Honeywell Home RTH8560D 7 Day Programmable Touchscreen Thermostat

I purchased this a few months back as a replacement for an older programmable thermostat that had corroded battery terminals, but I just installed it in the last few days. The installation instructions were very clear and the installation went quite smoothly overall. The trickiest part was I needed a COM wire to run this new thermostat without batteries (although batteries are still needed for backup), but I was fortunate that the existing thermostat had some extra unused wires. I just needed to make the COM connection at the HVAC end to have a COM connection for the new thermostat, so it wasn't too difficult. This is a more modern design than the unit that it replaced, so I'm not surprised to find that it has more features to make it more flexible. The touch screen provides access to a good range of menu options, but it didn't seem hard to program, either. I'm very interested in the Automatic Changeover capability which can switch between heating and cooling modes automatically if needed to maintain program temperatures. I think that may be useful in cases when the weather is changing and the need for heating or cooling is not as clear so it's easy to miss changing modes manually. I haven't seen that feature work yet, though. I'm using it in a home workshop area, so appearance is not super important, but it does have a simple and clean appearance, and I consider it a bonus that it displays the relative humidity in addition to the temperature. There is no WiFi connectivity and I chose this model for that reason. If it continues to meet expectations, I plan to replace my other older thermostats with this model.

Bought this to replace a honeywell T4 pro. I wanted the circulation option for the fan mode which the T4 did not have. We were using the "fan on" mode when we wanted to circulate air without either heat or a/c on. However, we did not want the fan running all the time as it costs too muc electricity. The circ mode runs the fan about 34% of the time.One plus of replacing the T4 Pro with the T5 is that the both use the Honeywell universal wall plate. This makes it a simple swap without rewiring.

Serious Documentation Deficiencies - Steering Toward Pro Install the approach taken in the provided instructions seem geared toward making the installation as complex seeming as possible. They continually repeat that you should see a pro if you have certain wires on your old TStat. They ask you to list from a large number of different labeling possibilities, but you have to go online and search through documents to find the one that tells you what Honeywell expects to do with any particular wire if you have it. Once you know that it's easy enough to see how your existing equipment is wired. Most homes have a fan wire and a heat control wire and an AirConditioning wire, etc. but the manual for installing this won't tell you where those things are expected to be connected - it's steering you to their network of pros who are beholden to Honeywell for the business referred to them. Some homes use other systems, but basically it's all the same. The T5 sends a small voltage to latch the relay that controls the real power to run that system: boiler, baseboard, heat pump, etc. So when you set that type of system up in the T5 software it just powers whatever lead is expected to be wired to the terminal for that.It has a small pre-wire and mounting plate that isn't more than 2" on a side, if that. The way that is installed on the wall determines how your finished T5 is oriented. You cannot easily measure plumbness because some fool put little bump-outs on the sides of the plate. You can put a level on the top side but it's 2" across and 1/4" thickness. When I'm marking for drywall inserts and drilling, driving in, etc. it would be nice to have enough purchase to balance the level on top in case I need my third hand to hold the plate itself or whatever. It's possible to get it all straightened up, the lower ears allow for a little side-to-side fudging, but why not design in some level of certainty for a nice looking installation. For less than fifty cents they could have built in a bubble tube at the bottom of that plate. Then I would probably be saying "bravo, well done" instead of complaining. Altogether, I got the message that Honeywell didn't care about DIY customers. The temperature sensing disagrees with other devices by 1 or 2 degrees BTW. The T5 thinks it's cooler than it's peers do.

If you dont have a C wire, and want something that is digital, can be programmed, this is it. I was going to go with a ecobee for $250, but thought- why? Its great.