Ecobee 4

By Bayle Emlien

Maybe you think it’s silly to be looking at a home thermostat in May and reading about one in the middle of summer. But winter is coming, I promise you. And just like it’s most sensible to fix the roof before the rains start, so hear (read?) me out. It’s most sensible to get your home temperature controls under control before you start coming home in the dark again and run headlong into the holidays. Ecobee pioneered WiFi temperature controls. While individual room temperature controls might or might not save you the whole cost of the system in a single system, it’s likely to make enough of a dent that you’ll be glad you got it for that reason alone.

With the Ecobee 4, individual room sensors let you control the temperature in various rooms in your home. Paired with Amazon Alexa, the Ecobee 4 lets you do this by voice instead of fiddling with dials and switches. The ability to sort of control the environment by voice has been around for decades; with Ecobee and Alexa it’s reliable, easy to set up, and easy to use. With a maturing population, most of whom would prefer to age at home, the ability to manage lighting and room temperature remotely has moved out of the market for cute gizmos and into the mainstream. This spring, Ecobee was also featuring controlled-color light bulbs. With just one lightbulb, your voice, and the app on your phone, you can convert the ambience in any indoor space. Want a bright white light to wake up in the morning? How about dimming in the evening to help your brain power down for sleep? Ecobee suggests requesting a pink tinge if you’re setting up for romance.