The third time’s a charm!
The Nest Thermostat has become one of the hottest energy products in the Electronic House, thanks to all of those high-tech learning features. Now the company is making even more tweaks, in order to bring your home to a whole new level of comfort.
Today, the company debuted the 3rd generation Nest Thermostat, which packs new features into a slimmer profile.
Besides the size, one of the most noticeable things about the new Nest Thermostat is that big, beautiful screen. According to Nest Labs, the high-res screen is 40 percent larger than previous models, with 229 pixels per inch. It also looks nicer because it has an updated user interface, which makes it easier to read temperatures, alerts and messages.
There’s even a new perk called Farsight, which automatically displays the target temperature or time when the Nest senses movement in the room. Previously, you had be about 3 feet away from the thermostat to wake it up.
Another new feature, Furnace Heads-Up, is designed to monitor and alert users about any potential problems with the home’s heating system. It searches for shut-off patterns to see if there’s a problem, and will report the data in your monthly Nest Home Report. (If you have the 1st or 2nd gen Nest Thermostat, this feature will be added later this year.)
Of course, the 3rd generation Nest Thermostat will integrate with other Nest products, including the Nest Protect and Nest Cam. Nest will also continue to work with energy partners to deliver Rush Hour Rewards and Seasonal Savings, citing Southern Company, Direct Energy, SunEdison, Infinite Energy and Reliant as the first partners to offer the 3rd generation Nest Thermostat. Even ADT will offer the stat : in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver and Miami to select customers: with the ADT Pulse service plan.
“The Nest Learning Thermostat has been proven by third-party researchers to save people, on average, about 10 to 12 percent on their heating bills and about 15 percent on their cooling bills,” said Maxime Veron, head of hardware product marketing for Nest. “Millions of Nest homes around the world have saved approximately four billion kilowatt hours of energy compared to what they would have used if they’d left their thermostats at a consistent temperature. And the results are getting noticed—the 3rd generation Nest Thermostat will not only be available at 7,000 retail locations and from 25,000 Nest Pro installers, but through energy and enterprise partners such as Southern Company, Direct Energy, SunEdison, Infinite Energy, Reliant, and ADT—companies committed to helping their customers stay comfortable and save energy by offering the Nest Thermostat at a discount or at no cost.”
The 3rd generation Nest Learning Thermostat is available now, priced at $249. The company also announced plans to drop the price on the 2nd generation Nest Thermostat, which can be had while supplies last for $199.
Paul Binder says
Appears to be a significant upgrade to the Generation 2 Nest unit.I have two of the Gen. 2 units, and like them a lot. Latest version of the iPhone App is pretty good (although it was down foe a while last night). Would like to see Nest add lighting control via some sort of partnership with one or more intelligent lighting vendors. I really don’t want to have different Apps for each home automation function.