I got my hands on one of each at a good price. Am presently using 2x Emerson Sensi.
Before I go thru the setup and have to use it for a while to tell which is better would prefer if any of you have both of these and which you prefer and why.
Thanks
Iām sure there is a ton of product comparisons on the internetā¦
Both devices are supported via Community Smart Apps. There are pretty mature choices for each.
Nest beyond the thermostat has an eco system in regards to co2/smoke detectors, cameras, plus many other integrated devices (floor heat devices, and more ) via the āworks with nestā. Some folks very much like the other device integration beyond the thermostat capabilities.
So in the end it comes to what do you want out of your thermostat, and what do you want out of the larger ST and/or vendor eco system. There are over 10,000 Nest devices that I know of in use with ST.
For either choice as a thermostat, if you are in the USA your power company / energy company likely offers you 100$ rebate for each thermostat (they typically do it based on wifi/smart). So do check that you can get your rebate.
I am a ānest personā in my usage with ST.
Yes I am in the US and saw the rebates.
I do have Nest Smoke detectors. And you are right, all I see from ecobee is the thermostat and sensors.
Advantage of the Ecobee for me is that presently my thermostat is only used for heat as I dont have a cooling system yet. Windows ACs. Looking to upgrade to whole house cooling so thinking the sensors might be an advantage.
And also I see its Homekit and ST compatible, I used both solutions in tandem. ( Homebridge to integrate ST to Siri and the Lutron Solution to integrate my Lutron dimmers to ST). Hues connected to both.
That said I like that Nest have a broader market and well supported here and also since I have the smoke detectors already then it would be great to build from that.
The only issue for me with the Nest is Siri/Homekit control. Wife uses Alexa for all the iHome,Wemo plugs we have in the kitchen and bedroom. I prefer to use my iphone or watch.
I have a Nest thermostat and was actually thinking about switching to the Ecobee lite. I donāt need the sensors. After rebates it would only cost me like $25. I want something that could be connected to both homekit and Alexa.
Keep it coming!!! @fightingmajor I am not really looking at the price since I got them on a deal and after rebate I might break even. I just want something thats not ālockā down to a specific technology.
All my Homekit/ Hues and Lutron switches are shared with ST and ST stuff is shared with Homekit so in this way I dont have to worry what works with what in the long run. Just got some ihome plugs and love that it works with ST and homekit out the box.
I am using Ecobee3 & have had the lowest electric bills this winter that I have had in the 14 years in the house. Just seems to manage the temp. so much better than the old thermostat did. Ecobee is very easy to install & if you have a problem customer service is top notch. Just my thoughts Ecobee3
Mike
I think both thermostats can work with Alexa, either directly, or via the askAlexa integration in ST.
The sensors are a nice feature of ecobee. For many folks using Nest and ST, there is an automation in ST Nest Manager to do exactly that.
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Alexa is the wifeās area, One in the bedroom and 1 in the kitchen. I donāt care. But yeah for her ease of use I will have to consider that. just checked and Alexa has skills for both.
My concern is to use it with both HomeKit and ST since I use Siri for everything.
And yes I installed Nest Manager DTH/SA a while back when I installed the smoke detectors so I know they work great.
Ecobee3 won for me. The reasoning is that where our thermostat sits in the house the monitoring would NEVER work. We rarely walk into that area. That feature on the Nest is literally a waste for me. With the sensors Ecobee really does know that we are home. Note that while I have EcoBee in my SmartThings, and have the custom device handler to access itās motion detectors, Iām not using SmartThings to control it. It does just fine on itās own, and given I have 3 sensors it does track home/away really well.
After having it a few months I can say itās made a difference in two ways - our gas bill is down and our overall house temp is well regulated. I havenāt tracked it diligently - and itās been a mild winter - so that one could be a wash. Where EcoBee kills it is regulating temp in our house. Our upstairs/downstairs/basement is never more than a degree off of each other. Given we only have one heating unit, and weāve always been a few degrees off, I have to give EcoBee credit for it. Itās doing so by running the fan without heat more often to us we our cold air returns to redistribute warmer air upstairs.
I also REALLY like the EcoBeeās ability to automatically manage our whole house humidifer. It uses your indoor conditions and the outside conditions to determine the proper humidity. Itās worked great and given we have a house full of instruments (guitars, upright basses, and cellos) thatās worth itās weight in gold.
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Very good info. Appreciate it. Honestly I am leaning more to the ecobee. You have mentioned the sensors which I think is a big deal for me cause of also having 3 floors.
I will leave one of the Sensi in the basement for that zone.
The thing with the Nest is the broad base of compatible devices.
Whatās the install look for this? Mine is wired directly to two terminals on the furnace board, and Iād imagine thereās a sensor somewhere in the furnace that tells it when to kick on. How does it integrate into ecobee3 wiring?
Edit: Quick Google search says I need an ACC wire at my thermostat, which I donāt have.
Ecobee. Buy the normal E3 with sensors. I bought 2 extra sensors. I also use some of Yves software, but mainly for setting modes, say when Iām running a fire in the evening. The power of additional sensors gives the Ecobee a huge advantage over the Nest. Yves stuff gives you even more power, if you need it.
Even if you can software control the Nest using a smart app to mimic the features, you donāt get the same kind of reports. Ecobee provides some pretty useful reports. (The community comparisons are of questionable value. And my wood stove makes a mess of their efficiency report, since it doesnāt understand why the house stays so damn hot for so long . . . .)
The general system report is pretty helpful for tuning the system. Youād pretty much have no idea when the furnace was running otherwise.
And the Ecobee looks better. I have mine mounted next to a tablet running Smart Tiles. They go well together.
I have a Nest Protect Smoke&CO2 detector and plan to get several more, but I donāt see much value in having it integrated with the thermostat. And the Nest site keeps giving me grief logging in . . . . I just counted over 11 smoke detectors here. I donāt think Iāll be replacing them all any time soon. But a few more will go Nest. Canāt see spending a grand on that though.
I did the one wire ACC wire set up and it works beautifully. Itās option 2 in the link below.
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Great. Thank you. From the comments coming in I guess the majority is with ecobee. I have a few hours off tomorrow so I think I will install it. Thanks guys
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One more vote. I switched from Nest to Ecobee despite having 2x Nest Protect and 2x Nest Cam. The Ecobee is he better thermostat in terms of advanced furnace controls and for larger homes the sensors make the difference. HomeKit is a nice bonus.
It was all about remote temperature sensors for me.
I went E3 also. Originally got 2 E3 Lites and ended up returning one and getting the full E3. Upstairs we have a good bit of trouble since where the thermostat is has no heat vent so we ended up cooking the bedrooms when the doors were closed since it would crank up and no heat would make it to the thermostat. With the extra sensor the issue is still there but its MUCH better. Downstairs is very open and the E3 Lite has been just fine. In terms of cost saving, I moved into this house in May so have nothing to compare to unfortunately. In terms of the rebate. . . starting to question if I will get mine. Called and they said approved but they also send as a debit card in what sounds like a junk mail looking envelope so we very well could have thrown away. 
That convinced me even more to go with the Ecobee. Thanks for all the input . Guess I will have Nest for sale lol
Does the Ecobee need the C wire? My nest doesnāt and I donāt have a C wire that runs up to it. I know I had looked into this before and can remember if thatās the reason I went with the Nest instead.
EcoBee comes with a converter to bring power to the unit without a C wire. Itās called a āpower extender kitā. I used it on my unit as I did not have a C either and has worked great.
They also have a compatibility checker on their website:
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