Customer Reviews

Honeywell YRTH6300B1007 5-2 Day ProgrammableThermostat

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This thermostat is a vast improvement over the old-school mercury-switch thermostat it's replaced. But I am severely disappointed with Honeywell's installation guide, Web support site and telephone support.

This was the cheapest electronic thermostat I could find that was back-lit.

It's very easy to program, and the setup steps couldn't be more straightforward: Remove the mechanism from your old thermostat, label the wires (with the included labels) based on the wiring diagrams in the documentation; remove the old thermostat plate from the wall; install the labeled wires, according to another diagram, into the new thermostat; mount the new thermostat plate to the wall; plug in the face plate; follow the instructions to set up your thermostat and program it.

If only it were that easy.

Two install guide drawings showed two different wiring labels. The only things the drawings agreed upon was that I should connect only one wire to the new thermostat -- which was clearly wrong, and proven when I followed both instructions; the furnace turned on but wouldn't shut off.

So I called the Honeywell telephone support number, was told there was an unusually high call volume, and then Honeywell HUNG UP. I tried a couple more times: Call volume too high, try again later, CLICK.

The included CD-ROM is mostly an advertisement for the product and other Honeywell controls, and its "interactive" install guide had the same bad instructions as the printed manual. Honeywell's Web site contains only a PDF version of the printed install guide; no other mention.

I eventually made contact via phone, an hour later and after 20 minutes on hold, with an overseas operator. He explained: On a two-wire oil furnace system, you need to connect one wire to the R terminal and another to the W terminal. It doesn't matter which wire goes where, but both need to be connected.

Once I had that information, everything went smoothly. The other two thermostats took all of 10 minutes to install, set up and program.

So far, the furnace is kicking in far less often and the temperature in the house is considerably more consistent. It's too soon to say if it's going to save us money, but we need only use 40 fewer gallons of heating oil this winter -- about 5 percent of our seasonal use -- for these thermostats to have paid for themselves.

So I am very pleased with the units, but wish Honeywell would have done a better job documenting the installation, or at least made more help for this unit more readily available.

Some more notes about the RTH6300B:

-- You can program this unit to set a given temperature when you wake up; then change the temperature when you go to work; then change the temperature again around the time you return from work; and change the temperature once more when you go to bed.

The 5-2 program means, one group of these time settings you can run from Monday through Friday; and a second set you can run on Saturday and Sunday.

You don't have to use all these cycles; you can set just a basic temp for the morning and use it all day. All the other time changes are optional. So, if you don't want the temperature to change much on weekends, you can just set the morning temp; if you actually work Wednesday through Sunday, you just lie to the unit and set it fast a couple of days.

You can override the temperature program at any time and adjust the temperature accordingly.

-- Although I am using these units to control a simple oil-fired hot water baseboard heating system, the unit can handle oil, gas, electric, central air and most heat pumps; it can control fans, vents and more so long as those are integrated into your HVAC system. However, it will not work with your system if your current thermostat / heat control has more than five wires.

-- You will need a flat-head jeweler's screwdriver for installation (the wires fit into a terminal block); most dollar stores sell jeweler's screwdrivers. Or, if you have an eyeglasses repair screwdriver, that should work just fine, too.

-- The unit itself comes with anchored mounting screws, so lack of studs isn't an issue. However, the thermostat is wider than a standard housing stud, so keep that in mind.

-- It operates on two AA batteries. If you're handy, you could easily hack this with a low-amperage 3V transformer (available at any Radio Shack) to wall-power the unit.

According to the documentation, there is an audible low-battery alarm; I've owned my units four months, and the batteries are still going strong.

-- Another reviewer noted that the clock loses time; my units lose about two minutes a month. I see this as the smallest of annoyances, given that the program doesn't need to be all that accurate and correcting the time takes all of 10 seconds.

-- Another reviewer noted that the unit makes an audible click when switching. It's about as loud, and long, as the "pop" made when you take the lid off a vacuum-sealed jar.

-- Because the unit is battery powered, the back light only works for a few seconds after pressing a button (that is, it's not always back-lit).

This thermostat functions just as a programmable should. It is easy to program, all the key info is on the display, and it's easy to enter "hold" mode and such, when you need to deviate from the program.

Its intuitive design also makes it easy for me to quickly instruct others on its use. My elderly parents have no problem quickly understanding the operation. I replaced a Hunter due to this ease-of-use issue and I couldn't be happier with the Honeywell.

I installed the Honeywell Electronic Focus Programmable Thermostat without a problem. Total installation time took about 15/20 minutes. The unit looks really good and the backlit display is great! I also like the fact that it displays both the current temperature inside the house as well as the set temperature. I only have two complaints with this unit. As others have said, when the thermostat needs to turn my central air on, I hear two clicks coming from the thermostat. I suppose I will get used to this over time, as it's not as noisy as my LUX thermostats for the individual heat zones. My second complaint is not really a major one, but I just wish there was a way to program the unit to disable heat. This thermostat in my home will only operate the central air, so when I click the button to turn the system on, it does go to the cool setting first. But when I want to turn the unit off, I have to press the system button twice because the second time you press it, it goes to heat, then the third time goes to off. The instructions include ways to disable the AC and a couple of other scenarios, but none of them allow you to just have the thermostat function for cooling only. So if you're only going to use this unit to operate heat and nothing else, you'll be ok as you can disable the cool setting. Another feature I do like that I forgot to mention before is that when you use the "hold" setting, it will remember the last temperature you had it set for even if you turn the system off. To sum this up, if the clicking sound won't be an issue for you, I would highly recommend this thermostat. I also should mention that I have had no issues at all with the unit keeping the time, as one other reviewer mentioned.

