The Nest Learning Thermostat gets its biggest upgrade in over a decade

At $279.99, the 4th procreation of the Nest Learning Thermostat is much costly than the third-gen Nest, which launched successful 2015. However, it present comes with a caller Nest Temperature Sensor (2nd gen) to show somesthesia successful different rooms. Both are disposable for preorder present and volition vessel connected August 20th — successful the US and Canada only. 

I’m a large proponent of astute location devices that are built to past — nary 1 wants to upgrade their thermostat each mates of years. But it’s been 9 years since we had a caller Nest Learning Thermostat (the Nest Thermostat that arrived successful 2020 stripped distant astir of the quality features), and exertion is progressing much rapidly than successful the days of the beige integrative boxes connected your wall. 

Surprisingly, Google didn’t travel rival Ecobee by packing much relation into its flagship thermostat. This isn’t a astute speaker, a astute display, oregon a astute location hub. Instead, the absorption is connected making this a truly astute thermostat.

Google says the caller exemplary uses AI to larn your heating and cooling docket faster and much accurately — alongside different upgrades to assistance negociate your strategy much efficiently.

Google added its Soli radar sensor to the instrumentality to supply much close inputs astir your presence, positive enactment for Matter, the new astute location standard. This means that, among different benefits, the Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) tin present enactment natively successful Apple Home. (The Nest Thermostat from 2020 already works with Matter.)

But arsenic Google Home’s caput of product, Anish Kattukaran, tells me, Google wants users to person different devices successful their homes to enactment arsenic Thread hubs — specified arsenic the new Google TV Streamer 4K — which is simply a Google Home hub, Matter controller, and Thread borderline router. The Nest Thermostat is meant to absorption connected its main job: keeping you comfy portion redeeming you energy. 

I saw the caller Nest Thermostat successful idiosyncratic astatine Google’s New York office past week, and it’s precise striking. It’s overmuch bigger — the 2.7-inch surface is much than treble the size of the erstwhile procreation — but besides slimmer. It looks similar idiosyncratic flattened the third-gen Nest portion borrowing a batch of plan cues from the Pixel Watch, including the aforesaid curved solid surface and customizable watch-like faces.

It comes successful 3 brushed metallic designs: black, silver, and gold. I liked the golden best, though it’s much subtle successful idiosyncratic than successful the property shots. 

The carnal rotating dial remains but is present smoother and easier to control. It inactive has those satisfying clicks, but its larger size makes amended precision selections imaginable connected the screen.

There’s nary disposable bezel, and the larger surface takes vantage of a amusive caller Dynamic Farsight diagnostic that brings neat upwind animations to the surface on with much customizability. You tin take the main look to beryllium your indoor temperatures, an analog clock, a integer clock, oregon the weather, and arsenic you approach, you’ll get much elaborate information.

That item present includes 3 other fields, akin to watchface complications. Each tin beryllium acceptable to amusement accusation specified arsenic humidity, outdoor temperature, time, and date. Plus there’s present the enactment of an outdoor aerial prime scale people — utile successful areas prone to seasonal issues similar wildfire smoke.

On the learning front, Google is addressing a semipermanent annoyance of the astute thermostat: its propensity to person a caput of its ain and crank up the vigor connected a sunny day for nary evident crushed (speaking from experience).

There’s present the enactment to person the thermostat suggest changes for you to judge alternatively than initiating them automatically. It volition besides archer you what it’s doing if you property connected the screen. “We wanted to instrumentality the achromatic container attack retired of it. It’s an incredibly intelligent device, but that shouldn’t mean you don’t cognize what’s going on,” says Kattukaran.

That quality extends to caller energy-saving features. Natural Heating and Cooling reacts to outdoor temperatures and learns however your location people adjusts to prevention energy. For example, “If it’s a sunny wintertime time and your location heats up a fewer degrees connected its own, the thermostat volition automatically intermission heating to prevention energy,” says Kattukaran.

Adaptive Eco is an update to Eco Mode that adjusts based connected climate. It won’t driblet excessively debased connected a acold time erstwhile you’re gone, avoiding having to enactment overtime to ramp backmost up erstwhile you return, says Kattukaran. A caller Smart Ventilation enactment for compatible hardware optimizes erstwhile to ventilate based connected outdoor aerial quality.

Upgrades to the HVAC Monitoring feature, present called the System Health Monitor, way your system’s show and nonstop alerts astir immoderate issues. A Humidity Helper aims to support humidity levels unchangeable to forestall condensation and mold. Google says these caller features are exclusive to the newest exemplary astatine launch.

Kattukaran says the fourth-gen Nest is their most compatible thermostat yet and works with much systems, including humidifier, dehumidifier, and ventilation equipment. It present supports 12 ligament hookups compared to 10 connected the third-gen Nest and continues to enactment without a C-wire successful astir setups.

New look, aforesaid sensor

The different caller hardware is the Nest Temperature Sensor (2nd gen), 1 of which comes with the thermostat. The sensor is fundamentally the aforesaid arsenic the first-gen model, with a caller look to lucifer the caller thermostat. In some cases, its superior occupation is inactive to provender the somesthesia successful different rooms to the thermostat.

Unfortunately, the sensor inactive lone monitors somesthesia and not occupancy, similar the competing sensor from Ecobee. One upgrade is that aggregate sensors tin present mean the somesthesia crossed respective rooms.

Google says you tin adhd up to six and take which are progressive astatine antithetic times by linking them to your schedules successful the Google Home app. This lets you person the thermostat respond to the somesthesia successful the room and surviving country successful the greeting and past to your chamber astatine night.

The caller Nest brings important upgrades to an already fantabulous device. While immoderate features are playing catch-up with the contention (Ecobee already uses outdoor upwind to equilibrium clime and radar sensors for occupancy), it’s bully to spot them yet arrive. In presumption of design, it feels similar a victor — this is simply a gorgeous portion of partition art.

The Nest Learning Thermostat costs $279.99, and the Nest Temperature Sensor is $39.99 ($99.99 for three). They’re disposable for preorder present astatine store.google.com and prime retailers and volition vessel connected August 20th.