When I’m working, I notice Ring door bells everywhere. It seems to be the most popular video doorbell around here in KY. As those are the only ones I ever see.

I don't know the best "smart" thermostat. But when we did an all new HVAC system 3 years ago, adding the Nest would have voided our warranty. Just so you know.

I think Ring charges a monthly fee. When we had our Boiler replaced this past year we had three Nests installed and they've done what they need to do so far.

The Ring Doorbell Pro is great. Beautiful, clear, wide angle video. Allows you to talk to anyone at the door. There is no fee unless you want to store the video clips. If so, it's very low cost.

Thanks for that info Lynda. I've been wanting one but hesitant because I thought there was a monthly fee.

I recently compared the 2 (ring and nest). I wound up doing the Nest but they weren't much different - each with their pros and cons. No monthly fee unless stored video desired.

We have the Nest security also.

Smart thermostats depend on a lot of other factors. You have to ask what you really want. Save energy? Control remotely? In a modern house, setbacks do not save all that much.

Many equipment vendors provide or require their communicating thermostats .... So are the zoning systems. Personally like Honeywell's...

That is good to know about the fees for the video doorbells. I guess now, I'm wondering if packages etc. were stolen off porches or there was a break in, would you have proof/pictures, especially if you did not see it on the app as it was taking place?

As to the warranties, I never thought about changing to a different thermostat would void the warranty. Got to remember to ask that question!!

I have a Nest Thermostat woks well and learns quickly ..con't comment on door bell I just have a push type

Just an FYI: I just had my seasonal HVAC check this morning (checked the AC units, thermostats, etc.) He mentioned that the firm gets so many calls about Nest and similar smart thermostat systems that they have stopped installing them. He was glad I had the old school Honeywell programmable kind. I found that interesting as I had considered looking into Nest.

ETA: to clarify, the calls he mentioned are maintenance / problem calls, not 'please install this' calls. Can't remember the details of the problems (I was working at home when he was there and was minimally focused on what he was doing.)

Not that I'm a fan of all this so-called smart technology, but I'm curious to know why the HVAC companies stopped installing them and why they void warranties?

I have started seeing the video door bells popping up everywhere - both city and suburbs. Are people more afraid to open their door these days? Why not just use a peep hole? Or open your door and politely send away people you don't want to speak with?

Just finished my new build and added a Ring doorbell + alarm system and nest thermostats in the house. I LOVE them. They’re so convenient and easy to use. I went to Best Buy and had the associates explain the differences between everything to me. It was extremely helpful. Ring alarm system is very very reasonable compared to other alarm companies in the area. Plus its so convenient to use on the phone. I would walk into your local Best Buy and have someone explain everything to you. There’s lots of options, add-one, features that you would want someone well versed to explain.

Or open your door and politely send away people you don't want to speak with?

Ugh.

Around here, "politely send away" doesn't work. :-(

I don't have a video door bell; I have a peep hole in the door. I also have a window where the kids always look outside to see who's out the door. They get just as excited as the dog does, lol. Anyway, if I look through the door, and don't want to answer it, I simply say, fairly loudly to the kids, "No, we aren't opening the door. We are BUSY right now."

I have made the mistake of opening the door to solicitor folks on accident (I was expecting someone else, and just threw the door open before looking), and so many of them are rude and drag the conversation out. Once I was standing, 9 months pregnant in front of a west-facing door in the late afternoon, while 2 pest control dudes ignored my attempts at politely ending the conversation. I'm in the American South, and we don't just close our doors on people, lol.

The best solution I've found? A 150-pound dog. I can sit outside on the front lawn with my "miniature horse," and everyone selling something skips my house, usually without even a friendly wave. I had one chick skip my house three times, lol. If I answer the door with him, conversations last 2 minutes, tops.

But I'm pretty sure his monthly food bill is larger than a video subscription service.

In terms of thermostats, I replaced a normal Honeywell with an Ecobee two years ago and it has worked flawlessly. Currently building and asked the Hvac supplier about installing Nest or Ecobee with their system. Feedback was that they would recommend Ecobee, because they have had many problems with Nest. So plan to purchase 4 Ecobee's for the new house.

Pros of video doorbells.

#1 absolutely for us is packages. Knowing if one is there is great. When the doorbell rings - it can be fedex just saying "hay - leaving something". No need to get up from the dinner table. No peep hole or old fashioned door bell can do that.

In some areas, door to door marketers are common. No my new one so that hasn't been as issue. With our last house it was and I had installed a camera, but it wasn't with the doorbell so wasn't as convenient.

Houses are bigger than yesteryear so the trek to the front door is longer.

