[Slacky]

hey guys

looking for advice on smart thermostats. With the cold weather on the way looking to upgrade my heating controls to be able to turn on and off when I'm away from home. I've had hive in my previous house which was 2-3 years ago which was decent. Looking around the Internet it seems Nest, Hive and Tado seem to be the most popular. Nest looks good although it's the most expensive and I'll need 2 thermostats because I've got 2 heatings zones each controlled off different stats. I like the design of tado and looks like you can add another stat on without buying the whole kit again but only the wireless version has the ability to control hot water. I'll be replacing my existing stats so ideally could do with wired ones.

Which ones do you use and recommend

[225]

We have 2 nests and they work well. Not that I have bothered but you can integrate with alexa so could switch on the heating from your car via voice if needed. The app works well though and the wall units are good at realising no one is home so doesn't switch the heating on needlessly.

[Rbrown]

This may just confuse you…we have Hive and think it is great.

The app is ready good for adjusting things remotely.

[Watsey]

How many radiators/zones do you want to control ?

Do you want to be able to set up a customised heating schedule for each radiator/room and hot water heating ?

Do you want to have a wide range of control including whole property / zones / individual rooms ?

I'd advise really working out what you want to achieve, and then go from there.

Tado is excellent BTW.

[1 AKY]

We have Hive (with 'smart' TRVs) and seems to do the job, but find that you can't group them, so when you wish to, you have to change schedules individually for all. My other gripe with Hive is that there isn't much development going on to improve the product/functionality via firmware etc updates.

My cousin has:

https://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/pr...ch-easycontrol

which I had a play with and found much more user friendly.

EvilDrPorkChop is the man in the know. I'm sure he'll be along sometime to impart his professional knowledge.

[AlRex]

We have just got Hive, so far so good. We went for Hive over Nest so we could set individual TRVs but not added these yet.
No grumbles but not tried the others to compare.

[Pentland]

Few threads on this already so I recommend a search.

I have Tado. Definitely saves you money and, as you said, the valves are more aesthetic than other makes.

Not sure why you want several wired stats because the Tado valves have the stats built in and you can group them to make zones. That said, the way these systems ave you money is the control of individual rooms rather than all or nothing.
My set up has a wireless stat, does all 11 rads and hot water.


If you wait for Black Friday, Amazon will almost certainly have a deal on them.

[KCH1984]

Had Hive in the last house, and Nest was already installed in the house we're currently in. Very similar systems as you'll no doubt be aware, but I think Hive is the better of the two. Just simple things like being able to do a heating 'boost' for an hour independent of the set temp, which there doesn't seem to be an option for with Nest.

[Somebloke]

Some don't like the look of the TRVs but we have Evohome with 11 zones and hot water control. Integrated with Smartthings so system turns off when everyone leaves in the morning.

[SkyJawa]

I had Nest and it worked well, but the lack of smart trv’s to work with it imho put it behind tado and hive.

We switched to Tado, and works well, but better than nest as individual room trv can now call for heat and they will therefore only heat the room needing it.

[bytejunkie]

have a tado TRV on every rad, it allows me to heat the office and only the office 5 days a week when only I am in the house. towel rails get an hour a day to dry towels, an hour a day to warm the bath room. you get the point.

if you're buying this and you can wait 4/5 weeks, Tado always have a black friday sale.

[aquazi]

We’ve got 7 nests in our house… one for each zone… no radiators so work well… however the limitation with nests (unless its changed recently) is the lack of trv/ external temp sensors… which both hive and tado offer.

Hive was battery powered when were looking… so apart from the cosmetics (which imo nest looks the nicest) nest was easier being powered off the heatlink.

[DougMcL]

It all depends what you are trying to control. I have an underfloor heating system with three zones. Each is controlled by a Heatmiser timer/stat which is connected to a hub. Upstairs has a single stat with remote sensing also connected to the hub with TRVs.

[kobayashi___maru]

Could be worth a look at the Drayton Wiser system I moved to it from Nest and has smart TRV’s, bit cheaper than Hive.

https://wiser.draytoncontrols.co.uk

Not had any issues and allows more flexibility than other systems.

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by kobayashi___maru

Could be worth a look at the Drayton Wiser system I moved to it from Nest and has smart TRV’s, bit cheaper than Hive.

https://wiser.draytoncontrols.co.uk

Not had any issues and allows more flexibility than other systems.

I had Drayton Wiser when it first came out and it was an absolute joke. Months of issues, and Drayton seemingly had no idea how to fix them. I had the entire system removed and fully refunded.

Unless the hardware, software and App have had a complete overhaul I wouldn't touch it with a very long pole.