Buy Honeywell RTH8500D 7-Day Touchscreen Programmable Thermostat

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List Price: $129.99
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I have both the Honeywell RTH7600D (bought at Costco for around $65 and packaged there as model RCT8101A) and this Honeywell RTH8500D. Both units are very good with the one major difference being the "Vacation Hold" feature; the 8500 has it and the 7600/Costco version does not. The programming interface is different as well, however, one is not necessarily better than the other. The 7600 unit is a little easier to program whereas the 8500 offers a shortcut that allows multiple days to be programmed at once. Since you'll likely program the unit infrequently, I don't think this should necessarily be a consideration unless you are an installer of these units where time is money; then the 8500 is the unit of choice.

The Costco version for me is going back because it lacks the Vacation Hold feature. If you travel or not at home frequently, the Vacation Hold feature allows you to hold the temperature, say, at 50 degrees for 10 days while you take off for a ski trip. With this feature, once the timed Vacation Hold is over, the thermostat resumes it's normal programming schedule. So, when you arrive home, the house temperature is at a comfortable level.

The Costco version allows you to manually override the program schedule, however, you must manually remove the override as well. Therefore, when you arrive home from your ski trip, you come home to a cold house and you'll need to manually reset the thermostat and wait for the house to warm up. If this is not an important feature for you or you're are at home most of the time, go for the Costco version and save about $40.

Otherwise, the RTH8500D is an excellent unit that has worked quite well for me over the past several years.

UPDATE: We recently (May 2011) installed the RTH8500D in our bedroom. The "click" of the relay contact when the thermostat calls for activation annoys my wife who has rather sensitive hearing. I contacted Honeywell and they said the clicking sound is unavoidable at the current time and suggested insulating the back plate of the RTH8500D with 1/8" Styrofoam to deaden the relay sound. I temporarily tried a thick folded piece of clothing material and I didn't notice any difference. After reading other Honeywell thermostat reviews, the clicking sound seems to be universal across many of their thermostats. So, if considering a bedroom application, you may want test the unit to ensure it's within an acceptable noise level .

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I had trouble finding programable thermostats that would control my split system Carrier heat pump. Honeywell has the installation manuals for every one of their units online ( I spent time looking at this unit's documentation to be sure it could handle my Carrier unit. Be careful, many Honeywell and other manufacturers have units that don't handle heat pumps, and some include "call a professional" in their instructions. Setup was a cinch and the ability to program temps for four times per day for up to seven days will save me money throughout the year. It's a simple unit, seems compatible with most systems, has some neat features like "vacation hold" where you can override all the programming and set a temperature to "hold" until you reset it for programming. You could be away for an evening or a month...it would honor the "hold" setting.

There are a couple of "if this...then that" instructions, but they're really well put. I did notice a poor rating on one of Honeywell's other thermostats because one purchaser didn't realize the difference between possibilities linked with "AND" vs. "OR". "And" means EACH MUST EXIST, "Or" means ONLY ONE OF THEM SHOULD EXIST. So, although the instructions are excellent, they must be read carefully before using the unit on a more complex system, such as a heat pump.

Only thing I'm not too happy about is the very short time the backlight stays on...barely five seconds. Unfortunately, in my house, the unit is mounted in an area with little natural or ambient light. I'm sure once the screen is totally familiar to me this won't matter much. But, learning the system and setting the various "System settings" takes reading along with the Installation Guide and the screen is constantly going black. Maybe I just haven't found the setting that lets it stay on longer...

I'm not experienced with HVAC. I'm a 62 year old woman/avid home "improver" and installing this in place of the 25 year old mechanical mercury stat was very easy...maybe 30 minutes.

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I wanted a touchscreen thermostat that accepted power from the furnace system so I didn't need to replace batteries every year. (It will run off of batteries if your system does not provide 24vac power to the thermostat; many were not originally installed to do so.)

This model has practically every feature you could want in a standard thermostat. It's easy to install with a bit of careful reading and looks great on the wall. I like that you can set a temperature range (disabled by default; must set an advanced option to enable) and the unit will automatically switch between heat and cool to maintain the set range.

Each of the 7 days of the week is individually programmable with up to 4 events (wake, leave, return, sleep). It offers advanced hold modes: 1) hold override temperature until next program event; 2) hold override permanently until canceled; 3) "vacation hold" for a number of days before automatically resuming the normal program.

Another advanced feature is the "recovery" mode, where the unit learns how long it takes to heat/cool the living space and it can turn on the heater or air conditioner early so that it reaches the set temperature at the set time. Cheaper thermostats only turn on *at* the set time and then the temperature has to catch up to the program. This unit can anticipate your needs, so if you want it to be 75 degrees when you wake up at 7:35, set the wake-up event to 75 degrees at 7:35. It takes care of the rest.

Highly recommended! I have three of these in my home, one for each zone.

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I replaced a 20 year old thermostat with this model. I have a simple gas heat / air conditioner. It took me longer to find he scissors to open the box than it took to actually install. I love that is actually comes pre-programmed with suggested times and temps. In fact, I left the Monday Friday settings as it. I did however purchase the oops-plate for this unit since the older one was larger than this one. Excellent product.... quite happy.

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I have a bunch of these installed in my rental properties and my primary residence.

Unlike the VisionPRO 8000 series, these lack the ONE feature that make this more useful than a much less fancy thermostat automatic air circulation.

In addition to the "AUTO" and FAN ON", the VisionPRO model has a third option called "CIRC", which cycles just the fans periodically. This allows multiple level houses to keep consistent temperature at all levels of the house instead of the basement being cold and top floor being hot without out turning on the heat or AC.

Another drawback is that the touch screen usually goes bad in the second year. I'm not talking about the LCD breaking, but losing touch sensitivity with certain areas of the screen where you can no longer get any response from a more frequently used button such as the "hold" button.

Other minor, but important features missing on this consumer version are the following:

Lack of remote sensor support useful if your thermostat hits the Sun light and falsely runs the AC.

No option to lockout the touchpad. Most residences won't use this, but a great option for public spaces or if you are sub leasing.

Lastly, the warranty is 1 year for this item through Honeywell. The VisionPRO model has 5-year warranty, but REQUIRES installation by Honeywell HVAC dealer to get warranty service.

Recommended if you just want a fancier thermostat, but buy with Amex card for 2nd year protection. Better yet, buy the VisionPro model using Amex and deal with Amex for warranty service for the card's maximum 3 years.

--- Update ----

More of my thermostats lost the touch sensitivity, but was able to fix it by taking the case off and re-inserting the thin/flat cable that connects the screen to the main board. For some reason, this reinserting reset the touch functionality and everything returns to 100% operations.