I have several years of experience with the Nest thermostats: we own two, and we have two Nest smoke detectors as well (primarily because they will call your phone if an emergency occurs at home).
The Nest app is moderately accessible … I have not been able to set schedules using it. Also, if the thermostat has a problem connecting to your wifi, or via the internet to the Nest main servers, it will display error messages only on the thermostat (which you usually have to have sighted help to deal with). You could get around the inability to set schedules by use of the “learning” feature (having your installer clear all learning after installation and testing is very helpful). Each time you make an adjustment to the temp, the idea is that if it sees you do this repeatedly it will make a schedule for you. My wife found it confusing when it would suddenly make a temperature setting change without explanation, so we eventually turned off learning (I guess it’s a personal preference). It’s very nice that the Nest will manage humidity in a home which has a two-speed or a variable speed system. It does this by running the system at slower speeds when the humidity rises too high. Even with a standard single speed system the Nest will manage humidity by “over-cooling” up to 4 degrees if you enable this feature. However, it takes sighted assistance to adjust the humidity level setting (it’s not something you usually ever adjust again however). It’s a very good idea to get an installer who is certified as a “Nest Pro”, so ask them. Turns out my installer was not, and I am still arguing with them, and trying to teach them about Nest features. Their one employee who understood Nest thermostats has left them. If you have both Nest thermostats and smoke detectors, if you have any smoke the detectors will cause your heating or air conditioning to shut off to stop the spread of smoke … a nice feature. Their smoke detectors report the problem with a recorded voice announcement, along with its location, such as “low battery in the dining room” or “smoke in the up stairs”, so this is also nice. They self test themselves monthly, and report the results to you via the app. While the ability to control Nest thermostats is built into the Echo, I use a third party Skill called “The Thermostat” because it allows me to ask it what is the humidity in the up stairs, and other such additional questions and commands, so you may want to look into this skill as it works with many models. Hth, Chip From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Rick Alfaro Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2017 1:22 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: WiFi thermostats Hello listers. I know this topic has been discussed several times on this list. At the time I had a functioning WiFi thermostat from Radio Thermostats known as the Filtreet CT50. Unfortunately, it’s bitten the dust and no longer connects to my network, even not after long hours of trouble shooting including the wiring. It’s time for me to move on so I’d like to purchase a thermostat that works with Alexa. The one I’ve seen on Amazon is the Ecobee3 lite second gen for $168 via Prime shipping. Of course the real issue is whether or not it’s IOS app is workable with VoiceOver. If anyone has had any experience with this brand, I’d be interested in knowing your experience in terms of accessibility. There are 2 other thermostats that work with Alexa. The Nest learning and the Honeywell RTH9585WF1004 so if anyone has any experience with either of these, I’d also be grateful for any feedback with regard to their respective accessibility. -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: mk...@ucla.edu. 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