Any Google Nest/Hive Thermostat Users?

[Cubbington]

Hi All,

 

About to hit the button on getting a Google Nest thermostat installed after doing some research between Nest & Hive.

 

I was initially drawn to Hive as the controller drops into where the original thermostat is fitted (hall), and they also do smart TRVs for the radiators, whilst Nest doesn’t.

 

I prefer the look of the Nest controller, but will need a bit of tidying the wall to mount it cleanly in place of the original thermostat as I like the clean look of it without the surround, or as the Google manual suggests put it in a regularly used room...ironically have just decorated the hall!

 

We’ve also got Philips Hue lighting throughout, and Nest integrates with Hue, whilst Hive has it’s own lighting and smart home integration.

 

I really like the idea of the Smart TRVs as we’ve never been able to get an even temperature throughout the house, but it’s not a deal-breaker, and there seems to be a lot of bad feedback regarding the Hive TRVs on their own forum...

 

Honeywell do a system called Evohome which is supposed to be excellent, but is way out of our budget and has an awful looking controller!

Initial outlay for both Nest & Hive is pretty similar.

 

So throwing out there to anyone who has either system, and read your thoughts & experiences.

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

Edited 28 July, 2020 by Cubbington

[Mort]

We've been trying to make a similar choice. I love the look and feel of Nest, but it's so locked down to Google it's hard to justify over a Honeywell or similar system that will work with our HomeKit house.

 

We've got Ikea lighting and outlets, some general HomeKit bits and quite a bit of Elgato Eve stuff that all connects to HomeKit; meaning Apple's Home App (or Siri) on our phones is the main controller for anything smart related, and it's all in one place.

 

Ironically the only smart stuff we have that doesn't fit that ecosystem is our Nest Protects (fire alarms) which are excellent pieces of kit, but just don't fit into the 'smarthome' that we've built up. I'm not sure I want to add to that split with the Nest Thermostat when it's something that we'll likely be controlling quite often as the house is old and does heat up a bit funny (in a terraced street so often our heating pattern is highly dependant on how much the neighbours are heating their houses too).

 

The ability to control it through a central hub on our devices (rather than the physical thermostat hardware) is probably more of a pull than a nice looking 'stat and probably (for us) more important than Nest's 'learning' features. But I totally agree that almost all the the other smart systems have ugly-as-sin thermostats.

Elgato and others do smart TRVs that work independent of your thermostat which we're looking into now as an option (HomeKit compatible). Works out a lot more expensive, but would give us individual room smart control. I'm not sure if they'd mess with Nest's 'learning' features if you had them together though?

[Cubbington]

Hi Mort,

 

Thanks for the additional comments; we're in an exclusively Apple house, although don't use HomeKit yet, I'm sure there'll be a time when we do want to; Hue is regularly reminding us to link it with HomeKit & Siri!

 

I had thought about Nest being Google-based may limit us in the future, but you mentioned the fire alarms, and the addition of those and doorbell/camera which also integrate with Hue caught my attention with regards to system building over the coming years...our current fire alarms (installed from new) are so sensitive you almost only have to fart and they go off 🤣 We live on a relatively quiet estate, and regularly hear them going off somewhere or other almost on a daily basis!!!

 

For us, main control via an app isn't a priority, and I do like to have a master over-ride (replacing all the physical light switches with wireless Senic/Gira for the Hue was a big leap of faith for me!), but I hadn't thought about TRVs having an impact on Nest's learning capabilities, and do really like the idea of individual room control.

 

I've just had another look, and pricing it up in stages, the Honeywell Evohome doesn't come in that much more expensive than Hive (based on us needing 8 x TRVs if we were to go down the full smart option), but of course it (Honeywell) all really needs to be done in one hit...

 

Our house is only 8 years old, but we're currently waiting LVT flooring to be fitted on the ground floor, and after lifting the carpet and underlay a couple of weeks ago we've found why downstairs is probably so chilly with the mess of the concrete allowing draughts in from the front and back doors, and even the middle of the house with big gaps & holes giving a gentle breeze, the company are levelling the floor with latex screed so hopefully that'll sort those problems out! The first owners also had a loft conversion done, and we're not too sure how well they've done the insulation, so that's another project for another time...

 

I think I need to find an installation company that does both or all to get a measured opinion...we've done that with the company that are doing our flooring and are happy with our choice of manufacturer there!

Thanks,

Nick

[Cubbington]

Also throwing Tado into the mix, as the name has cropped up a few times, but I'd not really paid it any mind:

 

https://www.t3.com/features/hive-vs-nest-vs-tado-review

 

Best,

 

Nick

[Jfhuk]

Our Hive thermostat was a pain to setup and get working correctly. Its integration with Amazon Alexa also needs work. They regularly change the commands, but don’t tell anyone about the changes. My biggest gripe is there so called help desk they are totally useless. The answer to all questions is “change the battery’s”. I’d also avoid there external security cameras. You can just lift them off the magnetic mount!

[Cubbington]

Thanks Jfhuk,

 

I'm sure note everyone's experience is the same, but sounds like you've not had a great experience with Hive.

