Ecobee SmartThermostat With Voice Control Full Review

In its newest smart thermostat, Ecobee has improved Alexa and the speaker quality. The Ecobee4 was one of the first Alexa-enabled products that wasn’t a smart speaker. It was a brilliant concept that several other businesses have since adopted.

However, the thermostat lacked some of Alexa’s most important features, and the speaker was subpar. With the Ecobee SmartThermostat with Voice Control — yes, Ecobee has addressed both issues, as well as adding a few new features. This Ecobee (5th gen) review explains why it’s the best smart thermostat with Alexa built in and why it’s the one to get.

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Ecobee SmartThermostat: Design

While the new Ecobee smart thermostat has a glass instead of plastic face, it still has the same shape as previous models: a square with rounded corners and a rectangular touch screen in the middle. When the Ecobee first came out, I thought its design was a nice change from the circular design of the Nest Learning Thermostat.

However, I believe the Nest’s design has held up better over time than the Ecobee’s. For starters, the Nest is smaller and has a smaller bezel around its display. On the Ecobee, there now appears to be a lot of empty space.

Ecobee SmartThermostat: Alexa features

The Ecobee4 didn’t support Alexa calling, messaging, or Drop-In like most third-party Alexa devices. All of these features, however, are included in the new Ecobee SmartThermostat. This is a welcome addition that will make this device more useful when calling the family for dinner.

A blue bar on the top of the Ecobee lights up when you wake Alexa, waiting for your command. Even with music playing through the Ecobee, I was able to speak in a conversational tone and have Alexa hear and understand me from 15 feet away.

However, I’m surprised Ecobee hasn’t created a smart thermostat that includes Google Assistant. I understand that it’s not easy — it took Sonos a year to figure it out — but I’m hoping it’s on Ecobee’s to-do list.

You can still use Google Assistant with the Ecobee (it’s one of the best Google Home compatible devices). It’s one of the best HomeKit devices, and it’s also compatible with IFTTT and SmartThings.

Ecobee SmartThermostat: Compatibility with Siri

In October 2021, an update to the SmartThermostat added support for Apple’s assistant Siri. It works a little differently than Alexa, though. All Siri commands spoken to the thermostat must be routed to a HomePod or a HomePod mini on the same network, unlike Amazon’s assistant, which is built into the thermostat itself.

Although you must disable Alexa in order to use Siri, the setup is fairly simple and should only take a few minutes. To get things working, I had to detach and reattach the Ecobee from my wall, but this shouldn’t be the case for most users.

When I spoke to the thermostat after Siri was up and running, she responded quickly to my commands. The LED bar at the top of the Ecobee, which normally lights up blue when you use Alexa, instead changes colours to match the top of the HomePod mini.

Ecobee SmartThermostat: Audio

The Ecobee4’s speaker was quite tinny, so you didn’t want to use it for anything other than asking Alexa questions. The speaker on the Ecobee SmartThermostat is a little beefier, making it a passable entertainment device. It’s comparable to a good clock radio or falls between the second and third generation Echo Dots. This thermostat won’t be used to entertain guests at a party, but it will play music in the background while you’re doing something else, such as cooking or reading.

Spotify is now supported by Ecobee, joining Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and SiriusXM as music services supported by the thermostat, which is a welcome addition. The new remote sensor has a slightly smaller design, a longer range, and a longer battery life (up to five years).

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Ecobee SmartThermostat: New Remote Sensor

Alexa is nice, but the remote sensors, which can detect both temperature and occupancy, are the best part of Ecobee’s thermostats. You can do some pretty clever things with these, like telling your thermostat to make sure even the coldest parts of your house get warm, but only if people are present.

The new sensor, which comes with the SmartThermostat, has a slightly smaller design, a longer range, and a longer battery life (up to five years thanks to a much larger battery) (up to 60 feet from the thermostat). The latter improvement is especially useful for me because the previous sensor was out of range of the thermostat when I tried to install it in my attic. With the new sensor, I had no such issues. Additional sensors are available in a two-pack for $79, and older sensors are compatible with the new thermostat.

The Ecobee now has 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz Wi-Fi, which is nice but not essential. Devices that require little bandwidth, such as the Ecobee, should be relegated to the 2.4-GHz network on your home network. Devices that require higher throughput, such as streaming sticks, should be assigned to the 5-GHz network.

Ecobee SmartThermostat: Security Monitoring

Since the introduction of the Ecobee SmartThermostat, the company has added the Ecobee SmartCamera, a home security camera with Alexa built in. With a 180-degree field of view, the SmartCamera can digitally zoom in and track people.

In a variety of ways, the Ecobee SmartThermostat can be linked to the camera. For starters, the camera includes a thermometer and can be used as a thermostat remote sensor. When the SmartThermostat is in Away mode, it can also send a signal to the camera to turn on. You’ll need to subscribe to Ecobee Haven, which starts at $5 per month, to use these features and save cloud recordings of videos.

Ecobee SmartThermostat: Energy-saving Features

Ecobee, like Nest, uses sensors in its thermostat to detect whether or not you’re at home and adjust the temperature accordingly. I only wish that, like the Works with Nest programme, you could link the Ecobee’s Home and Away states to other smart home devices.

Follow Me, another smart feature on the Ecobee, uses the device’s remote sensors to detect which rooms people are in and adjust heating and cooling accordingly.

Ecobee SmartThermostat: Pros

• Better speaker
• Full Alexa support
• Improved remote sensors
• Works with Spotify

Ecobee SmartThermostat: Cons

• Large
• Big bezel
• Not as attractive as Nest thermostats

Ecobee SmartThermostat: Our Verdict

The Ecobee SmartThermostat improves upon its predecessor’s two key features. I like that it now has Alexa’s full functionality, as well as a better speaker and a longer-range remote sensor. However, I wish it had Google Assistant built in.

If you’re looking for a smart thermostat and frequently use Alexa, the Ecobee SmartThermostat is a good option. If you only use Alexa occasionally, the older Ecobee4 should suffice. If you don’t use Amazon’s assistant at all, the Ecobee3 Lite or the Nest are your best choices. Ecobee’s latest smart thermostat has undergone some minor changes, but they are welcome.