Comparing the Nest & Lyric Thermostats
If you’re in the market for a new, convenient thermostat, then you have no doubt heard of the Nest Learning Thermostat, and possibly Honeywell’s new contender called the Lyric®. The Nest has rocked the HVAC world as homeowners have seen it in Apple stores, and heard raving reviews about its simple, convenient design and function. Honeywell, the long-standing leader in thermostats since 1945, claims their new Lyric is a better way to go.
So what’s the verdict? Is this a Chevy and Ford debate that will go on for the next decade? Maybe, but there are some key differences in the two stats that might help your decision making. We’re not going to dive into a granular review here, but simply point out heavy hitting points.
1. The Nest Basics
The Nest appeal began with a sleek design from an ex-Apple person, and its ability to “learn” your schedule. Out of the box, the Nest will pay attention to the temperatures you manually set throughout the day, and it also watches activity in the home to learn when people are present, etc. You can always walk up to the Nest and adjust it like any thermostat, but the beauty of the learning side is that you don’t have to mess with programming schedules like you do with other thermostats. The Nest is accessible from your smart phone too, which adds to the convenience.
2. Honeywell Basics
The Honeywell Lyric doesn’t track motion in the home. Why? Because if you have a large home, the thermostat can’t “see” everything. If using Nest, you’ll have to have multiple thermostats in the home talking to each other for the learning to work completely. The Lyric uses GeoFencing to track occupants by their smart phones. So let’s stop right there: if the adults in your home don’t all have smart phones, the Lyric’s auto-adjusting may not work that great for you. If however the adults do have smart phones, this offers a unique advantage, as one Lyric can intelligently know if anyone is at home, regardless of the size of the house. The Lyric can sense a smart phone leaving based on two settings: 500-feet or 7 miles. This way, regardless of your commute, you can have accurate reads. The Lyric, like the Nest, is also accessible via smart phone.
3. Warranty
Anyone familiar with Honeywell knows they have killer warranties, and the Lyric is no different. The Nest offers a 2-year warranty while the Lyric is backed with a full 5-year warranty.
4. Cost
At the time of this post, the normal retail on a Nest is $249 and the Lyric is $279.
So which should you choose? We can help you with either, but we do stand behind the quality of Honeywell thermostats. We like the GeoFencing, the comfort profiles you can save in their Lyric app, the thermostat’s ability to account for outside weather conditions, and the longer 5-year warranty. If you have any questions, call your trusted Houston air conditioning company today! We can’t wait to enhance the quality of your indoor comfort control.