Thermostats are as old as air conditioning. Even though most people with HVAC understand the benefits of installing a thermostat, the recent shift to home automation and connectivity has given birth to a new set of smart thermostats that not only make your home more comfortable but also more energy-efficient. Today we will do a detailed review of the Google Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd generation, and Hopefully, you will find answers to all your questions about this smart knob-type thermostat here.
#Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation
Key Features
- Amazon Alexa voice (need to buy separately) control compatible thermostat.
- Auto-Schedule – It learns the temperature of your preference and programs automatically that removes confusion about programming.
- Wi-Fi Thermostat – It’s a Wi-Fi Thermostat; just connect it with Wi-Fi and control by your smartphone from anywhere using Nest App.
- Energy Saving – It shows Nest Leaf when you pick up a temperature that saves energy. It guides you in the right direction.
- Smart Thermostat – It’s a truly smart thermostat that learns how your home warms up and observe the weather to get the temperature you like when you wish for.
- Auto-Away – It will automatically shut everything down to save energy when you away from home.
- Remote Control – Connecting it to your Wi-Fi network, you can control it remotely from anywhere via your smart devices.
- Farsight – Nest Thermostat can spot you when you are in the room and lights up beautifully show you present weather, temperature, or time.
- Energy Star – Energy star certified smart thermostat that can save half of your energy costs, more than appliance or electronics. So why waiting, start saving energy to save money.
- Energy History – Keep records for energy history, so you can check it in Nest app to know how much energy you’ve used and why.
What is Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation?
The Nest Learning Thermostat comes from Nest Labs, an automation company formed by Apple engineers Tony Fadel and Matt Rogers. The company’s first success led to the acquisition by Google, which gave it the potential to be an impressive product. Although, many other reasons lead it to fame and reliability.
At present, with the 3rd generation of Nest Learning Thermostat, the company has offered an improved, more powerful, and feature-rich smart thermostat for homeowners who are willing to upgrade their homes. It’s easy to use and has learning capability to know how you like your home, so you don’t have to spend much time adjusting it with your schedule.
Design and Appearance
If you are sensitive and nurture your knot thermostat, you will find the Nest quite fulfilling. The smooth bezel and bright digital screen form the perfect blend of yesterday’s analog thermostats with a modern smart thermostat look.
A motion sensor illuminates it when you pass by, and you can read the current temperature without pressing any buttons. The backlight is as exotic as the intuitive design. The Nest learning thermostat 3rd generation will light up blue when running on ‘cool’ mode, give a warm orange hue when you’re warming up, and give a black background with white text when running idle.
Notable Features
Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation is an improved and more powerful version of the Nest learning thermostat series. Also, it is far ahead of its predecessors in terms of popularity. Only in Amazon, it has over 18,000 positive reviews, and 77% customer give 5/5 that no one else has. However, we will explain here some of its notable features that have a direct impact on its popularity.
A Thermostat That Can Learn
Nest’s selling point is the learning feature. Well, in our opinion, this feature deserves all the hype and glamor. A programmable thermostat is good at saving money – if you are patient enough to create the right schedule for your week. Nest’s learning capabilities do away with the need to schedule the different temperatures for different times meticulously.
It might take time, but the Nest will learn that you like your house at 70 degrees in the early evening of the weekdays, and you are always away on the weekends. All you have to do is fiddle with the settings for a whole week and let it learn your schedule.
The most interesting thing is that you can make a one-time change without confusing the entire system. If you are in one Saturday and want the AC on, choosing 70 degrees won’t make the smart thermostat unlearn that you are normally away on Saturdays. You will have to be home for two or three Saturday to achieve this.
Like any form of intelligence, it takes some time to gather facts and act on them. Don’t waste your time benchmarking and complaining about how inaccurate the Nest has been in the first few days. Just give it time to learn your schedule, and you’ll love the convenience.
A Power Saving Auto Away Option
You can use the Auto-Away feature to put the HVAC in a lull whenever no one passes by for the next two hours. It’s quite effective, if the thermostat is in the hallway and you are in a very busy house. However, some users reported that this feature disappointed them, and they’ve described it nicely that when they sat down for the Star Wars Saga marathon only to come about a cold far, far away galaxy five hours later.
No problem though, you could skip this anti-lazy feature and let the thermostat use Auto-Away at the time it thinks you are away. If you always leave for work at 8.00 AM, the nest learning thermostat 3rd generation will go on away mode a couple of minutes after 8.00 AM and wake just before you get back home.
