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Installing a programmable thermostat in your home is one of the easiest methods to manage cash paid on energy bills every month. By having control over your heating system, you can easily minimize energy waste and, at the same time, keep your home comfortable.
Before you add a thermostat to your shopping list, there are some key features to watch out for. We recommend you pay very close attention to this expert guideline on the key features as they will assist you in purchasing the correct programmable thermostat for 100% comfort.
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–Best Budget-Friendly Smart Thermostats
An Interactive Touchscreen
It’s exciting to know that some budget-friendly smart home thermostats are built with a touch screen panel that you can easily use to adjust your home heating settings. When a smart home thermostat has a very user-friendly touchscreen, you can easily see and personalize the settings you wish. This is similar to using a smartphone or PC app to control it.
Some smart home learning thermostats are also built with big and bright displays for easy usage, especially if you have difficulty with dim light or reading small letters. Interactive touchscreens are not only functional, but they are also fun to use. There is also something futuristic about moving closer to your thermostat and swiping with settings with nothing but your fingertips. Some thermostats with interactive touchscreens include:
Voice Control Capabilities of Wi-Fi Smart Home Thermostat
Owning a manual thermostat means you will have to physically stand up to control the temperature. This can be a lot of stress to some people. With AI voice control, this will become a story of the past. Depending on which thermostat you buy, you can easily voice out your smart learning thermostat changes you want it to do, and it will be done. You will never need to stand up to change the temperature, nor will you have to pick your smartphone for mobile app control.
However, less expensive smart thermostats are usually controlled through separate or additional (not built-in) Voice-Assurance service like Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, or IFTTT)
Check out or top picks if you want these features:
- Honeywell Home T5+ Smart Thermostat
- Google Nest Learning Thermostat 3G
- Ecobee Smart Thermostat With Voice Control
What are Amazon Alexa, Apple Homekit, and IFTTT?
Amazon’s Alexa, Apple Homekit, and IFTTT are voice control devices that add more convenience features to the best smart-home devices, including smart-home thermostats. Alexa and Apple Homekit are the two most popular voice control around.
For instance, let assume you wouldn’t want to stand up from your couch, and your smartphone or tablet is quite some distance from you. If you have your thermostat connected to one of these voice controls, you can just tell Alexa, or Apple Homekit, or IFTTT what you want your smart thermostat to execute. With this, you can control absolutely everything facet of your smart home thermostat with your voice only.
Smart Thermostat Mobile App
With a smartphone app control, you can quickly turn your smartphone to remote control to control your thermostat settings. Smartphone apps help to break the limit of voice control. While you are away from home, an app might be the only means to control your thermostat. A thermostat with a mobile app offers you convenient control of your monthly energy bill without getting up or touching the dial.
Just think about controlling your home temperature right from your smartphone before you leave your office or place of work. Then, when you approach your front door, your home temperature is already warm as you wish, especially during cold winter nights and refreshingly cool on the hot summer days. Below are our top picks if you want this feature
Smart Home Thermostat GeoFencing
GeoFencing is a high-tech feature usually built in a few smart home thermostats. This extraordinary feature enables your Wi-Fi thermostat to monitor your to-and-fro movements by tracking the proximity of your smartphone. When you get close to your house, it will automatically start your home’s HVAC system. This implies that your home temperature will change to the perfect type you want. This feature saves you a fortune in your monthly energy bills.
Below are our top picks with this feature
Conclusively, the best smart thermostats are usually built with these features combined, while some come with few of these features. However, before buying a thermostat, you have to understand what you really want.