Smart thermostats and wi-fi | The best of 2023

We are officially in the middle of winter and it's time to update all those appliances and systems that heat our homes, allowing us to better experience the coldest period of the year. Among more or less technological devices, thermostats and chronothermostats have become much more than a simple tool capable of activating the heating system below a temperature threshold or at a specific time.



Thanks to new technologies, in particular thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT), thermostats have become smart devices capable of guaranteeing greater efficiency in consumption, many more functions as well as the possibility of controlling it even remotely, via smartphone or via computer while still guaranteeing simplicity and immediacy of use. The key feature of a smart thermostat is undoubtedly its connectivity. Once set up, these devices will connect to your home Wi-Fi network in order to provide many more services; first of all the weather forecast of your city. With these they will develop a heating plan for your home, adjusting usage to humidity, temperature and other parameters.

Read also: Digital and infrared thermometers | The best of 2022 To further increase its potential there is also the so-called geofencing: once synchronized with your smartphone, the thermostat will in fact be able to manage the temperature of the house not only based on the time of day, an element that is traditionally in all thermostats, but also thanks to your distance from the house. In other words, it will maintain a higher temperature if you are in the perimeter or in the surrounding areas and will keep it lower when you are outside your home; this allows it to drastically reduce energy consumption based on your needs, not only planned, but also unforeseen. Artificial intelligence is also used for the more advanced products: the thermostat will learn the average temperature trend in the house based on the external weather conditions and your daily habits, accordingly adapting the switching on and off of the heating.

The best smart and wi-fi thermostats

Bticino with Netatmo SXW8002W Nest Learning (3rd generation) Netatmo NTH01-IT-EC BTicino Smarther2 Honeywell Lyric T6

Bticino with Netatmo SXW8002W

As the first product of this guide, we want to offer you a Bticino solution with Netatmo SXW8002W. We are talking about a product that integrates perfectly with the domotics of your home, in such a way as to minimize waste, thus lightening the bill. This model, thanks to the integrated Wi-Fi antenna, is able to connect with your smartphone, even remotely, in order to receive any order. In addition to this, it is fully compatible with the Alexa voice assistant, Google Home and Apple HomeKit, or with the proprietary "Home + Control" application. Finally, this thermostat is fully compatible with the main boilers on the market and can therefore adapt to any context.

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Nest Learning

Acquired by Google in 2014, Nest is a guarantee of quality for home automation devices. Among these are the Nest Learning Thermostat; now in its third generation, it is among the best thermostats you can install in your homes. The strong point of this product is self-learning: once synchronized with your smartphone, in a few days the thermostat will learn your habits and get to know your home, consequently optimizing the system on and off times to guarantee you the right temperatures. desired with minimum consumption. Although it is compatible with the vast majority of systems, Google dispels any doubts with a short and simple questionnaire available on its official website relating to your system. In terms of control, you can manage it with your smartphone, handling it directly or using the Google Assistant. Unfortunately it is not yet compatible with other voice assistants such as Alexa and Siri, but if you are making your home smart using the products of the big G, it is absolutely not a problem.

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Netatmo NTH01-IT-EC

Netatmo is a leading company in the home automation sector and its NTH01-IT-EC thermostat is undoubtedly one of the best on the market. Characterized by a particularly simple design, this thermostat compatible with gas, wood, oil boilers and with both domotic and traditional heat pumps will make all Apple device owners happy thanks to the possibility of managing it remotely using the Apple HomeKit application or via Siri voice assistant and Alexa. It is also possible to synchronize it with the Netatmo thermostatic valves: characterized by a design similar to the thermostat, once synchronized these valves allow even more precise management of house temperatures; in fact, it will be possible to set the temperature and the behavior that the heating system must maintain room by room. Finally, the self-adaptive technology adapts the behavior of the system to the environmental conditions and to our behaviour, leading to significant savings in bills.

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BTicino Smarther2

Our overview of the best wi-fi and smart thermostats continues with two products made by BTicino. Going into more detail, this thermostat differs from the others in the ranking in terms of functions; it does not have self-learning or artificial intelligence-based technologies, with this product you can "only" set the thermostat to turn on and off based on the time, the temperature of the house and based on your geolocation. But what makes this product unique and worthy of this classification is the boost mode: by activating it, the thermostat will bring your heating system to maximum capacity, guaranteeing dear home warmth in the shortest possible time. To assist and manage all these functions, there is the dedicated Home + Control application, available for Android and iOS, which will allow you to make the most of the potential of this product. Finally, compatibility with Alexa, Google assistant and Siri make it the ideal thermostat for anyone who has not yet chosen (or plans to change) their voice assistant.

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Honeywell Lyric T6

Produced by one of the leading companies in the field of thermostats, Honeywell Lyric T6 is an apparently very simple product, but which hides enormous potential within itself. Compatible with all the most popular voice assistants and with Apple HomeKit, its proprietary Lyric application, available for Android and iOS, is simple and immediate and will allow you to manage the system switch-on times, the home temperature and much more at any time. moment and wherever you are. The potential of this thermostat also passes through the simplicity of installation, very similar to the old thermostats, the very large display, perfect for those who have difficulty reading, and also the fact that it is Honeywell: with over 100 years of history behind it, the company has one of the densest service networks you can find, as well as a wide range of home automation products to complement your thermostat. Whether you have a problem or want to make your home smarter, you will find a Honeywell dealer near you.

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How to choose the best smart thermostats

Although thermostats were created simply to manage the switching on and off of the heating for us, we have seen how advanced they are today and how many functions they can offer. For this reason it is advisable to dwell on some notable characteristics of the products that can be decisive for the choice of your next smart thermostat; not all functions may be useful to you and buying the one that best reflects the use you want to make of it will not only simplify its use, but could also make you opt for a cheaper model with fewer specific features. Here are the technical specifications to look for:

Compatibility with the heating system Compatibility with home automation and smartphones Programmability Accessories included

Compatibility with the heating system

Just like for thermostats, not all the heating systems are the same. From the oldest centralized systems to the most modern ones based on home automation and already set up for smart use, not all thermostats are compatible, so we advise you to inform yourself adequately about the conformity of the system with your choice; the most obvious example of incompatibility is with some old centralized and condominium heating systems: in this case the thermostat cannot independently manage the switching on and off of the heating, thus leading to inefficiency and malfunctioning of the heating. In these situations, thermostatic valves could solve part of your problems, but before making any purchase, we suggest that you inform yourself adequately about the system and thermostat, whether this is done through personal training or through a professional installer.

Home automation and smartphone compatibility

Not all thermostats have dedicated applications for some operating systems, and others do not have integration with voice assistants such as Alexa or Google Assistant. Buying a product without these functions, or which is not compatible, does not affect the basic operation of the thermostat (unless you want to use geofencing mechanisms for temperature management), but it could reserve you some disappointments.

Programmability

A thermostat can activate heating based on the day of the week, the time of day, the temperature of the home or using geofencing. These parameters can be combined with each other, can be more or less optimized and sometimes some can be completely absent; For this reason, we suggest that you carefully analyze how the thermostat you are purchasing can be programmed in order to be aware that the functions offered meet your needs in the most appropriate way.

Accessories included

The thermostat is no longer a simple little box attached to a wall; today it is a device capable of communicating in different ways with many devices and some companies offer devices compatible with the thermostats they produce to further increase their capacity. We are talking about thermostatic valves, switches of various kinds, or temperature controllers. Specific products each designed for different purposes: it is also important to analyze these products at the time of purchase; either to buy them now, or to improve or expand your heating system in the future.