- So it's time to take a trip way back in time
to what probably was the first connected device
I ever hooked up in my house.
That would be that little thing right there.
The Nest thermostat.
This video's the second in the series
that is sponsored by Lowes.
Yes, that Lowes.
The home improvement store.
The one that you go to a million times
in the first month of owning your own home.
If you're just buying a house, get ready, it's gonna happen.
Now you know how this works, right?
They're sponsoring the videos and that's great, love it.
I get to say exactly what I want to say
about all the things.
So, let's do this.
Here comes the Nest Third Generation thermostat.
(bright music)
Okay, let's do some basics.
Now, this thermostat is not cheap.
Let's just get that out of the way.
It's $249 out of the box.
It's also ridiculously cool or hot, I guess,
depending on the season you're using it.
That, that was a dad joke.
Now Nest includes everything you need to install
the thermostat right there in the box and that includes
a screwdriver, which is a really nice touch.
I love that.
Now you're probably asking yourself, Phil,
can I actually install a thermostat myself?
And my answer's yes.
I did it.
You can do it.
But here's the thing.
It's not like I had to figure it out all by myself, okay.
The Nest app that you'll have to load up walks you
through everything and the Nest website
has instructions for everything.
They're gonna walk you through step by step,
including taking a picture of your existing wiring diagram
and actually seeing if Nest is gonna work
in your house in the first place.
Just be sure to take your time and read all
the instructions a few times and it'll be okay.
Now if you still think you need some help,
there's a service called Nest Pro
where Nest will find somebody to come help you install it
or you can just call your favorite
local air conditioning company.
They know how to do this by now.
So what's it like to use?
Well, first, let's make one thing clear.
I live here in Florida where it's either
really, really hot or really, really cold.
It's been really weird.
But that also means I don't have things
like radiators or baseboards set up.
So again, you're gonna need to go through Nest instructions
on all that to see what works and what doesn't.
So once you're up and running,
you're gonna want to do a few things.
The first one is to actually just use the Nest, okay.
Turn the dial.
Put the temperature where you want to be
and Nest will start learning your habits.
It will learn that maybe you like it a little cooler
at night and you don't mind it being warmer during the day
or maybe you have to sleep with all the heat on.
Totally up to you, right,
but Nest is gonna start figuring out the way
that you like it and start adjusting things
on its own a little bit.
Another cool thing is that it adjusts
all this for the outside temperature.
So it knows if its gonna be super hot today
or if its gonna be really cold.
But otherwise, I really just kinda let the Nest
do its thing and I don't really fuss too much
about where the exact temperature is.
And here's why.
You know, you can kind of be super lazy with the Nest.
Half the time I need to change the temperature on it,
I don't need to get up.
I can use the app on my phone.
I can change it from a web browser.
I can change it from their little menu dock
at the top of my computer.
I can change it with my voice
via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
And even though Nest isn't technically compatible
with Apple's home kit and Siri,
there are some third party things
like if, this, then that that will let you do it.
Alright, so a few more cool things
about the Nest thermostat.
First, are these temperature sensors.
Now, they're $39 a piece and you can also get them
from Lowes and here's why you want one.
So the Nest thermostat actually kind of works
like an old dumb thermostat and that it takes
the temperature right here on the wall.
But what if you have a room that struggles
to stay warm enough in the winter
or cool enough in the summer.
Well, that's the problem I have back there
in my daughter's bedrooms.
So I put a temperature sensor back there
and that's what this Nest thermostat uses
to actually adjust the temperature through the whole house,
so that way those rooms aren't freezing
in the winter or boiling in the summer.
So number two and this is probably my favorite thing
is that the Nest thermostat on the wall works in conjunction
with the app on your phone or if your spouse has one,
as well, and it can tell when somebody is in the house
or when everybody is gone and that means when you leave,
it'll just automatically shut off.
You can still set a minimum and maximum temperature
so you won't freeze the dog while you're gone.
But it also means that the heat synopsis
can be running full blast because you forgot
to turn it off when you left.
One home and away thing will actually work with
other Nest products if you get them later,
but even just for the thermostat,
it's great and that's the part that really starts
to save you money in the long run.
Now, by the way, this big screen,
was doing a thing that it calls Farsight
and the way it works is it lights up
even when you're not right next to it
until you can see what the temperature is
from across the room.
I have mine set up to show the target temperature,
so that's the temperature it's trying to hit.
You can also just show a clock or it can show the weather.
Really cool feature and I love being able
to see it from across the room.
Then, okay, here's the best part.
It will actually get better over time because Nest
will update the software in the background.
You don't have to do anything.
That means you don't have to worry
about manually installing new features,
or more important, security updates.
So that's it in a nutshell
for the Third Generation Nest thermostat.
It's probably still my most used
smart appliance here in my house.
Especially in the summer here in Florida.
You just have to do a little homework up front, okay.
Go through the Nest website.
Make sure that you can actually use it in your house
and call for help if you need to.
So that's it.
Again, this one's been sponsored by Lowes.
Thanks to them for doing that.
I've got links to them for all this stuff that you can buy.
Down below on the description.
If you got more questions on the Nest,
hit me up in the comments, I'll be sure to answer them.
And that's it, see you next time.
(bright music)