Ecobee3 or other wifi thermostat
 

Getting a new AC system installed since the furnace on mine is shot and the entire system is about 20 yrs old. I have been looking at WiFi thermostats and so far the one I like the most is the Ecobee3. Most of the reviews I have read say it is better than the Lyric and the Nest.

Anyone have any first hand experience with any of these?

No thanks to uploading more personal info to the "cloud." F**k the cloud with a fire axe. The idea that all of my personal info should be uploaded to some mega-corp online makes me want to punch the people pushing the idea in the nose.

There are cloud-free wi-fi 'stats that can connect directly to your devices without uploading data for corepirate marketeers (or worse) to see...
Network Thermostat | Smart Thermostats, WiFi Thermostats, Ethernet Thermostats.

Perhaps I missed something but their home page talks about "cloud connect". Did you miss that part too?

Is there anyone else with an opinion on these who is not quite as paranoid?

they do take awhile to learn your house/habits, but once it does I've been told they work quite well. I've not heard of the Ecobee3 but tbh.... what is someone going to do with temp settings 'in the cloud' you'd only have to worry about something if your WIFI is not secure and you can turn off the cloud feature I am sure. I've heard good things about them. whenever we get a house that is our own, I will give one a shot and see how it goes.

Gotta agree that the Internet has no business in my HVAC system. Technology could be used to scavenge more efficiency but it would take an inward turn into the HVAC system and building and not an outward turn to servers. Another gimmick to empty your wallet.

Learn what latent heat, sensible heat, subcool and superheat have to do with your comfort. Forget the net.

I have had programmable thermostats and there are some nice features. Still don't need the net.

Why can't this be done by you having the program sans internet?

Our office is using an ecobee because the owner gets off on having remote control on his iphone, and screws all the settings that are being run by the two remote sensors located in the office. Want to eff with people? It is a great way to go- leave the office at 5, knowing people are working late till 10 pm- and shut down the AC system at 6. Look at your iphone while at a meeting, note it is 70 outside, and remote shut down the compressor...do not consider that the office windows face east, south and west and get full tilt sun all day.

It works very well, in the right hands

Exactly, I couldn't sum it up better. It's a marketing ploy to catch the people who like techno gadgets.

OPTIONAL Kloudkrap. You can also directly connect to the thing and skip the kloudkrap. Unlike a Nest where passing data through Scroogle-owned servers is mandatory.

Its marketing crap. Just wait until you go on vacation in Jan and an ex wife/GF turns your heat off from her Iphone.

Why would any female entity be given access to critical building systems, ever, in the first place? :)

While I love smart house tech, unless you're managing a vacation home or other remote location, like say multiple floors of a commercial property, "smart" thermostats may cause more issues than solve. I think most HVAC pros will advise that it's best to find a constant temp for the system to maintain, rather than making multiple changes during the day, for the longevity of the compressors/furnace.

I prefer my place to be consistent temp. Somewhere 68-70 ish.

Despite the protestations of the tin foilers and crotchety old farts, I'm very interested to see how they work out. I may even get a couple just to play around with them. With a new high-efficiency furnace, actual wall insulation and new energy-efficient windows in most of the house I'd like to track and see how much I can cut down on the heating and cooling costs. Might even just run standard thermostats for the first year to establish a baseline.

If the Ruskie hackers want to turn my thermostat up to 90 degrees in the middle of the day, so be it.

Lol. I can see it now.

"Yes you american capitalis pigdog, sweat. SWEAT FOR MOTHER RUSSIA". <Evil Laugh>

What would be interesting is motorized/computer controlled dampeners around the house in conjunction with individual room temp sensors.