Smart Thermostat

I bought this to use with an older two-wire HeatnGlow gas fireplace. It's set up to run through a Universal Devices i994Pro controller equipped with the Z-Wave module. The GoControl is mounted right next to an Insteon thermostat that I use to run my electric baseboard heat. This Insteon thermostat cost more than twice as much as the GoControl.It took me five minutes to mount this and wire it (only two wires in my system, red and white), and it was even less time to link up. The instructions were simple, as was set-up. I'm using the included 4-AA batteries, not the "C" wire.I have two applications for connecting to my network, the dashboard imbedded in the controller, and the Admin Console available through UD Systems. The console has all the power and functionality, and it's what you need to link devices, edit, program, etc. The dashboard is just for simple commands. I mention this because when I link up the through the Admin Console I get all the info I want from the GoControl, including percentage of battery charge. This is the only wild card for me right now because I really don't know how long the batteries will last. I will be OK with 30 days but no less. If the batteries don't last 30 days I'll by a step-down voltage converter and wire in 24V from the wall.You can use your network controller to control the thermostat or use the push buttons on the thermostat itself. Syncronization is virtually immediate. Everything works great.I calibrated the GoControl to the temperature reading on the Insteon thermostat it's mounted next to. There is about a 15 minute adjustment period for the sensor. My advice is to hook everything up, get your other settings the way you want them: Fahrenheit/Centergrade. Day/Time. Standard/HVAC, etc. Wait a little while before calibrating the temperature.Once calibrate to -1 degree the GoControl and the Insteon showed the same temperatures most of the time. The reason for the occasional difference is that the Insteon shows temperature to two decimal places while the GoControl does not show fractions of a degree. I suspect the GoControl is rounding up or down or just capable of working on the basis of whole numbers.All in all, a nice looking, easy to install and operate wifi thermostat at a great price.

I've bought few of these thermostats, they work well. They look modern with large easy to read display, easy and intuitive operation. They replaced my touch screen Honeywell thermostat and I was happy to find out that they fitted perfectly, even mounting holes.In regards to Z-Wave:The thermostat will continue to operate even if ZWave controller goes down. It will maintain the last settings. You can adjust them manually if needed, like on any other thermostat. In case you use C-Wire and loose power. It may forget time but time is only used for display purpose, it won't stop your thermostat from working.Scheduling. There is some confusion about schedule capabilities. The thermostat itself doesn't have schedule function, your ZWave controller is responsible for it. I prefer it this way. I don't want to have 2 independent schedules, on the controller and another one on thermostat. They could overlap and make scheduling more complicated then necessary.Extending battery life. ZWave battery operated devices take very little power when they "sleep" but when Z-Wave is actively transmitting or receiving commands power consumption goes up a lot. I would advise not to run automatic pulling programs too often. I run status update program once every 6 hours. It's only needed in case Z-Wave network looses some updates and your controller is out of sync with thermostat.Thermostat always sends updates when temperature changes or set points were modified so most of the time they are in sync and there is no need for update program to wake up the device.7/21/2018 Update. 2 years later all thermostats still work fine for me. The batteries last about 8-10 month.

This is the best price point with function, durability and form considered for a Z-wave thermostat. It is easy to install, comes with a clear and concise manual and has enough users that you can find support on-line.Be forewarned that the company will not give advice as to installation, despite their claims of being there for you. Don't take this is a big criticism, just making certain you understand that they can't give you advice on hooking this up to your HVAC system which could be any number of types and configurations (two stage cooling, two or three state heating, gas or electric or oil for that matter). If the instructions don't cover your specific installation they will tell you to call an HVAC technician to install it. My old thermostat had an "E" wire that was also jumpered to AUX and the instructions did not cover that wire....I did some research and concluded that E and AUX were to trigger the second state heat (electric) and wired them to W1. I contacted the manufacture to verify and they said they could not comment on it. I was frustrated at first, but in the long run I understand.As to Z-wave, pairing is easy (or was with my HomeSeer controller). The assumption is you can write or configure your own automation settings via events in your interface. This is trivial for most, but be aware if you are not comfortable setting up events then you may want a programable thermostat. I setup events for waking, leaving for work, return, nighttime, weekends, guest mode etc so I never really have to look at it.Paired with a suitable controller it works well with Alexa and you can easily adjust it by voice command. A great way to do this is with events in your controller that Alexa can trigger with "routines". If I say "Alexa I'm Cold" that routine triggers the ImCold event which reads the current heating or cooling set point depending on the mode and raises it two degrees and sets a timer for an hour then returns to normal.In the end with a good Z-wave controller you can do amazing things with this (or most) thermostats. I recommend this one.