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

[iamwiz82]

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

Pretty cool stuff, albeit a bit pricey. I love my Nest Thermostat and I like that they integrate:

The Nest Learning Thermostat can automatically shuts off fossil-fuel based heating if Nest Protect detects a carbon monoxide alarm. Broken or leaky heating systems are a common source of carbon monoxide. Turning it off during a carbon monoxide emergency could stop your furnace from making the situation even worse.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

And it will cost what, $200 a unit? NH code requires a smoke detector on each level of a house, plus one "just outside" and "inside" each bedroom. That means that an average 2 level 4BR house will have 6 units.

Forgive me, but I don't need a smoke detector to light my way or tell me that there is smoke in a room. Last I checked, most people have overhead lighting and are able to check every room in their house in a matter of minutes when an alarm goes off.

The hand wave deactivation is cool though. Not $200 cool. But a nice feature. Give me that plus the pre-alarm warning (general - smoke detected is fine) at a reasonable price point, and then maybe I'll buy.

 

[iamwiz82]

Pre-order is $129.

In a situation with 6 alarms, if one in the kitchen goes off the other five will alert you with "There is smoke in the kitchen", not just a generic beep. That's pretty interesting and it helps with evacuation plans when you know (pretty much) where the fire started.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

I care more about the August lock prerelease. Well I'm looking forward to it more anyways.

http://www.august.com/

 

[Vdubchaos]

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

 

[amdskip]

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

I would agree with you on the smoke detector but the thermostat will pay for itself over time. I recently moved and one of the first things I did was to reinstall my nest.

 

[iamwiz82]

I would agree with you on the smoke detector but the thermostat will pay for itself over time. I recently moved and one of the first things I did was to reinstall my nest.

Don't quote him, he's on my ignore list

 

[Vincent]

It only has a photoelectric smoke sensor but no ionization smoke sensor. They put so much effort into this device but it really does not serve its purpose as a smoke detector. What a disappointment.

 

[iamwiz82]

Ionization smoke detectors are banned in many countries and a few states now (IIRC) plus a vast majority of fires smolder and then grow, they don't just explode, so it optical sensors work better. I have seen both kinds used in different capacities at work, dependent on the type of fire that is expected.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I would agree with you on the smoke detector but the thermostat will pay for itself over time. I recently moved and one of the first things I did was to reinstall my nest.

It will not pay for itself if you simply use the heat when needed and turn it on/off accordingly.

Again, it's the price one is willing to pay for a little bit of connivance. Since your nest costs 800-1000% more than your usual programmable thermostat....TO ME it's not worth it.



If you like it and have the dough, that's all that really matters.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I would agree with you on the smoke detector but the thermostat will pay for itself over time. I recently moved and one of the first things I did was to reinstall my nest.

What is the ROI of the nest vs a standard programmable?

 

[Vdubchaos]

What is the ROI of the nest vs a standard programmable?

but....but.....I can control it from my phone man

Cost: $170

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

What is the ROI of the nest vs a standard programmable?

I don't have the actual math to answer that, however the Nest is different from a basic programmable. Yes they both can be set for hours to turn on/off heat/cool etc. However, the Nest will adapt. In addition it can help you see historical data and help you to adjust. Plus if you forget on vacation or something it will auto-away.

There are some other benefits as well.

 

[sixone]

I care more about the August lock prerelease. Well I'm looking forward to it more anyways.

http://www.august.com/

That looks awesome.

Expensive, but awesome.

 

[Aikouka]

I care more about the August lock prerelease. Well I'm looking forward to it more anyways.

http://www.august.com/

I purchased a similar device called Lockitron back during their crowdfunding campaign, and it should be arriving later this month. They both seem fairly similar with August probably having a few extra software-based features. Although, as a renter, I do kind of like that Lockitron doesn't require me to dismantle any bit of my door. I do have to loosen the plate, but that's it.

 

[RGUN]

I care more about the August lock prerelease. Well I'm looking forward to it more anyways.

http://www.august.com/

Interesting, I'm getting my lockitron next month, which is a similar setup but without having to change the door hardware. Also a bit cheaper.

