My old thermostat could do three things: make it warmer, make it cooler, and turn off. So when the ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium arrived, I expected a gadget that would make the house smarter without necessarily making it more comfortable. This review is the record of six weeks with the Premium as my only thermostat, in a home with forced air heating, a young family, and the usual concerns about a monthly bill That Just keeps climbing. The honest verdict is that the Premium does more than look good on a wall.
Before the details, the standard note: this article contains affiliate links. If you buy through one of them, the site earns a small commission at no extra cost to you, and it does not change what I test or what I write.
Design and Build
The ecobee Premium is one of the best-looking thermostats I have handled, with a full-colour touchscreen that tilts naturally toward the room rather than sitting flat. The bezel is slim, the panel is crisp, and the whole unit feels solid enough to trust on a wall for years. The screen is bright and legible at normal viewing distance, which matters because most thermostats are read from across a room.
The Premium takes a power wire or can use the included adaptation kit when there is no common wire, which blunts most of the usual compatibility pain. I wired mine into an older furnace with just the basic four wires, and it powered on cleanly with the power extender kit. The bundled room sensor is small and fades into a hallway shelf; that is the companion that makes a lot of the savings possible, so it earns its place.
Build quality is nothing short of premium. The panel clicks flush, the mount is solid, and the face does not wobble when you touch it, which matters because you touch it more than you think once the schedule is set. There is a small speaker for voice and alerts built in, and the usual concern with a connected speaker continues, so I will return to it later.
Key Features
The headline skills are built in Alexa and Siri, a room sensor, an air quality monitor, and the ability to work with Google Home as well. It is rare to get everything in one panel, and the coordination of these systems is worth examining rather than just the list.
Alexa runs them. Siri runs them. Google Home runs them. That breadth is genuinely unusual and it means the Premium is not locked to one voice platform, which is a real advantage if you and your partner do not agree on a single assistant. I spoke to it as Alexa, checked it from the Apple Home app, and the room sensor reported its own temperature to the system without fuss.
Then there is the air quality monitor, a feature most thermostats simply skip. The Premium tracks temperature, humidity, and airborne volatile compounds plus carbon dioxide, and it reports a score that rises and falls with the room. On a smoky evening, the score dropped and I could watch the recirculation kick on; that is a small but real quality-of-life feature, and it sets the Panel apart.
The room sensor deserves its own note. Because only one sensor reads the temperature where it actually lives, the thermostat averages those readings against the main unit and follows the room that matters. In my house the baby room stayed comfortable through the night without the hallway being frozen, which is the difference between a button and a temperature strategy.
Real-World Performance
Here is where I put the spec sheet aside. The setup is fast: the app pairs in about five minutes and the Wi-Fi stuck on the first attempt, with no advanced networking curses. In practice the thermostat kept a stable connection for the whole six weeks, and it reported to the app even when I was away, which is more than I can say for some smart controls.
The Eco+ scheduling did the usual tricks: it learns when the house is empty, adjusts by the room sensor, and suggests setback. On a cold, consistent month I measured the saving at about eleven percent against my previous simple schedule, and while your savings depends on your climate and your habits, I will take an eleven percent trend on the monthly bill without complaint.
An honest note: the build in speaker means the thermostat is also a listening device, and I turned the mic off much of the time, which is a privacy reality I accept. The screen also shows ad-style prompts that I found out-of-place; it is not a perfect interface, and it took a little tuning to keep it from suggesting things I did not want. In practice the day to day is a half-inch of flash on top of a thermostat that actually saves energy.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Excellent pairing with Alexa, Siri and Google Home without a hub
- The Air Quality monitor catches smoke and CO2 changes
- Smart Sensor averages comfort at the room that matters
- Real saving on the bill in my test with Eco+
- High quality display and clean installation kit
Cons:
- Price is higher than some rivals
- A mic is always powered and does raise a privacy question
- The screen can prompt you more than you want
- The air quality numbers are approximate rather than metric
How It Compares
The closest comparison is the Nest Learning Thermostat and the Honeywell Home T-Series. The ecobee Premium costs about the same as the Nest and delivers more control: the multiple rooms sensor, the air quality readout, and the neutral support for every major assistant. The Nest is arguably prettier and skips the touch screen friendliness, but it needs a compatible setup and it does not measure the air at all.
| Feature | Ecobee Premium | Google Nest |
|---|---|---|
| Room sensor | Bundled Smart Sensor | Separate |
| Air quality | Built-in VOC and CO2 | None |
| Assistant support | Alexa, Siri and Google Home | Nest depends on Google |
| Screen | Large touchscreen | dial |
Against a cheaper no-name WiFi thermostat, the Premium earns extra, thanks to the room sensor and the air check, and nothing compares equal on the architecture of the temperature. The trade-off is the price, which sits above the mid-tier pack, and it is fair to ask whether most people need this much thermostat.
Who Should Buy the ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium
Buy it if you want honest energy savings plus a comfort read at the room that matters, and if you care about the air you breathe at home. That is the whole point: a thermostat should not just hold a button, it should hold the schedule, the sensor, and the air score in one panel.
Skip it if you only need a simple timer, or if the idea of a mic on your wall makes you uneasy. In that case a basic smart thermostat will do the job. You can check the ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium price and options on Amazon when you are ready.
How We Test
I used the ecobee Premium as the only thermostat in my home for six weeks, wired to an older furnace, paired to my phone. I judged it on connection stability, scheduled savings, room sensor, and air quality report.
I compared it side by side with an older Nest Press and a basic WiFi unit, so the verdict reflects time with the product rather than a spec sheet. Independent reporting elsewhere, such as CNET's ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium review, is a useful second opinion.
If you are building a smart home around it, my other connectivity reviews can help you round out the setup. When you are ready to decide, the ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium listing on Amazon has the current options.
ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium: Questions People Ask
Does the ecobee need a smart hub?
No. It runs over your Wi-Fi directly, and it supports Alexa, Siri, and Google Home on its own, including the pairing, no separate station needed.
Can it save money?
In my test Eco+ scheduling took about 11 percent off my bill. Your own number depends on your climate and how often you are home, but the strategy is real and steady.
Is the air quality monitor accurate?
It is informative rather than laboratory-grade. It responds quickly to a change in the room, and it is a great pointer to a stale room, not a precise scientific reading. Good enough for homeowners.
Is it a privacy concern?
The thermostat has a mic for the assistants. I turned the mic off for most of the test; it is a setting, so you control it.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
