Cheap Honeywell RTH6400D 5-1-1-Day Programmable Thermostat

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The product came with easy instruction on how to install the unit. It only took me 15 mins to finish the setup. I like the big screen and the 7 days program which my old unit didn't have. The instruction for setting up the program is very easy to use. The only thing I would complain is the backlight; it only last 2 to 5 seconds and it doesn't have a button for backlight. In order to see at night, you have to press any of the button. When you press any of the button, the light will come on but it also changes the setting. You have to press the run schedule again to retain back to normal. That is the only annoying part. I bought this unit for 2 reason, one is the Font size and the second is backlight. I hope the newer product will retain the light longer than 2 seconds, and there will be a button for backlight. Besides the minor glitch, the unit is good. 4 stars.

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I installed this thermostat about six months ago and it works well. I found the installation straightforward and programming sequence intuitive. I especially like the large, well-lit display and the large programming buttons, none of which are hidden behind a panel which must be lifted for access. I also like that heating/cooling periods can be "skipped" so you can program two periods per day (wake/sleep) instead of having to program all four periods (wake/leave/return/sleep). The thermostat has both temporary temperature override (only affects current period) and vacation hold (maintains temperature setting until manually canceled). The unit is well designed and visually appealing.

When reading previous reviews, I had some concerns that almost caused me to not order the product. Luckily, I found that none of these issues presented a problem for me. Here are some of the problems discussed in previous reviews, followed by my answers:

1) Issue: There is no dedicated backlight button and it is not possible to activate the backlight without pressing a button which will then alter thermostat programming. Answer: I found this *not* to be true, and just pressing the temperature up or down button once causes the backlight to come on without changing the temperature set point (just press the button more than once to change the set point). Surprisingly, I didn't see this feature mentioned in any of the product literature.

2) Issue: When setting the unit to "cool", the compressor will *never* come on until the compressor protection interval has expired (five minutes). Answer: I found this to be true only if the compressor has been on within the previous five minutes, so the AC will come on immediately as long as you didn't just turn it off (which is what I would expect).

3) Issue: There is no cycle or "swing" adjustment on the current Honeywell digital thermostats. They are set for a "swing" of plus or minus one degree. Answer: This is true, and there is no direct way to set the swing so you can reduce the amount of cycling of heating/cooling. That said, there is a "heating cycle rate" setting for different types of heating systems (Function 5 in System Setup). This is set to "gas or oil furnace less than 90% efficient" by default, and needs to be changed for electric, hot water, high-efficiency, steam or gravity heating systems. I believe many people will need to change this setting to match their heating system type. Also, if you find that your heating system continues to cycle too often when the thermostat is set to the correct heating system type, you may be able to reduce cycling by choosing a different setting (but only do so at your own risk).

Hope this helps.

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I installed this unit back in September and it has saves about 27% of our normal heating fuel usage compared to the simple mercury switch unit it replaced. if only I had taken the plunge a few years ago I could have saved $1000's just for spending $70. It is intuitive if you want the temp to be 69 at 7 am and it is currently 64 at 630 it will start up ahead of time so when the desired time hits it will be the temp you specified.

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I installed the thermostat today and it took me 4 hours. I had 2 additional wires that it didn't cover in the directions. The R wires and the jumper was a bit vague and I had an O & W wire for the same location on the unit. I had to trial and error it for a bit and when I did get it to work initially it came out as heat (not good when it was already 85 in the house here in central Florida). I finally swapped the O for the W and had to wait a few minutes for the unit to come on and make sure it was on for Cold. Finally it was. Having a heat pump makes installation trickier than the regular installs. If someone is having a problem with the heat pump install, keep the jumper in, red wire goes to the 2nd from the right, and use the O not the W wire.

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I'd give this product a five, but the instructions say to line up the wires with the colors, and if you do that, you won't get heat. For some reason, the Yellow wire goes in the "W" (for white) slot, and the directions don't tell you that. Had to have a heating guy come out and figure out what was wrong.

Other than that, it's simple to use, much moreso than the 7 day thermostat from Honeywell, which takes an engineer to program (that model's only advantage is that it automatically keeps track of Daylight savings time, and contrary to its advertising, it still requires a battery). Programming on this model consists literally of pushing the same button again and again to cycle through your programming, and you need only hit the up/down buttons to change time and temp. Couldn't be easier. I've ordered two more.

Also, ontrary to what one reviewer said, pushing the button at night to get the backlight to turn on does NOT change the setting. You have to hit the button twice to do that. Night viewing is easy to read.