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First off, to the 50% of the people that are complaining or gave low rating on this because it was too complicated to install or wifi was too complicated to setup, or the fact that because it requires a 5th wire (C wire) that its garbage, I dont know what to tell you folks. Before getting all bent out of shape, why not understand how the thing works.
First off yes you need a 5th wire, mainly to power the wifi module, without it, you cannot expect 3 AA batteries to power a wifi module endlessly for years. It would barely last 6hrs on the AA batteries. Most furnances have C wires, many times they are not wired up because none of the older thermostats ever needed it, they were always operated by battery or worse you had an old school round mercury based one. So as long as the installer ran the wire and tucked away the unused ones, its nothing but untucking that wire, attaching it, going to the furnace and attaching that end also to the C terminal. DONE!
2ndly, the wifi is somewhat of a complicated setup but the reason is that it has to be provisioned with Filtretes servers/cloud. Almost all things of this nature (even my iAqualink pool control module) was like this. You have to undertand that all your devices inside a house will be private IP addresses not accessible through the public/internet side. So the only way around this is to setup a cloud and have the devices periodically talk back to the cloud. If you follow the directions, getting wifi to work using the Andrioid App or iPhone/iPad is a joke. I provisioned them in minutes. I have 4 of these in my house and I wasnt pulling my hair out. You simply directly connect to the thermostat's wifi SSID, initially setup your wifi's SSID and encryption key, let it reboot the thermostat, then go back to the Thermostat app and it will finish off adding the thermostat to your account.
Lastly, for those saying it cannot directly communicate with the thermostat? Uh.... think again, it does. If you phone for exmaple is on wifi in your house and you launch the thermostat App, it will directly talk to each thermostat, not to the cloud. So you adjust the temperature, it will within few seconds update and activate. The cloud communication is used primarily if you are not on the same network, like out at the mall/store or another state.
This also has open APIs you can use to program logging applications, etc. You can easily also program the GeoFencing concept of having it know when you are say 3miles within radius of the house and have it automatically move it out of away mode and back into heat/cool mode. Take a look at Filtrete's forums, its full of info on stuff like this, all of which is open source.
So for between my house (4 of these 3M50s, and my parents house (two of them)), everything works great.
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Installation took me roughly 30 minutes, including WiFi setup. I am experienced with networking, however if I were not, I don't see how this odd WiFi setup process could have worked! Instead of providing ad-hoc WiFi and a DHCP server, wouldn't WPS be much easier and more applicable? Press a button on router, press a button on thermostat, done.Since this implementation also assumes that the customer already has a computer or iPhone with WiFi support, the customer that comes home from the store with a WiFi router and thermostat to connect to their broadband connection is going to be disappointed -and the router and thermostat are all that should be necessary. And to back up the critical review, the cloud should be an enhancement, not a requirement -if it has an HTTP server, build a local interface!
The design is also a bit quirky -the top, bottom, and sides have way too much clearance (depth) from the wall, and the wire routing is odd. The self-adhesive "wire cover" doesn't cut it at all. The captive screw contacts are too close to the top of the LCD and you must be very careful not to nick the plastic. The recessed installation screw holes are a pain. I almost want to cut a square hole in my wall just to recess the unit!
However, even with the flaws, this is cool (or hot, ha) functionality for $100. Since the mode selection is auto/cool/heat, it appears that I just upgraded to automatic switching between cool/heat, which would be useful in the spring when the outdoor temperature goes haywire.
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A little difficult to install (running the additional C wire was a challenge). Once installed the thermostat controls as required and allows access remotely. This is very useful in lowering the air conditioning a few hours before arriving at a remote location. The house temperature in Texas has been checked from Australia by smart phone and iPad!Honest reviews on 3M Filtrete Wi-Fi Smartphone Enabled Remote Programmable 7-Day
I almost let the reviews scare me away from the product but I am glad I actually went ahead and bought it on closeout at Home Depot.Install was straightforward. I would not call it easy, and I would not call it complex. I am just a normal guy with no real experience with these sorts of things, but the manual explained everything very easily and I had the hardware disconnected and reconnected in half an hour.
The software install is very logical with your wireless router system. If you follow the online manual, it works perfectly. Just make sure to write down the codes when it tells you to.
I was able to install the app on my Android phone (Galaxy S3) and it works flawlessly.
I am very happy with the scheduling options and I've put it to the test already. It works great and I'm looking forward to more consistent comfortable temperatures and lower energy bills in my home.
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I have one of these in our two homes. They work great!The only draw back, as others have written, is wifi setup is tricky. You also must have power to the thermostat from the A/C or furnace to use wifii. If not you have to supply power via an inexpensive transformer. Both of my air conditioner units had power to the thermostat via what is referred to as a "C" wire. Once set up its a pleasure.
I've been using them for over a year and they are rock solid so far.
I never ever go to the actual thermostat any more as I always use my iPhone or iPad app to control.
You can monitor temp, change temp settings, switch from cool to heat from anywhere in the world as long as you have Internet or smart phone connectivity.
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