 

My view is that there's always going to be an issue with a product you buy at some point, but it's how a company responds and resolves that issue that that matters....

 

Cheers,

 

Nick

[Lady Elanore]

I have Hive and found it super easy to fit and set up. I simply removed the old standard fit thermostat and plugged the new 'switching' plate in it's place, as it has the same standardised size and connector fittings (you need a small jumper wire installing as well), plugged the hub into my router and powered up the thermostat. Job done. I now have several hive lights and motion sensors too and they all work pretty seamlessly with remote operation on a phone as well as with a Google pebble thing and the Alexa thingummies (I have both). The Amazon Fire Cube jobbie is very convenient to use with the remote control (using voice commands) and you can alter lights and ask for a specific percentage brightness, turn the heating to a desired temp etc.  

 

All in all I'm a big fan. Lots of individual timers set for my lights and temp settings across the week and also many shortcuts on my phone app, so, for example, I can boost the temp, turn all the lights off etc with a simple button press

Edited 8 September, 2020 by Lady Elanore

[Cubbington]

Hi There Lady Elanore,

 

Thanks so much for the detailed reply, and nice to hear you've had a good experience with the Hive system.

 

Good to know it's simple to use, and I do like the integration features, however have Philips Hue lighting throughout, and know that Hive doesn't integrate with this system, whereas Nest does - not essential, but nice to have.

 

Thanks again, really useful info

 

Nick

[Liger1956]

I have had a  version 1 Hive setup for quite a while which controls both my heating and hot water. Like Lady Elanore I found it easy to install, I like the app and it has performed well. However I do not have any other smart devices, Echo or Google Home so I cannot comment on their integration. Overall I am very happy with it.

[Lady Elanore]

5 hours ago, Cubbington said:

Hi There Lady Elanore,

 

Thanks so much for the detailed reply, and nice to hear you've had a good experience with the Hive system.

 

Good to know it's simple to use, and I do like the integration features, however have Philips Hue lighting throughout, and know that Hive doesn't integrate with this system, whereas Nest does - not essential, but nice to have.

 

Thanks again, really useful info

 

Nick

 

 

I believe Hue now works with Hive, although I have no personal experience of it. 

[Cubbington]

Thanks @Liger1956, nice to also read from you that it's easy to install Hive.

 

@Lady Elanore I just checked Hive's website, and it appears that you can link Hive to Hue, however you can link it to one Hue Hub...I have two Hue Hubs as they actually have a very limited amount of memory, and I hit the limit of how many devices you can attach to one hub, which was frustrating (very first-world level of frustration ) as we don't exactly live in a mansion.

 

You have to switch between hubs in the Hue app to control the different rooms/lights that are assigned to each hub...clunky. I needed to buy a separate app (iconnecthue, brilliant) to control it all seamlessly.

 

I think the best thing to do would keep the heating and lighting separate...it's hardly a hardship to have separate apps, and as mentioned before, these are very first-world problems to be trying to resolve...

 

Have a good evening all,

 

Nick

[Lady Elanore]

Ooh I don't know how many lights I can connect to Hive. I have 9 so far and one cluster of 3 (it treats them as a single event - it's a ceiling rose light). I've also got 5 motion sensors linked too 

[Cubbington]

Worth checking!

 

With Hue it's something like 50 bulbs & 12 devices; it's based on physical hardware so clustering/grouping bulbs and devices doesn't reduce those limits.

 

When you take the system for granted and just start replacing every bulb in the house over time, you don't realise how many you have...and we hardly live in a mansion!!!

 

Hopefully Philips release an updated hub with more memory; the other problem with having two hubs is that you can only use one for geolocation settings, so it does limit the functionality a bit.

 

That being said, I love the simplicity of the Philips system, it's bullet-proof, easily installed and only as expensive as you want to make it by adding more rooms...I travel a lot for work (under normal circumstances), and Mrs Cubbington loves the Hue system as she's set scenes and timers to emulate the normal times I'm up and about, and feels safer for it - she knows how to use it more than me!

 

Sorry, digressing from the original post there!

 

Nick

Edited 9 September, 2020 by Cubbington

[Lady Elanore]

Apparently there is no max number, but they don't recommend more than 60. I don't think it will be a problem for me  You can also add remote thermostatic radiator valves, and cameras if you get carried away 

[Cubbington]

Good to check though

 

I was looking at a third party Hue website whilst you were checking out your Hive limits and it seems that they're very similar - you can apparently connect up to 64 bulbs to a Hue hub but it's not recommended as it starts becoming unresponsive. There was reply to the article from one guy saying that he had 50 bulbs just in his kitchen and living room alone...say what now?!

[Lady Elanore]

They form a zigbee, or is it ziggystardust? network apparently, what ever that is. 

 

The thing that swung me to Hive over Tado etc was it could cope with the 'call for heat' wire being at mains voltage, something that I don't think Nest can do and so it is super easy to install, especially as the switching box fits a standard old school thermostat back plate. Well lets put it this way, I managed to do it and the British Gas chap said I'd done it correctly when he fitted a new pump to my central heating 

[Cubbington]

9 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

They form a zigbee, or is it ziggystardust? network apparently, what ever that is. 

