Emerson Sensi Thermostat - Free - MA Residents

If anyone wants any feedback on the Sensi, I have a decent amount of experience with it. I've used one since about 2016. I will say it's a no frills thermostat, but it just works. It doesn't look out of the ordinary on your wall, but has a phone app that lets you control it from anywhere. The only annoyance I ever had was the initial paring to your wifi.

I just replaced it with an Ecobee 3 that a family member gave me. I will say, the Ecobee is a nicer, more modern looking tstat, and has a lot of nice features. The remote sensors are great and really do help keep your home more comfortable if you have more than 1 story. Certainly more full featured than Sensi.

I do not have direct experience with Nest, however, I did work in the smart home/HVAC space for a while, and I will tell you that customer feedback on Ecobee is much better than Nest, and to me, Ecobee's features are much better. That may have changed, haven't kept up with it.

If I were to direct anyone to any of these choices, I'd go with the Ecobee.

Those are some good discounts, paid $50 for mine with incentives from PECO but for my one level place it's nothing to complain about. It works without need for C wire in my case and so far in 6 months haven't had any problems or disconnects.Very convenient to adjust temperature from my iPhone without getting up or if not home.

Quote from AlexS2465 : Those are some good discounts, paid $50 for mine with incentives from PECO but for my one level place it's nothing to complain about. It works without need for C wire in my case and so far in 6 months haven't had any problems or disconnects.Very convenient to adjust temperature from my iPhone without getting up or if not home.

Which one of these do you refer to not needing a C wire? I do see they have the option of the power extender but that seems to require 4 wires. I took a look and don't see batteries as an option.

Quote from stickler12 : Which one of these do you refer to not needing a C wire? I do see they have the option of the power extender but that seems to require 4 wires. I took a look and don't see batteries as an option.

Emerson Sensi has batteries. I installed it without C wire about a year ago. Works fine and still showing full battery.

Eversource here in CT is offering these but for $25 (other people seem to be reporting a different price but every zip I look in it's $25 after tax).

Quote from fmcfad01 : If anyone wants any feedback on the Sensi, I have a decent amount of experience with it. I've used one since about 2016. I will say it's a no frills thermostat, but it just works. It doesn't look out of the ordinary on your wall, but has a phone app that lets you control it from anywhere. The only annoyance I ever had was the initial paring to your wifi. I just replaced it with an Ecobee 3 that a family member gave me. I will say, the Ecobee is a nicer, more modern looking tstat, and has a lot of nice features. The remote sensors are great and really do help keep your home more comfortable if you have more than 1 story. Certainly more full featured than Sensi. I do not have direct experience with Nest, however, I did work in the smart home/HVAC space for a while, and I will tell you that customer feedback on Ecobee is much better than Nest, and to me, Ecobee's features are much better. That may have changed, haven't kept up with it. If I were to direct anyone to any of these choices, I'd go with the Ecobee.

Quote from stickler12 : Which one of these do you refer to not needing a C wire? I do see they have the option of the power extender but that seems to require 4 wires. I took a look and don't see batteries as an option.

Quote from CoralIdea9638 : Emerson Sensi has batteries. I installed it without C wire about a year ago. Works fine and still showing full battery.

There are 2 different Sensi's here - the Sensi ST55 which is the white model for free ($0) and the ST75 which is the touch model that costs $25. Here in CT only the ST75 is available (for the same price through eversource). AFAIK the ST75 requires a C wire.

Quote from Dr. J : There are 2 different Sensi's here - the Sensi ST25 which is the white model for free ($0) and the ST75 which is the touch model that costs $25. Here in CT only the ST75 is available (for the same price through eversource). AFAIK the ST75 requires a C wire.

Yes thank you for pointing that out and clarifying, I have NON touch model which doesn't require C wire (also for some who don't have it it's possible to obtain it with a kit like this: https://www.amazon.com/Lux-Produc...B01IF3QXMC if you're good with small DIY).

Quote from AlexS2465 : Yes thank you for pointing that out and clarifying, I have NON touch model which doesn't require C wire (also for some who don't have it it's possible to obtain it with a kit like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product...UTF8&psc=1 if you're good with small DIY).

Sorry this is the ST55 not ST25. Regardless the 55 (white model) can be powered with batteries or C wire.

I have 4 of the ST55 in my house for a bit over a year now. I have not had any connection issues, I prefer these to the Ecobee/Nest since I can set a schedule and it will run that schedule. Also it is one of the only thermostats I could find that would let me add multiple to a single app and control them all from that app. So I can click on my Sensi app, and adjust any of my 4 thermostats.

I've been using the Emerson (the basic white one) for about a year now. It was essentially a drop-in replacement for a dumb Emerson unit. No C-Wire, no problem. It has backup batteries but after a year the indicator still shows that the batteries are at full charge. I have it integrated into my Google Home so I can control it via Assistant (also works with Alexa, but no first hand experience).

My one annoyance (and confirmed on Android and iPhone) is that Geofencing doesn't work well. It's also not adjustable, you only have 1 option to have it go down 3 degrees when you're 3 miles away. If you live close to work, that's not good. Not that it matters because it won't sync in the background anyway, you actively have to open the app and let it update your location (it's not a location preferences issue on my phone, it's the app being dumb). Kinda defeats the purpose if it's not automatic. In my previous experience Nest works much better in this regard.

But honestly, if you're missing a C-Wire and are in a temporary housing where it's not worth the bother investing into getting a Nest or Ecobee properly set up, then this is a pretty good solution. You can probably even get away with it in a rental and just leave it when you move out.

Quote from Golfer2004nh : I have 4 of the ST55 in my house for a bit over a year now. I have not had any connection issues, I prefer these to the Ecobee/Nest since I can set a schedule and it will run that schedule. Also it is one of the only thermostats I could find that would let me add multiple to a single app and control them all from that app. So I can click on my Sensi app, and adjust any of my 4 thermostats.

For everyone else's information, Ecobee 3 Lite does this too. All thermostats in one app, and runs a set schedule. It doesn't try to learn your routine. You can add room units to detect presence and switch to "Home" or "Away" mode depending on occupancy, but that's optional.

are these the 'fixed' recalled ones from 2 years ago?

Quote from Dr. J : Sorry this is the ST55 not ST25. Regardless the 55 (white model) can be powered with batteries or C wire.

a c-wire is required for heat-only, cool-only and heat pump systems

For heat/cool systems, if you don't have a C-wire, the unit attempts to circumvent that lack of power by cycling on/off very briefly all the time to keep the unit charged. It's not an ideal situation, and many have complained of long term reliability.

If you turn off WiFi on the Sensi, you can use it with just battery power. But then it's a dumb thermostat.

I live in the basement of the house owned by my ma and pa. Can I get this for free?