The Google Nest Thermostat is the most affordable way for Canadian homeowners to add smart thermostat functionality to their home — it learns your schedule, shows your energy history, and integrates with Google Home and Alexa. At under $170 CAD installed, it pays for itself in energy savings within a season for most homes.
12 mentions · 3 threadslast mention Apr 2025
Real comments from Reddit, linked to the original thread. Nothing paraphrased.
Yep, I ditched my Nest thermostat in favor of a free Ecobee thermostat provided by my electric company for this reason. Google apparently decided to make Nest products completely stupid sometime last year, and I see absolutely zero reason why.
Installed both in the past 6 months and definitely prefer the Ecobee. The remote sensor utilization on the Nest is non-existent since only one reading can be used at any given time (versus the ability to average any number of sensors on the Ecobee) ... I really wanted to like the Nest but since it was no better than a standard thermostat in a multistory, spread out home I switched to the Ecobee.
Fun fact: if you buy this only to realise your home doesn't have the c-wire, sensi thermostats don't require one. They're a decent substitute
The old one looks so much better to me. They should have kept the old design and basically shrunk the black bezel to the size of the new one such that the screen basically stretches to the aluminum ring and that would have given us a screen that is plenty big enough. Throw in higher resolution on the screen along with updated hardware and it would have been perfect.
I just switched about two weeks ago and I have no regrets. Ecobee is a bit more traditional as far as scheduling temperature changes whereas the Nest is rather hands off, but ecobee is sooooo much more flexible when integrated with smartthings and extra temperature sensors.
I dropped Nest and switched to Ecobee. A little different sort of scheduling system (you set Home/Away/Night temperatures, then your daily schedule moves between those modes, or additional ones that you add). That said, the API is awesome... fully documented and supported by Ecobee. And it is native HomeKit.
Google has created a walled garden with their Nest line. You can use Google Assistant, find a hacky method of integrating that might get shut down a few months later, or switch to another ecosystem. Google has absolutely ruined Nest.
Ecobee here too. I also find that Google just like to abandon products and leave the customers on the hook.
I got tired of mine just setting up random schedules when someone randomly messed with the air. Had to turn all the smart scheduling off and make it dumb.
Yep. I have a Nest and my brother in law has Ecobee. His has far more features and seems to be smarter overall. That said, I'm a nut about using one ecosystem. I have Google everything so the nest works for me.
Lol that new design is terrible, something is going to get caught in that and rip it off the wall easily.
Overall, I like the upgrade.
Owner reports on the Nest Thermostat lean negative: 8 of 12 mentions are negative, versus 2 positive and 2 mixed. The most common thread is feature regression and ecosystem lock-in — several owners who compared it directly to Ecobee say the Nest's single-sensor-at-a-time design underperforms Ecobee's ability to average multiple room sensors, and multiple owners describe Google "dumbing down" Nest features over time, calling the current lineup a "walled garden." Smart-scheduling behavior is flagged as unpredictable enough that some owners disable it entirely and run the thermostat in manual mode. Setup and basic reliability aren't in serious dispute. This is a solid pick for buyers already deep in the Google ecosystem who mainly want a simple, attractive thermostat; those wanting flexible multi-sensor support or worried about vendor lock-in report better outcomes with Ecobee.
