Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen) Review: Blending Beauty and Brains

Nest’s sensible thermostats have been an icon of the sensible residence since they hit the market in late 2011. Nothing mentioned sensible like a tool that might study your habits and make your house function extra effectively with out having to fiddle with settings and automations. Within the 13 years since, Nest Studying Thermostats have been simple to establish, with the identical thick silver bezel and compact round display. This design was radical at a time when most sensible thermostats regarded like boring, rectangular, beige bins.

Google’s fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat has a completely new look, reworking what now seems like a fundamental tech gadget into one thing of an artwork piece to your wall. It is received new smarts too, and features a temperature sensor to position elsewhere within the residence. It is a refreshing improve to a longtime staple, and feels sensible with out being intrusive or overly advanced—an essential center line not all sensible units discover.

Slim Setup

When you’re hoping to pop the fourth-generation Nest Studying Thermostat onto the backing of a earlier Nest thermostat, you are out of luck. The thermostat base for the brand new mannequin is a unique measurement, so you will have to modify out the previous base for the brand new one.

Whereas the third-generation thermostat itself is smaller, its base is just a little bigger with bigger connectors; the brand new thermostat base is smaller with positively tiny connector buttons. You’d assume with the bigger 3.9-inch display that the bottom could be bigger, nevertheless it has a smaller footprint in your wall, which is sweet. It comes with an elective plate as with earlier generations, however the brand new model is an oval fairly than a rectangle. A 3.9-inch display may not sound that large, nevertheless it seems surprisingly massive on the wall for those who’re used to the smaller Nest thermostats, and even one thing like my earlier thermostat, the sq. Honeywell T6.

{Photograph}: Nena Farrell

Putting in the Nest is simple; make sure your system is compatible and that you’ve got flipped off the related breaker to chop energy. The Nest app is now not at play with this mannequin. Google has been progressively transitioning a lot of its options and capabilities to the Google Dwelling app, and that is what you will use for this new mannequin. Google Dwelling walks you thru the steps of eradicating your previous thermostat, labeling the wires, and putting in the brand new thermostat over it.