Ecobee is widely regarded as one of the best companies to buy from if you’re in the market for a smart thermostat for your home, and it seems that trend won’t be slowing any time soon with the announcement of the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium and Enhanced. Serving as its new high-end offerings, the new thermostats offer a handful of new features, as well as some design tweaks.
Where you’ll find the most changes is in the Smart Thermostat Premium. Ecobee switched to a Zinc and glass design opposed to the white plastic it’s been using for years, and the display has been upgraded to a 4-inch panel that’s 50 percent larger than before and does a better job at blending in with the large black bezels. There’s also a refreshed user interface that improves navigation and makes the device easier to use.
New with the Smart Thermostat Premium is an air quality monitor. The monitor can display information about the air in your home including readings on volatile organic compounds (VOCs), estimated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, and relative humidity. It’ll then send a notification to your phone if it thinks the air quality is notably poor and offer you tips to improve it.
The Smart Thermostat Premium also includes support for both Siri (with “Hey Siri”) and Alexa, HomeKit, AirPlay, and Bluetooth connectivity.
The Smart Thermostat Enhanced, meanwhile, shares a lot of similarities with the Premium model. It, too, gets the new 4-inch display and refreshed UI, but it loses the Zinc design in favor of plastic. The device also doesn’t come with an air quality monitor. Other than that, the Enhanced is essentially the same thermostat for less money, so buyers will be left to decide if the air quality monitor is particularly important to them.
The Smart Thermostat Premium is priced at $249.99, while the Enhanced model is $189.99. Ecobee also announced that its lower-end Ecobee3 Lite thermostat will now be even cheaper at $149.99. All three are available through a variety of retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Ecobee’s website.
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