CES 2019: Smarter, better looking and easier to set up
One of the latest trends in smart thermostats is room sensors. The thinking behind this is that your home doesn’t heat or cool evenly – some rooms are cold while others are warmer. Honeywell is onto this, and it’s updating its thermostats for exactly that purpose at CES 2019.
The new T9 and T10 Pro smart thermostats now have wireless room sensors that can read the temperature and humidity of a room, meaning you can now adjust to heat or cool that room more efficiently.
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The new T-Series thermostats are also aware of time. It knows that at night you’re going to be in your bedroom so it’ll focus on keeping your room at your ideal sleeping temperature. During the day, it’ll keep focus elsewhere.
You set this all up yourself. You can choose which rooms should be prioritized when, and what its ideal temperature should be. You can also set a schedule, so maybe at lunch time the kitchen will be prioritized, and in the evening your living room will get preference.
There’s also geofencing to get your thermostats ready when you enter your home, or to turn it off when you’re not around. You can receive alerts if a room is too cold too, so you don’t have to worry if your baby’s room is a little too chilly.
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People detection is pretty handy also. It knows which rooms are occupied and which are empty, so it’ll shuffle heating or cooling to where people actually are – again, using energy more efficiently. The range of the room sensors are quite large as well, at 200 feet, so you won’t have to worry about your home being too big.
Finally, the T9 is getting some experience upgrades to catch up with the simplicity of smart thermostats like Ecobee and Nest. It’s now got wire-sensing technology and a C-wire adapter that will let the thermostat configure itself. The T10 Pro, on the other hand, will need a professional installer. But both of them are getting new designs that are much easier on the eyes, will full-color displays.
Both the T9 and T10 Pro will launch in North America in Spring 2019 with both Alexa and Google Assistant support, and HomeKit coming later this year. The T9 will be $199.99 and you’ll need to contact a professional for T10 Pro pricing. Additional room sensors can be purchased in two-packs for $79.99.
