Nest Thermostat: Price, specs and features compared

Nest Thermostat knows how to heat and cool your house just the way you like it.

What is Nest Thermostat?

Nest Thermostat, also called Nest Learning Thermostat, is a Wi-Fi-enabled smart thermostat that controls the heating and cooling in your home or place of business. Unlike a traditional thermostat, Nest Thermostat is capable of learning your daily routine and optimising the temperature to save energy and thus save you money.

How does Nest Thermostat work?

To take advantage of Nest Thermostat's energy-saving algorithms, you'll spend the first week with the device adjusting it manually based on your personal preferences. After that week, Nest Thermostat will have built a profile based on when you're home, what your desired temperature is, and where in your house you spend most of your time.

The learning doesn't end after the first week, though. Using built-in sensors and data from your phone's GPS, Nest Thermostat can detect when nobody is home and automatically shift into power-saving mode. Similarly, when you walk into the room where you've installed the Nest Thermostat, it'll detect your presence and light up its display with the current temperature.

Best of all, if anything goes wrong with your heating or cooling system at home, Nest Thermostat can detect it and alert you before your pipes burst or your air conditioner kicks the bucket.

How else does Nest Thermostat save energy?

After installing Nest Thermostat, it'll track your energy usage and present it to you in a simple report, showing you when your energy usage peaks and how to reduce it.

What heating/cooling systems is Nest Thermostat compatible with?

Nest Thermostat is compatible with all low-voltage heating and cooling systems with power specifications between 20V and 30V AC.

What else do I need to use Nest Thermostat?

A Wi-Fi network is required to control Nest Thermostat from your computer or via the Nest mobile app. If you want to control your Nest Thermostat while you're not at home, you'll also need to make sure your Wi-Fi network is hooked up to the Internet. This will allow you to make adjustments to the temperature while you're out and about, just in case you finish work early and want the house warm by the time you arrive.

To control Nest Thermostat remotely, you'll need either a PC running Windows 7 or later, or a Mac running OSX 10.9 or later, along with the latest version of one of the following web browsers: Safari, Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Alternatively, you can control Nest Thermostat via the Nest mobile app. Android users will need a smartphone or tablet running Android 4.1 or later. Apple users will require an iDevice running iOS 9.0 or later.

Nest Thermostat is also compatible with other smart devices including the Nest Protect smoke and CO alarm as well as Google Home.

When will Nest Thermostat be available in Australia?

No concrete date has been set for when Nest Thermostat will be available here in Australia, but given Google Home has just been released, it is possible Nest Thermostat will arrive soon.

How much will Nest Thermostat cost?

Pricing information has not yet been confirmed for Australia, but going by the American price of US$249, you can expect it to cost somewhere around AUD$349.

Nest Thermostat specs