Some have audio - so when the repair man comes and you are changing a diaper, you can say "hold on, I will be right there".

We had so many post build contractors show up when they weren't supposed to - so getting the notification on our phone when we were not home was helpful. "Look honey, the landscapers finally showed up."

If you are expecting an expensive package or importance piece of mail, you can go out and about your day, and race home when it arrives.

Deterrence from thieves. Since all of these have the option of video recording, stealing packages becomes a little more dangerous. Not to mention, that our phone goes off when someone is on the porch and if we were home or walking nearby, we have just been notified.

The Nest thermostat does not play well with some systems. Absolutely. In many cases, thermostat setbacks are a bad idea. The Nest doesn't care - it is designed around changing the thermostat - doing setbacks. That can be the right thing to do - environmental, cost, equipment life; but it isn't always.

We have two Ring doorbells and one ring spotlight. It is nice knowing who is walking around your house when no one is at home. Vandals breaking into cars at night is one reason we got them in addition to package theft. It is also interesting to see the “wildlife” that walked within range. Our local neighborhood fox visits occasionally along with a opossum. When we first put it up, a bluebird attacked it. We have a great video of an angry bluebird.

We have the ring video doorbell. I’m not sure if it’s only as good as your internet. If someone sets it off it takes forever for it to actually show who is there on my phone. Sometimes it will say “having trouble connecting” or something like that. The voice feature is useless because its crackly and you can’t understand anyone. There are times where it will ring and theres nothing there. Sometimes it will go off numerous times. I’ll look out and there’s nothing there. Check the recorded video and there’s nothing. We have poor internet here so maybe that is why it hasn't worked well for us.

vinmarks, you are right. Having high speed internet and strong wifi makes a big difference for these products.

Have blink and it works great. Clips are stored, no monthly fee

We got the Nest doorbell and an Emerson Sensi Thermostat, love them both.

We have a Nest doorbell. Works great, love it so far. Have had it in for about two weeks (we only moved in to our new home over Memorial weekend). We have a Honeywell programmable thermostat (3 zones). Still figuring it out, lol. Had a Nest thermostat where we were before...if we could have burned it when we left, we would have.

Amazon4. What exactly were the problems you had with your nest.? We are having one

installed in our new build. Had one in our previous home and it worked just fine..

Always interested in another perspective.

Yes. Would love to know why you hated your Nest! So far two weeks in the Nest has been working great for us. What were your issues?

When it worked, it worked great. But the base plate kept failing. They would confirm the failure, send us a "new" one (i.e. refurb). We'd rewire to use the "cooling" side in the interim (since we only had a heating system). The refurb would last a few months... rinse..repeat. After two NE winters of going through this it was not a good thing (I bought it, and my hubby had to deal with it - I'd get the evil eye..lol). Nest didn't respond the last time it failed this past Spring. By then we were about to move and I didn't want to deal with it. It was an older gen (gen 2 I think?), I'm sure the current ones are OK. But you can understand why this is a sore spot in our home and it would not be a candidate for us any time soon. But a good friend of ours is an electrician and distributes/installs Nest...so...we have their doorbell ;-) so far so good!

I have a Nest thermostat and Nest doorbell. TLDR: I like them. They work and were easy to install and integrate. If you can, connect them to your 5ghz wifi (more stable and stronger connection).

Thermostat: I was initially worried about if I would actually get use out of the thermostat because I am someone who really dislikes the idea of a thermostat automatically changing its temperature based on activity or other "smart" functions -- I like my temperature to be steady and comfortable. So, I do not use the Nest's automatic schedule and just made a custom daily schedule like any normal thermostat can do. So obviously I am not utilizing the main feature most people get a Nest thermostat for. However, I have found it useful for being able to see a daily history of use (ie: how much the system uses heat or ac), plus I now have humidity control (steam humidifier), can change the temp when I'm away from the house if needed, and I love that from a distance I can look over at the thermostat and it actually lights up and I can see what temp it is at. There are a ton of other useful features that I know are saving on heating and cooling costs and I did notice a difference in comfort in my home.

Doorbell: I really like being able to see when deliveries happen, I can watch wildlife from time-to-time, and avoid those door-to-door salespeople. I also get an announcement of who is at my door when they ring the doorbell, ie: "Mom is at the front door". It was very helpful to have when a service company arrived to my house early (before I got home) and I could talk to them to tell them I was 5 min away.

I had a Nest thermostat in my new build that dumped within 3 months...as I remember it told me what the problem was on the read out. Went to site to try and reset/fix but not able to do so. I switched it out for a Honeywell programmable that have always used and loved. No issues.