The best thermostats you can buy

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The Insider Pick:

• A good thermostat can help you save money on your heating and cooling costs. Based on our research, the Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation is the best thermostat you can buy. Nest saves you so much money with its smart features it pays for itself. 

Your thermostat regulates more than just your heating and cooling — it also regulates your comfort and your budget. Outdated thermostats can keep you too hot or too cold, which is simply uncomfortable and can actually cause some health problems in the long term.

Newer thermostats, even the most basic ones, are built with the latest technology that makes them better able to control temperature, and thus, your comfort. When you consider that new energy-saving thermostats can slash your energy bills by upwards of 20%, upgrading seems like a no-brainer.  

Beyond the money factor, you deserve to be comfortable in your own home. To get a comfortable home temperature, a proper, up-to-date thermostat is a must. And if you’re willing to pay more upfront, smart thermostat models offer convenience and handy features, such as Amazon Alexa integration to help you cut back on your energy costs.

Types of Thermostats

• Mechanical thermostats are the earliest version of thermostats that use a bimetallic strip to detect and adjust the temperature. They’re the least expensive model and are often found in older apartments.
• Non-programmable thermostats require direct human intervention to adjust the temperature settings but usually have a digital operation. They are relatively inexpensive but don’t do much to help reduce energy bills.
• Programmable Thermostats adjust the temperatures automatically based on preset preferences. In addition to being convenient and time-saving, programmable thermostats help you save quite a lot in energy bills.
• Wireless thermostats give you the ability to adjust temperature levels remotely. The price is a little steeper, but they deliver exceptional functionality and help you cut back on energy costs. They’re also useful if you have pets or handicapped or elderly individuals in your home.
• Smart thermostats learn your temperature preferences throughout the day and smartly adjust temperatures for you. The best models can sense when there is no movement in the house, or in a room, and adjust the temperature accordingly. They usually have remote access and other handy features such as voice control. They’re more expensive but will generally save you the most in your heating and cooling bills.

The picks below are chosen based on research, expert analysis, and tech review site lists of the best thermostats. We also took into consideration buyer reviews and Amazon bestseller rankings.

These thermostats are intended for commercial, rather than industrial use, but are suitable for homes of any size, ranging from studio apartments to large, multi-story houses. Although the big buzz around heating and cooling these days is with smart thermostats, we included various types of thermostats in our guide, ranging from the most basic to the smartest, to accommodate various budgets.   

Although the Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation is our top pick, for the reasons laid out in the slides below, you should also consider the Lux Products TX500U Universal 5-2 Programmable Thermostat, the Sensi Smart Thermostat, the Ecobee4 Smart Thermostat, and the Honeywell TH3110D1008 Pro Non-Programmable Digital Thermostat.

The best thermostat overall

Amazon

Why you'll love it: The Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation simply works as advertised and it comes with a handful of features that offer convenience, comfort, and energy savings.

Year after year, Nest stays on top of the thermostat game with the 3rd Generation Nest Learning Thermostat. Nest recently released a newer model called the Nest Thermostat E, but it’s so new there hasn’t been enough time to really see how well it performs long term. Therefore, we went with the ever-popular 3rd Generation Nest Learning Thermostat as our top thermostat pick.

The beauty of Nest is that it makes controlling your heating and cooling a breeze and saves you money. It was the first thermostat to be ENERGY STAR certified and independent studies have proven that the Nest Learning Thermostat saves an average of 10-12% on heating bills and 15% on cooling bills. It essentially pays for itself in two years.

There’s no need to program it, as the Auto-Schedule feature allows the thermostat to learn your schedule. It has built-in sensors to keep tabs on temperature, humidity, near-field activity, far-field activity, and ambient light. It also knows your phone’s location, so it can keep the heat or AC off when you're not home. You can check in on your home or manually adjust the temperature right in the app.

The install is easy, and you can do it yourself in around 30 minutes. This third generation model is slim and sleek, made of stainless steel with a large clear display. It has a feature called Farsight, which makes it light up when it sees you coming to show you the time, temperature, or weather from across the room. It’s compatible with Google Home and Amazon Alexa so you can truly go hands-free and simply verbalize the temperature settings you want.

