as I want to switch to this type of device, the problem for me with evohome is having to have the unit thermostat connected to the mains.

Why?

Just use it on a side board like I do.

[mjb1]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

AW10 said:

Anyone else having Tado support issues? Put a request in via their app 8 days ago and have had two "sorry but we're real busy" replies but no action on the request. P*ss poor service.

Yes huge amount of trouble! 17 phone calls in one day before they even picked up. Support tickets going unanswered for days if at all.

My one slight concern about Tado is that their servers are central to the stat and the app communicating. If they go belly up as a company, then you loose functionality other than the current presets that the stat has in it's memory. They are small company compared to other connected thermostat makers though. Hopefully they'll be fine, or if the worst does happen, will someone buy them out and keep it going.

The other thing (related to above), is that their revenue model is based solely on the initial sale (ignoring the rental option for a moment). Once you own the stat, they provide their server side of things FOC, but for how long? Can they survive on that business model long term?

[essayer]

shady lee said:

Why?

Just use it on a side board like I do.

Poor Mia! Hope she has a duvet.

Edited by essayer on Tuesday 21st November 23:46

[shady lee]

essayer said:

Poor Mia! Hope she has a duvet.

Edited by essayer on Tuesday 21st November 23:46

She's away at the grandparents lol

[kambites]

What's the RF range of these systems like? We have a modern detached house with an extension (so there's an internal double-skinned wall). Wifi struggles to work end-to-end of the house so we have home plug based hot spots; will something like the Drayton wiser have similar signal issues?

I know Drayton do a plug-in range extender but I can't see any details on the price.

[Oakey]

RE: The Drayton

10. Ability to nominate a weather station on wunderground.com for very local data for the weather compensation function – No. We are confident the weather service used in Eco Mode is adequate and have no plans to change this.

Someone explain the above to me? Do they just use one weather station for this? With Philips Hue, the sunset related routines ran off the location but the only option available was 'London' which, if you're up North like me, is no fking good because sunset in London is earlier than it is up here in Lancs (I think this is fixed now and it actually goes off your location now).

I can imagine similar problems if Drayton's weather service is London centric as opposed to where you actually live.

[shady lee]

Drayton is all abit Mickey mouse, if you look over reviews of their previous internet thermostat "migenie" you find that the servers are not even managed by Drayton anymore.

Plus a host of complaints for server downtime and the device resetting itself and all scheduling.

They dumped it pretty quick (2 years maybe less) . And moved on to making the wiser when they could see the migenie was the poorest performer out of the others.

I've had wiser, and it simply didn't work, nightly issues for 3 weeks. Software, signal, shoddy customer service that might as well have worked at McDonald's for all they knew about the product outside of the brochure.

Got evohome now, and it's very very good!

Not had 1 issue, if you want zoned heating, avoid the marketing crap and jazzy pictures from wiser, spend abit more and get the tried and tested evohome.

[Harry Flashman]

Years ago, I tried LightwaveRF's system. It was balls - buggy, clunky and useless. I am reading this thread and other reviews and have rapidly concluded that in this space, it does not pay to be an early adopter.

One year ago I installed Honeywell's Evohome, in our last house. It operated faultlessly: and, importantly, continued to do so when BT decided that constantly dropping broadband was something that our street really needed for a while.

Bought a new house in September, amd finishing the renovation. And have just ordered the Evohome setup again. Expensive (especially as I am having someone set it up - two hot water cylinders and existing zoned heating system means I'm leaving this to a professional), but I know it works when installed properly. IFTTT support means some rudimentary automation is possible too (which frankly is all you really need with heating and hot water - some geofencing and weather stuff and you're good to go, for most of us).

It's expensive, because it is good.

Edited by Harry Flashman on Wednesday 22 November 13:18

[kambites]

shady lee said:

Not had 1 issue, if you want zoned heating, avoid the marketing crap and jazzy pictures from wiser, spend abit more and get the tried and tested evohome.

The problem is, it's not "a bit more", it's nearly twice the price. Realistically if the Wiser doesn't work we'll stick with a conventional single stat and passive TRVs that we've got now.

The recent reviews of the Wiser seem fairly good. I wonder if they just released the thing before the firmware was ready rather than there being a fundamental issue with the hardware. I don't particularly want the internet connectivity side of it, I just want the cheapest way to a multi-zone, individually timed central heating system.

ETA: I know it's a minor thing, but I also don't like the Honeywell TRVs, having a screen on them looks utterly ridiculous to me.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 22 November 13:33

[Oakey]

My issue with paying a bit more for EvoHome is that I rent so I want something that isn't a major ballache to replace and put back to how it was previously if I have to move out!

My landlord's plumber can probably cope with the Drayton, I'm not so sure about the Honeywell stuff

[clockworks]

kambites said:

The problem is, it's not "a bit more", it's nearly twice the price. Realistically if the Wiser doesn't work we'll stick with a conventional single stat and passive TRVs that we've got now.

The recent reviews of the Wiser seem fairly good. I wonder if they just released the thing before the firmware was ready rather than there being a fundamental issue with the hardware. I don't particularly want the internet connectivity side of it, I just want the cheapest way to a multi-zone, individually timed central heating system.

ETA: I know it's a minor thing, but I also don't like the Honeywell TRVs, having a screen on them looks utterly ridiculous to me.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 22 November 13:33

The Evohome TRV screen is a big plus for me. I can see what the current temperature setting is, and change it for a quick boost without walking to the controller. It shows battery and comms status, allows you to set temperature offset, see the zone name, etc (very useful when configuring the system). The display can be laid flat to reduce the chance of bashing it with the vacuum cleaner.
The TRV can always be fitted with the display facing the wall if you don't want to see it.

[Roger645]

shady lee said:

Roger645 said:

Just saw this which contains some updates about Wiser.

http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/hvac/drayton-wiser-...

I hope they manage to get it to an acceptable
level of performance as I want to switch to this type of device, the problem for me with evohome is having to have the unit thermostat connected to the mains.

Why?

Just use it on a side board like I do.

I don't have a sideboard or any where else to put it near a mains socket where it would suit.

[essayer]

You could wall mount it and take power from a lighting circuit, wire a spur etc?