 

 

I think a Zigbee network is it's own wireless mesh network independent to your wifi network.

 

Good comment regarding Tado, and even though I love the look of the control panel, I'm not too sure about just having customer support on email and phone; it's a heating system, so one of a home's essential services, so if it goes wrong and it's something I can't fix, I'd like to know an engineer can be called to fix it if need be. It's not a dealbreaker, but Tado also requires a £3/month subscription for all the functionality...these systems are supposed to save money over the long-term, so then spending an additional £36/year doesn't quite work for me - they could increase the cost of the subscription at any time too...

[Lady Elanore]

The Hive Geofencing isn't so clever as some, I believe. It can only send you an email to say you have entered/left a specified radius (you determine this) from your home. It's up to you to then activate the service you require on your phone app. I have a feeling that Nest might be automatic in this regard, but it certainly wasn't a deal breaker for me, as I live in a slightly older house and if I turn the heating off for 30 minutes to go to the shops, it takes that long again to warm up    so I would naturally leave the heating on if I was just pooping out.  

[cheezemonkhai]

On 09/09/2020 at 20:22, Cubbington said:

Thanks @Liger1956, nice to also read from you that it's easy to install Hive.

 

@Lady Elanore I just checked Hive's website, and it appears that you can link Hive to Hue, however you can link it to one Hue Hub...I have two Hue Hubs as they actually have a very limited amount of memory, and I hit the limit of how many devices you can attach to one hub, which was frustrating (very first-world level of frustration ) as we don't exactly live in a mansion.

 

You have to switch between hubs in the Hue app to control the different rooms/lights that are assigned to each hub...clunky. I needed to buy a separate app (iconnecthue, brilliant) to control it all seamlessly.

 

I think the best thing to do would keep the heating and lighting separate...it's hardly a hardship to have separate apps, and as mentioned before, these are very first-world problems to be trying to resolve...

 

Have a good evening all,

 

Nick

Have you still got a hue v1 (round) bridge?

 

The v2 can support plenty of lights, so I am v surprised to see your comment.

 

If you have a v2 you must have really gone to town on devices.

Edited 11 September, 2020 by cheezemonkhai

[Cubbington]

@cheezemonkhai

 

Yep, latest V2 bridges, and still hit the limits; I'd noticed operation was becoming a bit flakey, then tried to add a final switch, only to get a message along the lines that the bridge was full and I needed to delete something else before I could add it...

 

I've just counted everything, and we've got 30 bulbs, 3 motion sensors, 1 smart plug & 13 switches - I think it's the combination of sensors, smart plug & switches (11 of which are Senic Gira and can be configured as either one or two switches for hallway/stairways, etc.), as they use a lot of resources.

 

As an aside the Senic Gira switches are great as they are 55mm Euro backbit fittings, and Gira make Euro to UK back box adapters, so you can replace your original UK switches and have a nice clean installation.

 

What I should do is do a hard-reset and clear everything, then try to configure it all again with one hub...it's just a pain though, as we've got some nice scenes, routines & timed motion sensors rules configured, and I really don't want to have to go through setting them all up again!!!

Cheers,

 

Nick

 

 

Edited 11 September, 2020 by Cubbington

[Lady Elanore]

I've got a couple of WeMo switches and although I don't see them with Hive, they are available on Google, so I suppose I can control everything with Google ie Hive and WeMo. It's a way of having everything on one app so it's still convenient 

[Cubbington]

Having one app to control it all is really nice, would be great to have that functionality if possible.

[Lady Elanore]

Google seems to find everything I own!! Give it a go if you have android 

[SuperbTWM]

I've set up 2 Hive systems for friends, the set-up did not go smoothly both times, i think the issue was that I was trying to follow the set-up instructions but in reality I think if you power it all up they seem to connect and sync up on their own eventually. The main downside for me is that you have a box to connect to the modem, and the reciever and the thermostat whereas nest just has a thermostat and a reciever so thats one less box to have powered up near your router.

 

I have a Nest and I'm happy with it, it did die recently though (along with many other Nests that have a common issue where the wifi chip dies) and I have to say the service from google was brilliant to say it was well out of warranty. As soon as I found the issue I went to the website, chatted live and within 10 minutes a new one was on its way, the next day a new thermostat and heatlink was at my door (now I have a spare heatlink also).

 

One downside of the nest though is its power requirement, for it to look neat and tidy on the wall you either have to chase the wall out or in my case, drill through from a cupboard on the other side of the wall. Otherwise you have an unsightly cable running up the wall unless you have a table to sit it on with the stand. The Hive being battery powered does not have this issue.

Edited 12 September, 2020 by SuperbTWM

[Lady Elanore]

Does NEST do lights as well? I avoided it mainly because as I said earlier, it can't cope with mains voltage call for heat. Made my HIVE instal a breeze. Everything connected fist time too. I do have a rather whizzy router though  

Edited 13 September, 2020 by Lady Elanore