By way of Canadian Tire (!?) and reddit, we learn ecobee has two new models in the pipeline — its first since being acquired by a generator company last year.
The new ‘ecobee Premium Smart Thermostat‘ looks to replace the existing flagship model. As such, microphones and both Siri or Alexa voice assistants remain onboard for customers to choose between. What’s new is a more elegant appearance, with an iPhone-esque flatter metallic bezel and “vibrant display with a cinematic interface” (whatever that means). On the new feature front, air quality monitoring makes its first ecobee appearance — visualized on-screen and in-app.
Slotting in between the “Premium” tstat and the existing ecobee 3 lite (which may see its its own refresh) is the ‘ecobee Enhanced Smart Thermostat‘. The exterior design of the “Enhanced” is similar to the “Premium” but more plasticy and the primary change over the 3 Lite appears to the refreshed interface.
ecobee remains largely neutral in the thermostat space, despite the voice tie-ups, with the ability to integrate with nearly all smart home ecosystems. Although, the marketplace may be shifting with increased interoperability (hopefully) as Matter comes online… allowing something like Google’s Nest to be controlled by an Apple HomePod. Of course, the best bang for the buck remains the Amazon Smart Thermostat, which retails for all of $60 (without a C-Wire adapter) — a whopping $90 less than the ecobee 3 Lite.
I so wish I could go back to an ecobee after upgrading our home HVAC systems last year to high-efficiency variable speed systems which are locked to the vendor’s thermostat and their proprietary communication protocols. The Train “smart” thermostat has the absolute WORST interface I’ve ever seen. It can’t even predictably heat/cool for a set time — I instead need to tell it to start early instead of it determining by itself – something my old ancient barely programmable thermostat could do.
There is an interface to replace your communicating thermostat with a standard thermostat like an ecobee.
You will lose the extra functionality of the communicating stat like service option menus and feedback readings but you can install any thermostat including an old “dumb” style thermostat. Just call your HVAC service company and ask.
@JasonK — it also loses the control of the variable rates — which is what we paid extra for when we invested in the equipment. It actually ends up making the heat be consistent in the winter — like old baseboard heat rather than having the variability in room temperature where it goes in a warm/cold cycle.
Yeah, when we were looking at homes a few years ago, some of the prime contenders couldn’t go ecobee, nest, etc due to expanded, variable settings (and other diagnostic stuff).
Anyhow, these units are now official. The Premium is essentially the ecobee 6 and the Enhanced is the ecobee 6 Lite. Which means it doesn’t replace the existing 3 Lite. However, the documentation I pulled up does reference a 3 Lite 2. So we can assume that design has been refreshed with current parts, maybe lower pricing. I’ve tweaked the post to reflect.
Do either of these include build in smart sensors? Like the accessory you can buy place in other rooms to detect when they’re occupied?
My current model (Lite?) doesn’t and it’s annoying that eco+ will constantly go on because it can’t detect occupancy in the room where the main thermostat is in by itself.
The Premium bundles a sensor. Sensors can be purchased separately for the Enhanced or 3 Lite. I think it’s two for $100. Costco usually has the 3 Lite bundled with at least one sensor.
Edit: I misread your question. Yes, the two new ones both have “radar” to identify occupancy.
I love the ecobee.
Wish it had ability to select fan speed for the sake of quieter fan while not heating or cooling.
Best option for keeping more constant temperature and minimizing vertical and room to room thermal differences is to always run the fan some part of the time (selectable under system then fan).
Will the old Ecobee 3 temp/occupancy sensors work with the new unit? I wouldn’t mind upgrading but not if I have to replace all the sensors as well.
So are there other newer HVACs that will work on every level with the Ecobee? Do you have a recommendation other than Train’s latest?