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In today’s day and age, there are 1,001 options for every product in the market. From socks to cars, we are constantly bombarded by options that may be confusing. The same goes for thermostats, there are quite a few different brands and models to pick from. We offer a wide variety of thermostats and can install any customer-supplied thermostat here at Southport Home Services. In this article, however, we will just showcase a few different brands and one model from those brands, based on a tier system. The tiers will include basic, programmable, and highly programmable with smart capabilities. This is how you should decide on what thermostat is right for you. By assessing your needs and wants, you will be able to narrow it down to a certain tier of thermostats.

The first tier of thermostats, basic, is the easiest to explain.

If you just want to set your thermostat to a number and have that temperature in your house, then you fall into the basic category. The thermostats in this tier are extremely simple to use, cost less, are more inefficient, and have minimal to no features besides changing the temperature your house is set at. For those who fall into this tier, we will showcase one thermostat for you today that we recommend. The Honeywell Round Non-Programable Thermostat. This thermostat has been the classic thermostat in houses for generations, the round dial everyone knows and loves. There are no special features but is extremely simple to use.

The second tier is the programmable thermostat.

This tier consists of the average, middle-of-the-road thermostats. They usually have a digital display with buttons to control the programmable features. Their capabilities usually go no further than programming a heating, cooling, and away schedule for your heating and cooling cycles. This makes these thermostats more efficient than the basic ones. This increased efficiency can decrease your heating/cooling bill. In this tier the thermostats are still simple to use and once set to a desired scheduled, may not have to be fused with often. The showcased thermostat in this tier is the Honeywell Focus Pro 6000. As one can see from the pictures, the Focus Pro has a few more buttons and functions than the Round.

The final tier is the highly programmable Wi-Fi smart thermostats.

These are the top-of-the-line thermostats in the industry. They have capabilities beyond what anyone would have ever thought for a thermostat. To start off with, in this tier the thermostats can be programmed to specific schedules based on time, date, desired energy usage, etc. Most connect to the internet and can give you an accurate read of the temperature outside as well. On top of the basics, different brands add their own touch to their product. The Ecobee4 comes with built-in Amazon Alexa and rooms sensors. The room sensors can be used to achieve more even heating throughout the house or to help specific parts of the house reach a desired temperature. The Nest Learning 3rd Gen Thermostat has a program that learns from the past. After about a week of you controlling your thermostat, it learns what you like and replicates it. It is also a standard for thermostats in this tier to have remote access. This means one has the option to download an app and be able to adjust the thermostat when away from the house. This tier is usually the priciest, but the programmable features go a long way in saving money on utilities and the features go a long way to making your life easier.

The thermostats that we talked about today are only a few of the many out there. We simply wanted to give you a few examples to go off when trying to purchase your next thermostat. If you want a more detailed explanation of a certain thermostat or need help with a new thermostat, give us a call at Southport Home Services today.

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Thomas Suchla
Thomas Suchla

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