My husband is huge into technology and is always reading about the latest things to come out. A few years ago he told me about a thing called Nest and how cool it would be to have in our house. We even drove to the store to check it out in-person. We have an older house though and I just didn’t think that the technology of the Nest would mesh with our house from the 1950’s. But finally, I realized that I wanted to have a Connected Home because it just makes life easier!
When I had the chance to review the Nest Smart Thermostat from Best Buy, I jumped at the chance. I even told my husband that we would pay for an electrician to come to our house and rewire if necessary just so we could use the Nest. When it arrived though, my husband decided to try and install it himself. We were missing a wire needed to install it, but luckily the Nest instructions give another option to use. In no time, my husband had the Nest up and running!
We have the third generation Nest Smart Thermostat and I’m sure glad we waited all of these years to get it into our house. It has a thinner design and a bigger display. Plus, it’s proven to help save energy. In independent studies, the Nest Thermostat saved an average of 10-12% on heating bills and 15% on cooling bills. That alone gets me excited because our electric bills are HIGH – we like to keep it cool in the summer.
There’s so many fantastic features of the Nest Smart Thermostat that you’re going to love.
- Auto-Schedule: The Nest actually learns the temperatures that you like and it programs itself. They don’t call it smart for nothing.
- Remote Control: Once you connect the Nest to your wi-fi network, you can then control your temperature from an app on your phone or tablet or even your laptop. This has come in handy when I’ve been laying down with my toddlers freezing because I’m not under the covers. I just get my phone out and turn off the air. #LazyPeopleUnite
- Nest Leaf: When you choose a temperature that saves energy, you’ll see the leaf appear! Yay for saving money!
- Early-On: The Nest learns how your home warms up and keeps an eye on the weather to get you the temperature you want when you want it.
- Auto-Away: The Nest Thermostat automatically turns itself down when you’re away to avoid heating or cooling an empty home. I love that we have this option while we are traveling. Plus, using the app we can turn the air or heat on when we are getting close to home.
- Far Sight: When the Nest Thermostat spots you across the room, it lights up beautifully to show you the temperature you’ve set or the time. I really love this especially when it’s in the middle of the night and it lights up in our hallway.
You don’t NEED to have wi-fi to use a Nest Thermostat, but to fully use all of the features you’re going to want it. Connecting our home all together is the exclusive NETGEAR Nighthawk DST Router from Best Buy. Working from home, having a strong internet connection is so important to me! NETGEAR and Geek Squad have partnered to bring you the Nighthawk DST router; a high performance router and DST adapter that will bring quality speed and range to your homes Wi-Fi. When you first get the router, you can check out this video on how to set it up. Best of all, Geek Squad Agents are available 24/7 via phone and web should you ever have issues which I absolutely love!
There’s a reason that we need a router that is this powerful. Both my husband and I have our phones connected to our wi-fi in addition to my son’s tablet. Add in our satellite TV, P4, our laptops and my wireless printer and we have a lot of devices we need to work, sometimes all at the same time.
This high-performance router was built to support 10+ connected devices and you can even prioritize devices for streaming videos or music. The AC1900 also comes with one DST, or “Dead Spot Terminator,” adapter – to eliminate your Wi-Fi dead zones. You can place it in an area where you get little/no reception, to improve Wi-Fi access – we have it placed in our basement and have seen our wi-fi drastically improve!
This router is a big investment {that you won’t regret!} and Best Buy knows that. They make it easy with this new high performance Wi-Fi router, which includes Geek Squad Set Up and Support via phone & web, for one full year. The Geek Squad service via phone & web allows customers to call or get help 24/7 whenever they want, vs. the need to schedule an appointment.
If you’re looking to have a connected home, look no further than the Nest Thermostat and the NETGEAR Nighthawk DST Router.
How do you have a connected home?
Disclosure: The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.
shelly peterson says
There is a lot of benefits to having the Nest Smart Thermostat. I would love to have one. It’s great you can install it yourself, if you know what you are doing.
Julie Wood says
Auto-Schedule and automatic control are awesome features of this nice looking thermostat. That is cool that your husband was able to install it on his own. I would love one of these really smart thermostats!
Elena says
I would love to get this thermostat. Looks so cool!
Sara Zielinski says
The nest thermostat sounds very interesting.
hannah says
Wow! What an amazing thermostat,, I can see why you love it! This is definitely something that’s going on my wish list for ‘sometime’.
Birdiebee says
I would love to have one of these thermostats. The one in the house I live in is also from the 50’s and really hard to tell what the temperature is set at.
Dandi D says
I should get one of these for my husband for Christmas.