Customer Reviews

Smart Temp TX500E Programmable Thermostat

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

We own a two-story house with separate heating zones for upstairs and downstairs. We bought a LUX 500 SmartTemp thermostat for the first floor, so the heat can come on automatically in the morning. In the past, I had to go downstairs, turn up the thermostat (the traditional round Honeywell control), then go back upstairs to get ready for work, while the downstairs area warmed up. That's a real pain during New England winters!
We have a basic oil-fired, baseboard hot water heating system, no air conditioning or fans, and the LUX 500 was easy to install. You connect your thermostat wires to different terminals on the LUX 500, based on your heating/cooling system.
Can't vouch for more complicated heating/cooling systems, but the instructions are supplied, and look very thorough and straighforward.
We've been using it for two months, and really like it. You can set it to automatically raise or lower the temperature four times per day. For example (on weekdays), you can have the heat automatically turn up at 6:00 AM, then lower at 8:00 AM (when you leave for work), then have the heat come back on at 5:00 PM so the house is warm when you arrive, then lower at 11:00 PM when you go to bed. Separate settings for weekdays vs. weekends. You can also override the settings. So if you leave the house for a few hours, or for vacation, you press the "raise" or "lower" button to the temperature you want, then press the "hold" button, and it stays at that setting until you put it back in automatic mode. Very easy to make the settings, and the digital display is large enough that we don't need our reading glasses to see the temperature setting, as we needed to do with the old round thermostat. We like it so much that I just ordered a second unit to replace our upstairs thermostat.

NOTE: If you replace an old-fashioned thermostat that has a mercury switch, be sure to dispose of it properly (such as bringing it to a hazardous waste disposal center) instead of throwing it in the trash.

This thermostat is great!

I buy these things for about 20 bucks at a local home center, when they are on sale. I use them in my rental buildings. I noticed a few bad reviews here, but can say - from my experience - that they work just fine. I have never had one not work, some have been in service for over 4 years.

Its cheap, fits the bill, holds up well to tenant abuse, and does its job.

we had AC installed in our house last year. We have 2 zones. The AC company I guess worked with these Thermostats.
The one downstairs has worked fine, no problems. It controls both the AC and the Heat.
But 2 have already died upstairs. The forst one just blew, it wouldn't turn on the AC at all. The second one starts fine, but when the temperature reaches is goal it will not turn off. The other day we were going up tp bed and the temperature was set to 74, and the AC was still blowing and it was actually 63. Our little baby was freezing in his room. I see that other people hace similar problems with this unit that it won't stop at the temperature needed.
So I am now shopping for another one, probably a Honeywell. And I will probably replace both just in case.

I ordered this Item on 9/4. On 9/8 I emailed the seller thru the
Amazon contact apparatus to cancel the order. I got no reply and on
9/9 they shipped the order. After getting the order I tried
contacting them again to no avail. I then posted a very negative
feedback thru Amazon. I was then contacted the next day by phone and
email by Mike Sala & David Ingemi (Crazy Dave) asking me to change
my feedback and they would refund my purchase price. I thanked them
and offered to send the item back but they said "no bother" so I
donated it to a charity. Nothing happened. I emailed them a few
more times and they promised to look into it but again nothing
happened. Now I am getting no response from them at all and I cannot repost my negative feed once I took it off. I am really not that interested in the refund but I don't like being jerked around. I have contacted Amazon directly but posting here seem to be my only way of getting my complaint out there.

This is a remarkably user friendly product that went from box to completed installation and programming in 30 minutes. The most difficult part of installation was removing it from the clamshell container. Simple and easy to use. Appears well made and has 3 year warranty. Can be easily removed from its base for programming. Accurate, reproducible temperature control. A bargain.

Hoping to save $$ this winter, I replaced 4 old Honeywell mercury switch thermostats. They each control a zone of my Hot Water baseboard heating. Two I replaced with the TX1500 and two I replaced with the TX500. Both are easy to program and install. The TX500 is more compact and I think should be your first choice if you just need weekday and weekend programs.
I did like the push-button display light on the more expensive and larger TX1500, but didn't appreciate the separate Saturday and Sunday programming. Since my hot water system has no fan, I just connected the red, green, and white wires and left the fan switch on auto per the instructions. That worked fine for the TX500, but no heat came from the TX1500 until after I changed the fan switch to OFF. Thought my boiler had gone kaput for a little while!

I purchased this item for my home and I am very happy with it. It was easy to install and is easy to use. Despite some mixed reviews of this item, I was extremely happy with this purchase. I now intend to purchase one to replace every old thermostat in my home and vacation condo. I have read in many articles about saving energy and saving the environment, that purchasing a programmable thermostat is one of the easiest ways to do both. I look forward to saving money on my utility bills and helping the environment in the process. It's a win-win situation for everyone!

We purchased a TX500B about a year ago for our forced-air system.
We have had no problems with buttons not responding, nor lost settings. The one "problem" has to do with how the "hold" feature works when required for an extended period (greater than the end of the current time period). Our unit came with supplemental instructions (an insert) on how to do this. It works, but is less than intuitive.

Despite some poor reviews, this unit has been a fantastic, no-fuss alternative to my old manual thermostat. I installed it (easily) about two months ago, set the program, and it has been flawless ever since. I have it set up to control a combined oil furnace and wood boiler system - no air conditioning, so I can't speak to that.

Hey, if it ever fails on me, I promise I'll come back here for an update.

Smart Temp Programmable Thermostat #TX500 ordered and received within 5 days(installed January 11, 2008); outstanding service from Amazon. Very easy to install, replaced two old style mercury switch type Lennox thermostats.
The screw holes in the wall even lined up for replacement-took about ten minutes each to replace with the new thermostats. The most startling thing we instantly noticed was how even the temperature began to stay in the house. I did not realize the old thermostats had been programmed to activate with 1/4 degree temperature difference which caused the blower fans to switch on and off frequently. The Lux tx 500's came programmed with 1 degree activation difference, it can be increased if desired. The settings were very easy to program. There is no doubt in my mind we are saving energy , not only with the set back feature, but also with the blower fans not coming on and off frequently. We had the original Lennox thermostats in service since the house was constructed 4 years ago. We have electrical strip heating, no heat pump. This thermostat takes the guess work out of setting the temperature. I am very interested in future heating and cooling bills to see how these two thermostat changes are affecting the KWH used and total electrical $. Have kept a record of KWH and $ since moving in.