New hardware coming from Nest- Nest Protect - 'Intelligent' smoke/CO2 alarm

[MarkXIX]

the majority of the people talking bad about the nest on these forumsare the same old penny pinchers on these forums that always never want to spend anything and save save save and don't want to spend any of their money until they retire.

and no i don't have a nest.

I have been extremely happy with my Nest thermostat. It hasn't been perfect, but it's been updated automatically after issues have crept up and I haven't had any issues of late. The main issue was that for a while it would be in accessible because the battery inside it was run down and it would lose connection. That hasn't happened in some time now.

I like that it automatically senses when the house is unoccupied every day. I also like that it learns when my daughter comes home and starts to automatically heat/cool the house to our preferred settings. I like that I can see the last several weeks/months of statistical data on when it heated or cooled and that it bases that information on the local weather forecast and patterns.

I suspect that most people who hate on it hate it because their original thermostat was placed in a location that's not conducive to how the Nest best works. Bottom line, if the sensors in it can't detect the things that it needs to best function, it doesn't suck, the placement of it sucks. Mine can see the front door and is next to the master bedroom. For me, I come home and walk past it to put on my "after work" clothes, so it keys off that our my daughter coming in the front door. Like they say in real estate, location, location, location.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I know what you're saying. But what is the cost of a decent programmable? $75? $100? $125? More? I know I can go to lowes.com and check, but I want to know what you consider a decent programmable so we can use the same starting point for the conversation.

A decent programmable to me is one that has has multiple (3-4) program cycles per day, with 7 day programming or 5 day + weekend programming.

I have three Honeywell RTH23's in my house, which meet the above criteria and which I bought from home depot for ~$25 when they were on sale. Normally they are around $40.

http://www.smarthome.com/20499/Honeywell-RTH2300B1012-A-5-2-Day-Programmable-Thermostat/p.aspx

I'll assume $100 for a decent programmable. So Nest is $150 more. You ask how long to recoup that $150 stating all things are equal (or close to equal). With a 3 year time period, I'd bet you are probably saving $100 over that time period with a Nest. Yes that's pure speculation, but $33/year for heating costs (electric in summer, gas or electric in winter). That's $3/mo basically. It doesn't take much to get to that point. So now is a Nest worth the extra $50 if we are talking about a 3 year span? I'd argue yes, as would most owners I think. For me, who does not have a Nest today, I would find value in seeing the graphs and historical data as well as access from my smart phone.

That might be true for a house with a single heating zone. I have three heating zones in my house, which are run by 3 $25 thermostats. So the difference is more like $675. I'm not sure I would see a $3 per zone savings per month.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not hating on the nest. I just think it is pretty overpriced for what it does. But if it floats your boat and you are happy with it, great! It is pretty to look at, and certainly would be a conversation piece.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

All of your nest haters need to do some additional reading before making comments. The nest is more than just a programmable thermostat. It learns and senses when you are away and forgot to turn your heat off.

Since October 2011, all Nest schedules have saved:
904,720,489 kWh
That's as much greenhouse gasses as 125,000 cows can produce in a year. By burping.

My main incentive for purchasing mine was saving money. Sure the remote access is cool but I'm far from a mac device kinda guy. There are multiple gas/energy companies offering incentives for people to upgrade to the nest too.

I would love to know how they/you determined that statistic.

To know how much energy nests have saved, you need to know the historical energy usage of each home that has one installed. Only entities I know of that have that information are the power companies, and they aren't the ones distributing the nest. Then you have to account for any number of other factors, such as whether a homeowner updated their heating system, augments their heating system with an unmetered heat source (wood, pellets, etc.).

My guess is that the you or the nest manufacturers are just guessing. You/they might be making an educated guess, but it is a guess nonetheless.

 

[Dirigible]

...

The hand wave deactivation is cool though. Not $200 cool.

...

Apparently I thought it was $129 cool, since I pre-ordered one to try it out. Going to see how it works in the kitchen, which is where most of our false alarms occur.

 

[MarkXIX]

I would love to know how they/you determined that statistic.

To know how much energy nests have saved, you need to know the historical energy usage of each home that has one installed. Only entities I know of that have that information are the power companies, and they aren't the ones distributing the nest. Then you have to account for any number of other factors, such as whether a homeowner updated their heating system, augments their heating system with an unmetered heat source (wood, pellets, etc.).

My guess is that the you or the nest manufacturers are just guessing. You/they might be making an educated guess, but it is a guess nonetheless.