The 3rd Generation Nest Learning Thermostat has an average 4.6 out of 5-star rating based on more than 14,000 customer reviews, and it has received rather stellar reviews from experts and tech analysts as well. It has a 4.5 out of 5-star rating on PCMag, CNET, and Digital Trends and is featured as the best thermostat on various product review lists such as The Wirecutter, LifeHacker, and Faveable.

Pros: Cuts energy costs so much it pays for itself in two years, various smart sensors, aesthetically pleasing screen and interface, smart home compatible, learns your preferences so no programming needed, easy and cheap install

Cons: Software/App issues, lemon products

Buy the Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation on Amazon for $247.95 and up

The best programmable thermostat for less than $35

Lux

Why you'll love it: The Lux Products TX500U Universal 5-2 Programmable Thermostat is easy to use and will save you energy with its programmable settings.

Sure, smart thermostats are nice, but you can also get a great programmable thermostat for much less money that will also save you some cash in heating and cooling costs. The Lux Products TX500U Universal 5-2 Programmable Thermostat only costs $32, so it's a great option for bargain hunters.

The thermostat is easy to use and program. You can set weekend and weekday programs with two or four different periods per day. That way, your home's temperature stays where you want it whether you're at home to control it or not.

The Lux works with heating and cooling systems including single and multi-stage heat pumps. It should be fine with all systems, except electric baseboard heat. The thermostat has a large, easy-to-read display that shows the current temperature and the one you aim to change it to. The controls are simple and not overwhelming.

CNET calls it the best affordable programmable thermostat you can buy, and buyers on Amazon give it positive reviews for the most part.

Pros: Simple, easy to use, very affordable, programmable

Cons: Not smart

Buy the Lux Products TX500U Universal 5-2 Programmable Thermostat on Amazon for $32.04

The best Wi-Fi thermostat

Sensi

Why you'll love it: In addition to handy remote access, the Sensi Smart Thermostat gives you the most accurate temperature settings and has a J.D. Power award to prove it.

Put your Wi-Fi to good use with this Sensi Smart Thermostat that makes it easy to remotely control and schedule your home's temperature settings. You simply connect the thermostat to your home Wi-Fi network, and then you can control it from anywhere via the Sensi app. 

The app also makes the install an easy process eliminating much of the guesswork. You simply input the wires that are connected to your old thermostat, and the app will run through the possible configurations to select the one that best matches your home setup, providing illustrated step-by-step instructions.

Once it's set up, the thermostat has geofencing capabilities to automatically reduce energy usage when you’re not home, saving you both money and time. You can use the location-based temperature control with geofencing or the 7-day flexible scheduling option to create home heating and cooling schedules. It even comes with a pre-loaded schedule that reflects common daily patterns. Conveniently, your temperature settings, even pre-programmed ones, can easily be changed no matter what your location, using the app.

Other features include the ability to control multiple Sensi Smart Thermostats from a single account, an indoor humidity sensor, and a secure cloud network. The Sensi features precision control accuracy of plus or minus 1 degree, so it keeps your home temperature within 1 degree of where you set it. As a smart device, the thermostat is compatible with Amazon Echo and Wink smart home so you can use your voice to control your temperature or control it using the Wink app or other Wink-compatible devices.

The Sensi Smart Thermostat is ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Smart Thermostat" by J.D. Power in the J.D. Power 2016 Smart Thermostat Satisfaction Report, based on 2,509 total responses, and is the only smart thermostat brand to receive a J.D. Power award.

The thermostat has a 3.5 out of 5-star rating on CNET and a 4.5 out of 5-star rating on Smart Thermostat Guide. It’s listed in The Wirecutter as one of the best thermostats you can buy.

On Amazon, the Sensi Smart Thermostat holds a 4.1 out of 5-star average rating based on more than 3,500 customer reviews. Reviewers mostly conclude that the thermostat is easy to operate and use and that it’s a great solution for when you are far away often or if you just have a hectic schedule and don’t want to have to worry about remembering to adjust your thermostat.

Many reviewers compare it to the Nest, and conclude that the Sensi is a better fit for their needs. The critical reviews tend to highlight problems that naturally occur when you rely on Wi-Fi.

Pros: Extremely accurate temperature settings, can be controlled remotely, convenient app that helps with install, various temperature control options and settings

Cons: Requires constantly good Wi-Fi, not compatible with all small home products and setups

Buy the Sensi Smart Thermostat on Amazon for $128.99

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