Nest has announced the cheaper, more subtly designed Thermostat E, a way for Nest to appeal to the larger majority of the market of consumers and make it possible for more people to save money on their energy bills. The new smart home device was leaked just last week, and will hit the market with a more industrial-style design, that makes use of a frosted display and a white, plastic exterior surrounding the display as opposed to the stainless steel used on all the previous versions of the Nest Learning Thermostat models.
While the current generation Nest Learning Thermostat can be picked up on Amazon for about $247, the new Nest Thermostat E comes to the market at a price of $169, which is instantly more affordable than the regular thermostat option yet without giving up on its best features. The Nest Thermostat E will allow you to schedule any of the temperature levels you want for the home but it also comes with a pre-set schedule that will be up and running the moment you pull it out of the box and set it up, meaning there will be little for you to do to configure things beyond connecting it to your Nest application. That said, adjusting the schedule to change the temperature based on when you leave and when you come back home is completely doable as well and only takes a few seconds to set up in the Nest app if you choose to do so.
The app will also allow you to manually adjust the temperature whenever you like just as with the other Nest Thermostats, and it can learn your schedule too so it’ll change based on what it gathers the more that you use it. While results may vary from person to person, Nest believes that on average it will be able to save customers about $131 to $145 on their energy bills each year, which might not seem like a lot but over time that annual savings will definitely add up. Aside from the energy-saving scheduling features, the frosted display on the unit has its own functionality and usefulness. Nest designed it so that it’s not easily penetrated by incoming light, meaning you should have little to no issue with glare. On the flip side it does let light out easily so it’s still easy to see the contents of the display in any situation. This is achieved in part due to the ambient light sensor that was integrated with the display so it senses when to emit more light and when not to. As mentioned above the Nest Thermostat E will cost $169, and it will be available through a number of retailers like Amazon and Nest’s own website when it launches later this year.