I was in a position last year where I moved into a brand new house (not new to me, brand new construction). We ran off of the standard thermostat that was installed (dumb thermostat, for lack of a better phrase) for the first two months. Once we installed the Nest, thermostat, we saw a marked decrease in our energy bill, enough that it paid for itself in about seven months.

While I will agree that first two months maybe wasn't a scientific sample that's strongly debatable, I can say that I strongly believe our HVAC utilization has dropped and so has our bill. Plus, I'm sorry, maybe you call it a gimmick, but there's something very invigorating about being somewhere far away and being able to see and control your HVAC system from your phone or a web page that just mentally justifies the cost for me.

 

[alkemyst]

Nest = Apple of home devices

Basically you pay a premium for a "cool feature".

I will stick to my 5 dollar detectors and 10 dollar thermostat.....but thanks

You couldn't afford one anyway.

 

[Vincent]

Apparently I thought it was $129 cool, since I pre-ordered one to try it out. Going to see how it works in the kitchen, which is where most of our false alarms occur.

You're not supposed to install a smoke detector in a kitchen because of the frequent false alarms.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I was in a position last year where I moved into a brand new house (not new to me, brand new construction). We ran off of the standard thermostat that was installed (dumb thermostat, for lack of a better phrase) for the first two months. Once we installed the Nest, thermostat, we saw a marked decrease in our energy bill, enough that it paid for itself in about seven months.

While I will agree that first two months maybe wasn't a scientific sample that's strongly debatable, I can say that I strongly believe our HVAC utilization has dropped and so has our bill. Plus, I'm sorry, maybe you call it a gimmick, but there's something very invigorating about being somewhere far away and being able to see and control your HVAC system from your phone or a web page that just mentally justifies the cost for me.

Totally agree that a nest will be a huge improvement over a "dumb" thermostat. The question is whether it is a good improvement over a programmable thermostat.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Apparently I thought it was $129 cool, since I pre-ordered one to try it out. Going to see how it works in the kitchen, which is where most of our false alarms occur.

<shrug> To each his own. I'm not condemning anyone for buying one of those products. Just challenging the assertion that they save money or are a notable improvement over their standard counterparts.

 

[shay008]

well i think that nest products is A continuance off APPLE.

nest Thermostat,smoke protector are the smart home new frontier and the race just began

i have the nest thermostat and I'm very pleased.
have a look here, <a herf="http://www.squidoo.com/dose-nest-save-money">nest</a>

 

[Mixolydian]

First it was thermostats. Now smoke/CO alarms are becoming high-tech gadgets. Just got done installing one of these. Pretty cool device.

https://nest.com/smoke-co-alarm/life-with-nest-protect/

 

[KeithTalent]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2346581&highlight=nest+protect

KT

 

[Mixolydian]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2346581&highlight=nest+protect

KT

That thread's almost 2 months old. Besides, they only started shipping this week.

 

[KeithTalent]

That thread's almost 2 months old. Besides, they only started shipping this week.

KT

 

[SAWYER]

lol@$129 for a fancy smoke detector

 

[Doppel]

I still think nest, including the thermostat, are solutions looking for a problem. Is this really better than a $30 CO detector in a way that matters? Or the Nest better than a $40 (?) programmable thermostat?

 

[Markbnj]

Does it go off every time you think about toasting a bagel? That's the only thing I want to know.

 

[Colt45]

I've been working on something like this a bit

except is geiger counter, not smoke detector

:awe:

 

[Mixolydian]

Does it go off every time you think about toasting a bagel? That's the only thing I want to know.

Not sure yet.

But it does give you a verbal warning before it actually sounds and alarm. And you can simply wave your hand at it to shut it up.

 

[Printer Bandit]

looks like a wireless router stuck to the ceiling.

 

[rsutoratosu]

thermostat I can understand, i have a nest and I use it almost daily if im running late, etc.. this one i dont really get

 

[Dirigible]

Not sure yet.

But it does give you a verbal warning before it actually sounds and alarm. And you can simply wave your hand at it to shut it up.

That's why I ordered it. Don't need an alarm going off in the kitchen all the time.

Mine hasn't arrived yet. I'm jelly, Mixo.

 

[Dirigible]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2346581&highlight=nest+protect

KT

That thread reminds me it's almost two months since I ordered. Hurry up!

 

[IronWing]

The light turns off, right? Right?

 

[Markbnj]

Not sure yet.

But it does give you a verbal warning before it actually sounds and alarm. And you can simply wave your hand at it to shut it up.

Ok, that's smart. It says they can't make the sensor any better, but they can make the package easier to communicate with.