Which Thermostat?

Hi All -

Currently thinking about enhancing my current home automation system by installing new thermostats. I am curious which model you would recommend. I see a lot of conversation about the new ADC-T2000. Also, what have you found to be the most useful feature(s) of having the thermostat ‘connected’ ?

Thanks,
-RC

I recommend the ADC-T2000 with an Alarm.com system. It looks the nicest, has the most features and (allegedly) will get over the air updates from Alarm.com to add features in the future.

The T2000 isn’t ready yet.

The T2000 looks “nice” if you like a white rectangle piece of plastic on wall (the display cannot be set to stay on), its buggy, and a PITA to properly program. (installer/advanced settings for “heat pump stages”, and “pump staging delay” are actually settings for cooling stages only, and not heating. You have to program first and second stage heat as AUX (which many cause an issue itself if it thinks you have TWO Auxiliary stages of heat (W1, W2) PLUS first stage of heat on a HP, instead of just two stages: Stage 1 “Y”, and Stage 2 Aux “W”. This is gonna confuse alot of dealers/users, and result in potentially expensive heating costs very shortly.

I plan to troubleshoot, and trial and error configure this tstat soon as weather permits, and I can switch it to heating mode. 99% of users will not do this, and will just expect it to “work”, and they are gonna be upset/disappointed big time.

Personally, the programming options on the T2000 are beyond terrible. Even the Nest does it better.

Unlike the others, it has zilch capabilities or features physically at the actual tstat.

The T2000 was designed by a company that Alarm.com acquired, and is locked down tight to their service, and near useless without that service.

What the T2000 looks like 99.9% of time:

Advanced settings:

Hi guys - thanks for the information. Hopefully Alarm.com will get the bugs worked out. I read the original announcement re: the T2000 and will be very interested when the additional ‘sensor’ is available for other parts of the home.

Riven - What tstat would you recommend?

I cannot. Personally I am thinking hard about the second gen Nest.

CT models (radio thermostat), trane, even Honeywell may be good recommended zwave options to start with.

Counterpoint: I have three of the T2000 stats in my house. They do exactly what they should and allow me to have set points automatically changed by a variety of external inputs. Geofences, sensor or sensors left open for a specified period of time (programmed on a per thermostats and sensor basis), extreme temp adjustments and of course basic rules based on time. I can program them from the app or the web and of course make manual adjustments at the stat any time.

In the future, ADC is supposed to release remote temp sensors that you can use to measure comfort in areas of the house not next to the stat. In my case that’s less of an issue due to the multiple zones I have but I can see that being a real big help in other cases. Also, when they (re) introduce motion sensor based intelligence it will be that much smarter.

Cons are that notifications are wonky from ADC but they’re supposed to be working on that.

Disclaimer: I have a standard natural gas heat and electric cooling system. There are three separate zones in the house but no heat pump or what have you. Depending on how your system is architected they may or may not be ready for you.

In short I love them, they do have a nice design and integrate nicely with my overall plan for security, automation and energy management. I’d definitely buy them again.

The T2000 looks “nice” if you like a white rectangle piece of plastic on wall.

It’s a sleek, very nice looking white rectangle piece of plastic with a layer of clear plastic over it which makes it look somewhat like a white glass iPhone or Samsung Galaxy. Many, including myself, consider it to look high tech but less intrusive on a living room wall than Jetson’s style sci-fi looking Nest. To each his own.

The ADC-T2000 is working great for me. I replaced my 2GIG CT100 with it. It’s been more reliable with Alarm.com for me and was much easier to program. The only down side I see is that it depends heavily on Alarm.com for anything advanced so it’s only really nice if you have an Alarm.com account.

If have or plan to have an Alarm.com account then I recommend a ADC-T2000. Otherwise, I’d go with a Nest or Ecobee. I’m really looking forward to the ADC-T2000’s remote temperature sensors would should be coming soon.

Excellent feedback. Thanks all! @Ryan - the remote temp sensors are exactly what peaked my interest in the T2000.

Will keep watching for updates. Maybe I’ll catch a great deal on them… If I am going to pull the trigger, I’ll need two!

Thanks again,
-Ryan

I’m pretty late to the party on this thread, but thought I’d add my two cents anyway. I use a Trane Zwave Thermostat with my ADC system: Trane Z-Wave Thermostat

I like this one over the T-2000 because I can easily access all of the regular thermostat functions right on the unit. I don’t need to pull up ADC unless I want to. There’s nothing special about the way this one looks. It looks just like any typical home thermostat.

I found that the more advanced “Smart” schedules didn’t save me squat in my heating/cooling bill really, but I also live in a pretty mild climate. The one thing I do use the the geozones so that the system will vary the temps if people are home or not.

I have a friend with a Nest setup and the ADC + zwave devices works easily just as good as the Nest setup.

Greg

I agree Greg. The real benefit is the ADC + zwave thermostat of your choice. I live in a very warm climate and I find that the integration for geo fences as well as security system status is very useful, way more efficient than trying to program fixed schedules especially since my girlfriend works odd hours and never the same two days in a row.

In addition, the ability to control set points when doors or windows are left open is huge since someone around here just can’t seem to remember to close the back door when she’s in the yard for example :smiley:

I like the look of the T-2000 but yes, you are a slave to ADC at that point. That’s a choice I made and I’m still comfortable (no pun intended) with it since everything else in the place works through the same back end (locks, lights, security system etc.).