Hunter 44860 7-Day Programmable Touch screen Thermostat
by Hunter
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List Price: Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Hunter 44860 7-Day Programmable Touch screen Thermostat
Customer Review: difficult to program
Summary: 1 Stars
I wanted a lockable thermostat to prevent roommates from cranking up the heat. It was a bit challenging to set up with the instruction book, but I found very non-intuitive without the booklet. It took me longer to program it than it did to install. Also, I could never tell if it was locked. Not happy and planning on replacing it soon.Customer Review: So great, I bought a 2nd one!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Anybody without a physics degree that can't figure out how to wire this thermostat should be embarrassed. If you can read, apply a sticker/decal, and turn a screwdriver without passing out from the stress, you'll be able to hook this thing up with no problem!!! I bought this thermostat last year and loved it so much, I had to buy a second one for the upstairs a/c. It's so simple to program and use that I can't think of a bad thing to say about it.Customer Review: Works well in summer, terrible in winter with heat pump
Summary: 1 Stars
I have had this thermostat for most of a summer season and in to this winter season. I have noticed most of the good comments about this unit come from people who have probably only used it during the summer season for AC.
If I had given a review of this unit in October, it still would have been quite glowing. However, once I started to seriously use the heat pump, this unit has taken on a mind of its own.
During the summer settings, in which I set a cooling cycle in the early morning at 68 degrees from 5AM till 7AM and another in the evening from 9PM to 12PM. The rest of the time, it was set at 82 degrees, out of range so the system would not run. These settings insured that the system ran in one long cycle during each of the two cooling cycles. Electric motors and the compressors prefer to run in a continuous cycle. And running them during more moderate times of the day is also easier on the unit. Our house is insulated well enough that the temperature would not reach above 78 degrees, even on a 105 degree day.
Using that summer cooling cycle, the unit worked as it really should. That is, it turned on and off at the the times listed and didn't run at any other time. I had no problem with the system trying to chill the house cooler than the set (68 degree) temperature, either in the cool cycle or out of it. And it never went into auto recovery mode. It also didn't short cycle the compressor. Perfect, I was happy, and my cooling bills dropped over $100 a month. But the heat settings are a different story...
Please note that I have discussed all the problems that I have had attempting to use this thermostat with our heat pump with Hunter technical service. Most technical reps have tried to be very helpful. A couple didn't have clue as to what to do, and one was downright rude. And the rude one was not a technical person, nor were they answering a technical question. Unfortunately, it has become clear that the more helpful technical reps may be fighting a losing battle with diagnosis on these thermostats. After we go through a (repeated) checklist of diagnostics to make certain the thermostat is wired in properly and programmed properly, the problems with the "General Protection Fault" (an old MS Windows menace) of Hunter thermostats, the infamous "Auto Recovery Mode" becomes apparent. They seem as frustrated with the Auto Recovery Mode as I am. When the techs can't find a diagnosis, they just say that there may be something wrong with the heat pump (In reality, nothing is wrong with our system) or the thermostat may not be compatible.
They sent us a new thermostat. This thermostat has the same operational flaws as the first one did. They are now sending us a third thermostat. And will they give us our money back if their thermostat doesn't work properly? NO. Their suggestion. Get another [manufacturers] thermostat.
Those operational flaws using the heat pump include the Auto Recovery Mode coming on over 2 hours before the program cycle is supposed to start. If allowed to continue, it will run until the temperature is 75-78 degrees or higher, 6-9 degrees + above the programmed setting of 69 degrees. Then it does something particularly harmful to the compressor. It turns off the outside unit for about 30 seconds, then turns it back on. It will continue doing this until I pull the thermostat off the wall. Turning the system off at the thermostat does nothing. The thermostat will still tell the fan to run and the compressor to cycle. This can destroy a compressor as they are not intended to be short cycled. After the programmed setting changes to the "off" setting of only 57 degrees (supposedly to insure that it doesn't turn on -- yeah, right), what does it do? It continues running, and running, and running, for hours, provided I don't pull it off the wall. Turning off the system sometimes turns it off, but most of the time, I have to physically remove the thermostat. It is almost as if the silly little "brain" in this thing was thinking,"Oh, you stupid human. You don't really want the heat off".
