Google Nest Learning Thermostat 4th Gen review: pricey but packed with features
7.9
Nest Learning Thermostat 4th generation
Like
- Including room sensor
- Smart schedule adjustments
- Excellent display
- No C-wire needed
I don’t like it
When my colleague Tyler Graham first learned about Google’s 4th Generation Nest Learning Thermostat and told me that Google hoped consumers would see it as a work of art, I was skeptical. It’s a thermostat. How beautiful can it be?
I’m not ready to eat my words yet, but friends who saw it on my wall immediately commented on how nice it looks. I’ll admit, it’s a nice thermostat.
But it’s not hanging on my wall to look cool. I have thrift-store art for that, which costs way less than $280. (Google did give me one to review.) The true test of a thermostat is not what you see, but what you feel. And this latest model is keeping me pretty comfortable.
The 4th-generation Nest Learning Thermostat has many of the same features as its predecessor, but some things are new or at least reemphasized. Chief among them is the room sensor, which was available with the 3rd-generation model but is now included with the latest version. This addition turns your thermostat into a whole-home climate control system.
Other changes may feel more aesthetically pleasing, such as a dynamic display that shows you more information (such as the outside temperature or time) the closer you get to the thermostat. It’s an attractive device, but it’s also the most expensive model on the market.
Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Gen vs 4th Gen: What’s New?
I’ve had the 3rd generation Nest Learning Thermostat on my wall for a few months now, so I’ve gotten pretty familiar with its features. The newer model has quite a few new features. This isn’t just a minor update, it’s a completely new device. Here are some of the bigger differences.
A different app experience
One of my favorite things about the 3rd gen model was the Nest app. I found it very simple and easy to use, and I became very comfortable with it. The 4th gen model has pushed me outside of the comfort zone of the Nest app.
Instead of sticking with the Nest app, use the Google Home app to control the latest Nest thermostat. And the Google Home app is nice, especially if you have other Google devices in your home, but it’s a different experience. I find it a little more boring, and there’s more going on because Google Home isn’t specifically built around the thermostat. It still does its job.
Dynamic home screen
The face of a smart thermostat is a great place to display information. Most thermostats make it easy to see what the temperature is and what it’s set to, but others offer more customization — the current weather, the time, etc.
The 4th-generation Nest Learning Thermostat lets you customize the information that appears on the thermostat’s display, but it also uses a technology Google calls Dynamic Farsight to make it even more useful. The thermostat can sense how far away you are and adjust the display accordingly. If you’re farther away, it will show very little information, perhaps just the current temperature in your home. The closer you get, the more information it will show. That could be the current temperature, the temperature outside, what the thermostat is set to, and more.
This is a nice change that makes it easier to understand more about your home’s comfort settings without having to touch a device or press a button. It’s also customizable, so you can decide what information is most important.
Smart planning
Some smart thermostats will adjust the temperature automatically and learn from your behavior. The 4th-generation Nest Smart Thermostat lets you set a schedule (say, 76 degrees from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., 72 degrees at night), and it can adjust that schedule as it learns your behavior. In theory, it should get to know you so well that you won’t need to touch the temperature at all.
In my testing, I found that the Nest does a pretty good job of anticipating what will make me comfortable. My apartment has two floors with wildly different environments, so it can be tricky to properly regulate the temperature in the room I’m in — and the Nest isn’t exactly aware of my preferences for being in the office or living room at a certain time. But the scheduling works well, especially when you combine it with the external sensors for other rooms.
A thermostat for the whole house
With this latest generation, Nest is finally going all-in on external sensors by packaging one with the thermostat. You could have bought separate sensors with the previous generation of the Nest Learning Thermostat, but you had to want to an external sensor. Now you get one in the box — as is the case with the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium and the Honeywell Home T9 Smart Thermostat. This push might be just what people need to embrace the idea of a whole-home thermostat.
I mentioned that my apartment has a vastly different comfort level depending on whether you live upstairs or downstairs. As soon as I saw the remote sensor in the box, I knew I could try to solve that problem. It’s been a hot summer in Ohio and my upstairs bedroom gets particularly hot and stuffy at night. I installed the sensor in the bedroom and immediately got a better idea of how stuffy it was. At times, it was several degrees warmer than the living room directly below. With a glance at my phone, I could not only see what the thermostat was at, but also what the temperature was upstairs, giving me a better idea of the comfort level of the entire apartment.
But it doesn’t stop there. When I set up the schedules on the Nest, I could set the nighttime temperature cooler — but also have the bedroom sensor set the temperature. Some smart scheduling, like making sure sleep mode kicks in a little earlier to help pre-cool the bedroom, helped me sleep better.
Although the Nest only comes with one sensor, you can buy more and place them in other rooms. Google sells its second generation sensors for $40 each or three for $100.
Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Generation) Features
| Price | $280 |
|---|---|
| Geofencing | Yes |
| External sensors | One included |
| Smart Home Compatibility | Google Home, Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa |
| Need C-wire? | No |
In short: is it worth the price?
If all thermostats were free, the latest Nest would be hard to beat. It has almost all the features of the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium, with a few nicer touches and the added flexibility of not requiring a C-wire. As a high-end thermostat, the 4th-gen Nest Smart Thermostat is the best.
But it’s also the most expensive model I tested, retailing for $280. That’s not cheap, and that figure only includes the one external room sensor. Energy Star estimates that a smart thermostat can save the average household about $50 per year, so it would take more than five years for the energy savings to cover the cost of this thermostat. Compare that to the Amazon Smart Thermostat, which costs just $80 — and potentially pays for itself in less than two years.
While we often think of smart thermostats as a way to save money, they’re also a way to control our homes and make them our own. The 4th-generation Nest Learning Thermostat serves as a work of art and an attractive centerpiece for your climate control system. It can attractively display weather information inside and outside your home, and it allows you to see and manage the comfort of multiple rooms at once.
If your goal is to save money, there are better options. But if you’re looking for a thermostat as a gadget with lots of features, this one should be at the top of your list.
How we rate smart thermostats
Most of the home energy products we test and evaluate here at CNET have a bunch of numbers attached to them: the efficiency of solar panels, the power of batteries. Not so with smart thermostats. All of the smart thermostats we’ve tested can perform the basic functions of turning on your heat when it’s cold and your air conditioning when it’s warm. While some of our scores are based on tangible, mathematical data, it’s all about the myriad ways you can interact with the thermostat to get the comfort level and energy savings you want.
We tested and tried out all the thermostats we reviewed, both on a test rig that allowed us to simulate the operation of the thermostat and explore its features, as well as in our own homes.
The 10-point scores we give smart thermostats are based on the following metrics:
- 20% is based on available connectivity for smart homes and other features including geofencing and remote room sensors.
- 20% is the price, with a formula that rewards cheaper products. Devices with a room sensor are rated based on their cost minus the retail price of the room sensor.
- 60% is completely subjective and based on our assessment of what the device has to offer, how easy it is to install, how easy the app or interface is to use, and what features it has that may not be standard for thermostats but are useful or helpful to consumers.
Choosing a thermostat is an incredibly subjective and personal choice, and our goal in scoring is to highlight the products that perform the most and best. Your purchasing decision should be based on your priorities, which may not exactly align with ours, so be sure to look at more than just a score when choosing a device that you’re likely to deal with almost every day.
