The thermostat and automation

[pete_c]

Over Thanksgiving my son mentioned to me that he was buying a Nest thermostat.  He wants to see it on his new watch.
 
I basically told him that the Nest thermostat wouldn't fix his home energy consumption especially if he changes the settings all of the time.
 
That said he was mostly just interested in seeing his thermostat on his watch which is what I see much these days with the newbie easy button automation kids today.
 
Here use an Omnistat 2.  I don't every touch it.  I do watch temperature and humidity in the house locally or remotely. 
 
That said here is an entertaining skit on the thermostat from 1986.
 
[youtube]http://youtu.be/F4VpnlgMx1k[/youtube]

 

[drvnbysound]

Over Thanksgiving my son mentioned to me that he was buying a Nest thermostat.  He wants to see it on his new watch.
 
I basically told him that the Nest thermostat wouldn't fix his home energy consumption especially if he changes the settings all of the time.
 
That said he was mostly just interested in seeing his thermostat on his watch which is what I see much these days with the newbie easy button automation kids today.
 
Here use an Omnistat 2.  I don't every touch it.  I do watch temperature and humidity in the house locally or remotely. 
 
That said here is an entertaining skit on the thermostat from 1986.

 
Sounds to me like he just wants to be able to do the same thing that you do... without a full automation system to control other things too
 
I have a Zwave thermostat that's integrated with my Elk panel. I had some initial ideas of automating the temperature a few degrees here and there or when we left for a vacation, but between the reports that there really isn't any money saved, and the fact that we had our first child since then (and my wife stays home with him) there is no reason for me to alter the temperature anymore. So today I'm in the same boat... I occasionally view the temperature from my phone, usually when showing someone else the various capabilities of my system.

 

[Madcodger]

I think HA companies are missing out on important indicators of consumer desire by ignoring things like interest in Nest. I have two of them - One for the main HVAC (heat pump) and the other for a pellet fireplace insert (had to do a bit of hacking there, but at least I found a use for Homeseer via the Nest plugin). They are the most reliable HA devices in the house, AND the easiest for my wife to use (main reason I went with them for the pellet insert, which is in her office).

I think the same thing may be true with the Apple Watch, which I just got a couple of weeks ago. Incredibly handy, and sooooo easy to understand and use. THAT's what consumers WANT!

Instead, HA suppliers are all enamored with telling us we need to buy a Raspberry Pi or Arduino and learn to code, or that we're not able to use their system because we aren't willing to spend hours each day futzing with it. I can barely get through my email, and while I want to learn to code, I have other things to do instead...

Honestly, I want more SIMPLICITY and EASE from HA products, and that's what it sounds like your son wants. More power to him, Pete!

 

[LarrylLix]

This also gets back to same old argument that manufacturers are trying to pass remote control as HA.
 
No decisions = no automation.
 
Most people only want the remote control and can't conceive of any automation algorithms.