Www.lockitron.com

 

[Doppel]

I also think nest is overpriced and offers little we don't already have, but in a pretty apple-like package. A co-worker has one and when we logged in not long ago to see his power use its metric gathering clearly wasn't working properly; it was missing huge chunks of time the power had obviously been on.

 

[SKORPI0]

 

[iamwiz82]

What is the ROI of the nest vs a standard programmable?

Mine has more than paid for itself. Electricity is down 10% for the year and natural gas is pushing 20%. This is comparing the last 1.5 years with the previous data my utility companies store.

I would guess it took about a year to pay off.

 

[Dubb]

Kinda cool, and I really hate pulling down the smoke detectors when the oven gets a little smokey, so I'd be all about that hand wave to turn off thing.

But I wouldn't bother unless I had power hard wired to the detectors. 6 lithium AAs per device for the battery model is pretty wasteful even if it lasts "multi-year" like they claim. Don't see anything about using rechargeables.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Mine has more than paid for itself. Electricity is down 10% for the year and natural gas is pushing 20%. This is comparing the last 1.5 years with the previous data my utility companies store.

I would guess it took about a year to pay off.

Didn't answer my question. Partly because you didn't indicate that you used a programmable thermostat prior to switching to the nest.

Let me rephrase:

Say you have a decent programmable thermostat and a nest. One year you use the programmable to control your heating system. Another year you use the nest. Assume comparable weather and that the programmable thermostat is well programmed. How much money does the nest save you relative to the programmable? Then, substract the cost of the programmable from the cost of the nest, and then divide by the savings. If the result isn't at least 3+ (years), I will be shocked.

I'm not saying it isn't a cool gadget, and I'm not saying that it won't eventually save you money. What I am questioning is whether it is worth the investment based on cost savings alone.

Its a bit like comparing a honda civic to a toyota prius. The prius will get you 5-7MPG more than the civic, but costs ~$6000 more the the civic. Recouping the $6k investment would take 7+ years at current gas prices assuming 12-15k miles driven per year. This seriously undermines the argument that Prius is a better choice because it has better gas mileage and thus will save you money in the long run. Other factors may validly drive that decision, but MPG isn't one of them. Same is likely true for the nest. Ease of use, cool factor, etc. may be justifications for the cost. But saving money (relative to a programmable) likely is not.

 

[amdskip]

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.

 

[purbeast0]

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.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I also think nest is overpriced and offers little we don't already have, but in a pretty apple-like package. A co-worker has one and when we logged in not long ago to see his power use its metric gathering clearly wasn't working properly; it was missing huge chunks of time the power had obviously been on.

That's because their Marketing does a great job at convincing people that these products do magic.

And they don't. There is no magic.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Didn't answer my question. Partly because you didn't indicate that you used a programmable thermostat prior to switching to the nest.

Let me rephrase:

Say you have a decent programmable thermostat and a nest. One year you use the programmable to control your heating system. Another year you use the nest. Assume comparable weather and that the programmable thermostat is well programmed. How much money does the nest save you relative to the programmable? Then, substract the cost of the programmable from the cost of the nest, and then divide by the savings. If the result isn't at least 3+ (years), I will be shocked.

I'm not saying it isn't a cool gadget, and I'm not saying that it won't eventually save you money. What I am questioning is whether it is worth the investment based on cost savings alone.

Its a bit like comparing a honda civic to a toyota prius. The prius will get you 5-7MPG more than the civic, but costs ~$6000 more the the civic. Recouping the $6k investment would take 7+ years at current gas prices assuming 12-15k miles driven per year. This seriously undermines the argument that Prius is a better choice because it has better gas mileage and thus will save you money in the long run. Other factors may validly drive that decision, but MPG isn't one of them. Same is likely true for the nest. Ease of use, cool factor, etc. may be justifications for the cost. But saving money (relative to a programmable) likely is not.

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.

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.

I don't think that it's that big of a "premium" over a standard decent programmable.

Interesting, I'm getting my lockitron next month, which is a similar setup but without having to change the door hardware. Also a bit cheaper.

Www.lockitron.com

As for the Lockitron, I looked at that as well. I think it's ugly personally. It looks like a kids toy. Now I get the benefit of it going on top of any lock essentially (only option for apartment really). But I think the August lock looks better, and is more "polished" of a product. That's obviously just IMO.