Dropped $80 on a smart thermostat last spring, still not sure it was worth it

I figured a Nest would be the big climate action move for my house. Installed it in March, cost me about $80 on sale. The app is nice and all but I'm not seeing a huge drop in my electric bill, maybe like $5 a month. For the upfront cost and the plastic packaging it came in, I'm kinda wondering if just turning stuff off manually does the same thing. Has anyone else felt like these gadgets are more of a gimmick than actual savings?

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john6486d ago

Yeah the Nest was my first smart thermostat too and honestly it didn't save me much either. What really helped was switching to a Honeywell model that has room sensors (the $40 cheaper version). Now I only heat/cool the rooms I'm actually using, which cut my bill by maybe $12 a month. The other trick is programming the schedule tighter than the factory defaults - I set mine to drop to 62 at night and during work hours, and it only bumps up to 68 when someone's home. That plastic packaging thing bugs me too though, all that waste for a little circuit board.