Thermostat works well. Easy to install on a regular gas furnace / AC system.

Overall very good, easy to install, easy to program, does the job. We didn't need 7 day programs and saved some $ by not getting a 7 day model.

This unit will not support multi-stage heat pumps so for our other zone, I'll need to get one of the other models, the 7 day unit is a 'universal' which will cover that type of heat pump.

A couple of negatives to note, although not very big deals:

- The unit operates only on battery. Some other thermostats by other brands and other Honywell models use power from a wire if available and use the battery as a backup. This one had me tape over the 'c' wire as 'optional' and not needed. What that meant was that the unit would not use the electricity from the wire and rely only on batteries making it all the more important to change the 2 AA batteries annually. not a big deal, but it was a downgrade feature from a similar looking Honeywell non-programmable that I was replacing.

- The unit does not have a filter monitor / reminder to change your filters. I would have liked that, although typically change every month anyway.

Overall I would recommend it highly. The Home Depot brand (RiteTemp) had more features for same price (eg. touchscreen, filter monitor, hardwire power w/battery backup) for the same $50 price. However the Home Depot unit is harder to wire since its a one piece unit rather than 2 piece. The Honeywell design allows you to affix the base to the wall to get the wiring setup and then snap on the front. The one piece design of the RiteTemp is harder to install and relies on confusing 'jumpers' (pins in the back) rather then menu driven setup in the Honeywell unit. I'd rather stick with Honeywell for quality and just buy the unit with the most features for what I want to spend rather than getting the features on a cheaper unit.

I have had this thermostat for almost a year, and I really like it. It is very easy to program, and for the most part, once you set it where you want it, you won't have to touch it again. If you want to turn the heat up or down off the set schedule, it is just a matter of a few button touches. As far as the click the other reviewer mentioned - yes, there is a click when the heat turns on. I cannot see how this would be a deterrent from buying the product though. My manual thermostat clicks as well, and honestly that little click is a lot less noise than when the heat actually starts coming out of the baseboards!

I had some reservations about this product after reading the negative reviews. In fact I purchased the more expensive touch screen model since I especially concerned about accurate temperature measurement.

These concerns turned out to be bogus. The first two units we ordered installed easily and performed fine. So we bought a 3rd. Unless there are quality control issues from Honeywell, you'll be doing well with this product. It isn't much cheaper than Home Depot, but you'll save 5-7 dollars depending on the tax in your state.

I've used programmable thermostats for many years now. This is the best one I've used overall. I am using it with electric air conditioning and a natural gas furnace.

The thermostat is easy to install. It comes with all necessary hardware and batteries. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. What separates installing and operating this thermostat from others I've used is the ease of programming. You don't have to weave your way through a tree of steps to get to the individual programming events, they are quickly found even after you've long forgotten the original install.

The back-lit display is nice. In the middle of the night you need only touch one of the buttons to clearly see the temp and adjust. Overriding the temperature temporarily is easy and intuitive and the unit automatically goes back to the program at the next programmed event. The thermostat has a protect delay of several minutes to prevent over-cycling the heat or A/C unit.

Over a year after the unit was installed the batteries are still working and the unit soldiers on with no problems.

I was tempted to take one star away because it does make an audible click when it turns on the unit (both A/C and heat). The click is loud enough to notice but not loud enough to be bothersome, at least for my family. However on balance the unit is so superior to other similarly priced units I decided to give it 5 stars.

I'm very pleased with this thermostat, it is the best I've used and it is priced very well.

Operates as described. Font and size of readout is difficult to read - recommend increasing font size to improve readability.

I purchased two Honeywell 5-2 Day Programable Thremostats for my home. They were easy to install. However, you will need a small screwdriver like the one found in an eyeglass repair kit, which is not supplied. The thremostats are working perfectly and allow one to temporarily adjust the programmed settings instantly with the touch of a button. I highly recommend this thermostat.

Length:: 5:12 Mins

The Honeywell YRTH6300B1007 5-2 Day Programmable Thermostat was easy to install and more than suit my needs with the 5-2 day programming. I waited for the price to drop before purchasing this in early 2011 for $47.45 from Amazon.com.

Installation was easy since I only have an air conditioner and I only had to work with 3 wires. Honeywell provided detailed instructions for many different configurations. For example, if I had other units like forced hot air or a baseboard heater I can use this thermostat.

Programming the unit was also easy and straight forward.

It uses 2 AA batteries and I haven't had a need to change it (though it's only been less than a year).

My thermostat panel is in the hallway. Whenever the unit starts, there is an audible click. I can see how this can be an issue for light sleepers if they installed the thermostat in their room.

Thanks for reading this review.

Awkward Hamster