The Green Leaf
Well, it’s hard to explain this, we just know that the green leaf kicks on when you choose a temperature that saves energy. If you would like to find out more, go to the Nest Labs’ official explanation. Also, you can monitor your energy savings and check your entire power consumption report using the Nest thermostat app.
Wi-Fi App
Think of the app as an extension that lets you remotely control and monitor your home. You can send commands straight to the thermostat from the Android, iOS, or PC application and set the conditions right whenever you think the thermostat’s intelligence isn’t up to the task.
You can use the app to:
- Change the current temperature
- Edit your entire schedule
- Check your energy consumption history
- Receive monthly reports with tips on how to better your energy saving
The Wi-Fi connectivity isn’t just a cool feature that makes the Nest futuristic and accessible over the web. It means that you will never have to worry about software updates since the manufacturer can push them over the internet. Google is good at software updates, expect to benefit a lot from these.
You don’t have to worry about hackers hijacking your HVAC. The Nest uses secure connections that are fully encrypted and private. Remember to choose and change your pin often and always associate it with an email address for recovery – just in case you forget it.
Energy Star
The first thermostat to earn Energy Star. The Nest Learning thermostat puts control over your energy usage, which affects your energy bills and saves money. It’s more than electronics or appliances. Also, it has already been proven that it helps save energy. Independent studies have shown that the Nest learning thermostat can save 15% on cooling bills and 10% to 12% on heating bills. The estimated average savings would be $131 to $145 a year.
Energy History
Nest allows you to check your energy history through the nest app. So, you can see how much energy you have consumed and where it has gone.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Nice and smooth design
- Easy to install
- Sharp and clear display
- Interacts with other Nest and 3rd party devices.
- Support for Google Home, IFTTT, and Amazon Alexa.
- Feature-packed device
- 24/7 help support with installation
Cons
- Expensive
- Remote room sensor not present
- Can’t expand to radiator control
Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation Or 2nd Generation Or 1st Generation
You might be torn between saving money on the 1st or 2nd generation Nest Learning thermostat or just going with the latest. Well, here are the facts. The 1st generation Nest learning is rare to come by now – unless you are buying second hand or from the few remaining sellers who still have them. You can check out a couple of these at Amazon.
The 2nd and 3rd generation Nest learning thermostats are more common. We’d advise you to go for the latest as you will not only be buying the best hardware but also maximum support. This doesn’t mean 1st or 2nd generation buyers are lost. You will still be receiving software updates.
We, however, think it would be better to pay a few extra bucks or so for the Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation.
Three Reasons – Why You Should Buy Nest Thermostat 3rd Generation
- It is slimmer than the 1st generation and has a 40% larger screen than the 2nd generation Nest.
- You can either use AA batteries to run the thermostat or run a C-Wire to avoid the agony of swapping batteries.
- A FarSight sensor makes it more sensitive. It will detect motion in an up to 20 feet radius.
How to install Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation
If you had another thermostat, this would be easy as removing the old unit, threading the wires correctly, and screwing the nest into place. It even comes with a free screwdriver to help you do that job properly.
If your system had no C-Wire, you have two options,
- You can run the Nest on the lithium-ion battery.
- Use the power extender kit to run your own C-Wire.
You can also check out how to wire a wifi thermostat without a c wire here.
Even though this Nest learning 3rd generation thermostat is compatible with up to 95% of the AC systems, for confirmation, you can run a compatibility test through the Nest compatibility tool before buying. However, we have discussed little more about the Nest Thermostat 3rd Generation installation process in our comprehensive Nest Learning Thermostats Review article.
If you are good to go, you will find that the thermostat will pick up and adapt to your system quite efficiently, unlike other thermostats that have you disclose your HVAC system during the configuration.
So, are You Decided?
If you’ve come this far, you must be serious about buying this smart thermostat. The Nest learning thermostat 3rd generation will give you something smart and beautiful that you can still control by twisting and pushing a knob. How cool? Pair it with its learning ability, and you have the ultimate thermostat for your busy schedule.
If you can’t make your decision, you can check out Honeywell Thermostats as well or head over to our top picks to get an idea of what other best thermostats are on the market.
If you think this detailed review had everything you need, why not go to Amazon and buy it. Still, you can either buy Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation or save some money on Nest Learning 2nd Generation.