New HVAC System - Nest?

[dgage]

I will be replacing my AC & furnace with an Amana 2-stage/speed unit.  The installer mentioned a smart thermostat but his idea of smart is it learning how long it takes to cool/heat the room.  I obviously want a smart, CQC controllable thermostat. Did the Nest ever open up sufficiently to be reliably controlled by CQC?  Any other thermostats I should consider?  Thanks.

[Dean Roddey]

CQC does have a good Nest driver, but of course it works through the cloud, which isn't ideal. I recently added support for the Venstar IP based thermos (Colortouch/Voyager), so they are all local.

[Dean Roddey]

Wait, don't you have a Lutron RA2 system? If so, why not just use their thermostats?

[dgage]

The first control I bought used. I just looked for a second RadioRa2 set with SeeTemp control and the package is $450-500. That's two Nests plus money back by selling my current RadioRa2 control. But I'll keep trying to get the Lutron cheaper and I may do that but was looking at options.

[dgage]

I ended up buying a pair of Ecobee3s on sale at HomeDepot for $179 each. I will be selling my RadioRa2 SeeTemp thermostat control. Plan to primarily use Alexa to control it but will likely switch to CQC voice support at some point, especially if the new MiniDSP mic array works out or something similar. Thanks.

[dgage]

Had a new HVAC system put in so we have AC again. Yeah! Ended up getting a little nicer 2-stage gas furnace, 2-stage AC compressor, with a variable speed fan so should be more economical and hopefully more comfortable at all times. Especially at night with our old system I hated when it would cycle on, cool the room, then shut down until it warmed 2 degrees and repeat. Hated the cold//hot vacillation so I'm hoping the low cool with low fan will run longer but leave the temp more consistent.

As I said, I bought a pair of Ecobee3 thermostats and not only have I been impressed but the HVAC installer was pretty impressed. He did mention he's glad I didn't have a Nest as his thoughts on it aren't that great. Plus, the Nest won't run a dual heat system or 4-stage heat for those with a heat-pump and furnace. I also like the small and discreet remote sensors. If you bought multiple remote sensors, you can use them to average the temps but we decided to turn off the averaging and only use the sensor in the master bedroom and kitchen for the upstairs and downstairs temps. It is also a smart thermostat that learns how long it takes to heat/cool to the desired temp and turns on ahead of time to reach the desired temp at the scheduled time.

Setting up the Ecobee3 was very easy but it is cloud-based if you want the full feature set, which is impressive. Without registering, it would just be a normal programmable thermostat. I also set it up with Alexa and it works very well.

I don't think there is a V2 driver for the Ecobee but I'm sure it wouldn't take much for CQC to support it. So far I'm impressed with the thermostat and just thought I'd share.