A lot harder. For instance a cell can be pulled off hook remotely (didn't used to be possible) but simply turning it off prevents that. Further a Faraday bag can stop all RF if you don't trust the off button. However currently all intrusion on your cell phone requires some legal intervention to do. A live mic shipping stuff back to the mother ship (be it Amazon, Google or other) is you CHOOSING to be monitored.
I have an ecobee and also a wood stove and I get usage data no problem. Not sure I save anything, but I know I feel more comfortable with it. I especially like that it can dehumidify with a standard HVAC. Or if I just happen to be hot in the middle of the night ask alexa to adjust the temp. Best feature is you can have multiple temperature and occupancy sensors that it will average to get the temperature. Our bedroom is upstairs with a vaulted ceiling, it gets hot in the winter and cold in the summer; the ecobee can sense the rooms we're in and adjust based on those rooms' temp ignoring rooms we're not in. Sent from my LM-V450 using Tapatalk
I threatened my wife with one of those before,....but I figured you have to chose your battles. She can't help it that she wants to be 5-10 degrees cooler than me in the summer and warmer in the winter. I basically can handle some discomfort and she doesn't seem to be able to. However, she can handle cooking awesome meals, and I'm a lazy f..k that doesn't enjoy cooking and would rather go out to eat....even fast food, versus picking up a cooking utensil. Usually when she cooks, our agreement is I clean up.
Not sure. I'm in a new place, new router, and new internet provider. The previous place and company I was with, I could see 2 networks, a 2.4 and a 5 GHz. But now with the new router and ISP I can only see one network, and it's 5 GHz. At least that's what the computer and phone show me. Nevertheless, I ended up going to Lowe's to get one cuz I didn't feel like ordering one online. They only had the basic Nest (the $130 one) and after playing around with it a bit, I didn't really like it. Ended up getting a Honeywell T9. It showed that it's compatible with 5 GHz WiFi too and it was $170, which is fine. Installation and setup was easy, but when it detected the WiFi networks during the setup, it detected my network, but it showed it to be 2.4 GHz. Oh well...I'm happy with the decision so far. We'll see how I feel about it in a few weeks.
Yeah that's why I wanted to look into it. I just moved to FL and it's hot as fuck here! LOL The house I'm renting came with a very simple generic thermostat, non-programmable, so I feel like I'm just wasting money away when I'm gone for 9 hours each day. I'll probably do a quick test next week and measure how many KWhr I'm using in a typical day if I just leave it set at the same temp all day like it's been so far vs. programming it to not run as much when I'm at work. I used to think it's not a big difference because if you leave it at say 73 all day it keeps turning on about every 15-20 minutes and runs for a few minutes. But if you were to set it at like 80 during the day, then when you get back and it has to cool down to 73 again it may need to run for like 1-2 hours straights depending on how efficient it is and how well insulated the house is. The house and system I had in Virginia was terrible. It used to take like 3-4 hours of non-stop running to lower the house from like 78-79 to 73.
I just checked. I've got no run time reports in any month I also heat with wood. Months back I inquired as the run time reports were missing and was told if I have a second heat source I won't get reports. I'm not sure what the hell is going on but I don't really care. I've got the stat set and heating and cooling costs money. Whatever.
Have 2, don't do the programming but some of the functions like running the fan rather than the compressor for a while to circulate cooler air and such have made a noticeable difference in power use.
For me there is one simple huge upside. I forgot to set them for no one home and was able to log in from the road and change the temp. It's also kind of nice to be in bed and drop the temp when it's too hot rather than walk 10 feet to the hallway
Is that not normal or what? lol I know people that like to keep their temp quite lower than that, but I feel like about 72-74 is a good room temp range. That's about what I've always kept it at for as long as I can remember in every place I've lived in the last 10 years.
Yeah you're going to have to gradually acclimate to warmer temps or it's impossible to go outside during the summer. I shoot for 77-78 during the day, then crank down to 73 at night. If your house is 73 during the day, you can't walk outside to a 90 degree heat without instantly looking like you got shot in the armpits with a Super Soaker!
Lol, I've already accepted the fact that it's impossible to go outside in the summer way before I moved here even! I've basically accepted that if I'll be outside for more than a few minutes I'm gonna be sweating. That's nothing new though, always been like that. Wasn't much different when I was in Virginia either. But 77-78 is way too warm for me. I don't want to be sweaty 24/7 even when I'm inside! LOL I figured I'm gonna be uncomfortable outside no matter what, so might as well make the house comfortable. I have a pretty narrow window of comfort....>75 is already too warm. I also don't get how people like having their houses colder at night than during the day. I'm the opposite, cuz when you sleep your body temp drops anyway naturally, so I'm ok with having a degree or 2 warmer temp then. Plus I'm sleeping so I don't notice it as much. But if it's a bit colder at night I'll wake up feeling cold. And just for shits and giggles, I just bought a window AC unit for the garage because it's hot as hell in there and I do spend a decent amount of time there either working on bikes or on the reloading ammo bench.