It also comes on at around 6 AM, way way before the programmed setting of 3PM. It even does this with the system turned off! Sometimes it turns on the heat, but usually (if the system is turned off due to a problem the night before), it will just run the fan, which actually LOWERS the temperature. So it might have been 65 degrees, but after this silly thermostat runs the fan (and this is not using "recirculate"), it can drop it to 62 degrees. It is NOT running the AC, but it can decide, on its own to give us a breezy and chilly recirculate on a cold morning. It did this one morning and I noticed it after anoyher early morning trip out to my shop.
Oh, and just case someone is thinking this, No it was not in the Energy Saver mode.
The Auto Recovery Mode is a menace. Apparently, the idiot who designed it felt that people were too stupid to program their thermostats, so they would build in this feature that overrides the wishes of the user. No matter what programs I have put in, the Auto Recovery Mode will come on at least an hour before the program starts. It will then run the temperature up much higher than I would ever want it.
I have not been able to tell if this thermostat is turning on the EM Heat heatstrip, but I hope not.
And what has dealing with this annoying thermostat do for us. It has wasted many hours of time. It gave me the highest winter electric bill I have ever had in this house, well over doubling the next highest bill. This was mainly because the stupid Auto Recovery Mode ran the temperature up to 75 degrees while I was out for two weeks in December and a relative staying in the house thought it was just fine letting it run. But then again, he has run up my electric bill every month during the last two years he has lived here, so he doesn't care. When I came in after the trip, it was downright hot in the house, temperature gauges reading 78.
Summing up:
Summer use -- Good
Winter use with a heat pump -- Useless!!
Best Feature -- The quick disconnect means You can yank the thing off the wall to get your system to turn off.
Worst Feature -- It really can't avoid the desire to run your heat pump the way it wants to. Just forget your settings. It is going to warm the place up the way it wants.
I've had to resort to using it as a manual thermostat with the heat pump. Hunter sent 2 replacement thermostats, neither of which really worked any better with the heat pump. Their answer to these problems. "It must not be compatible with your heat pump." But that was after they tried to tell me I must have a faulty heat pump. And their response to a refund? No, they couldn't do that. But they do void your warranty after sending three thermostats. The techs recommendation was to buy a programmable thermostat from another manufacturer. I would agree.
Recommendation:
If you wish to buy one of these thermostats, only buy it in the winter so you can test it with your heat pump. That way, you can take it back within the typical 30 day return policy. Most reviews of the unit seem to indicate few problems working with an AC system.
And if you are thinking of using this with a conventional system? Why? There are several less expensive programable thermostats out there that are probably a lot better.
Now, what I would like to know is, Who makes a good programable thermostat for heat pumps?
Customer Review: Very Nice!
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay, so after reading some of the reviews I almost did not purchase this thermostat. I am glad that I DID! As long as one reads the directions, as other reviewers have noted, it is working without error. I read the directions through a couple of times before I even attempted to program. Yes, there are a few extra steps necessary when one wants to bump the temp up or down a degree or two from the programmed setting however; the outcome is worth it. The extra data entry allows for more flexibility and options. For example, if one only wants the temp changed for 15 minutes instead of until the next program/stage change that can be accomplished...likwise you can do a permanent, temporary or vacation hold. The unit does come set to "system off" and the way to turn the system on is not real clear in the manual...just touch the screen, touch the prgm icon, touch the heat or air icon and then toggle through the system settings and hit enter. The packaging stated it required triple A batteries....the unit however, requires double A batteries. I am please with my purchase.Customer Review: Efficient Product / Disastrous Manual / Room for some improvement.
Summary: 4 Stars
Just some background, my wife and me are first time home buyers and my experience with this device so far has been less than 24 hours. But I consider myself technologically / technically proficient so I tend to get a grasp of most gadgets / electronics rather well.
We purchased this product (from Lowes) early in the week and had it installed yesterday afternoon. During the installation, I didn't realize (and wasn't told) that the device had to be programmed for every single day and for all 4 time slots in the day. Upon returning home in the evening, I found the temperature was sitting at a chilly 66. I started scouring the manual to figure out why but there is such limited information available in the booklet, it is truly the most useless waste of paper.
All I could get was the system programmed for time slots on all 7 days and some other settings but troubleshooting is just rubbish. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the heating system to turn on.
After an hour and half of fiddling with the device, the temperature in the house continued to fall to 65 (my wife and me well bundled up at this point) even though the temp for the present time slot was set to 68 with the little "flame" icon indicating that the heat mode was on. Still, the heater did not kick in. Trying to "override" the system by hitting the temperature button and bumping up the temps only spat out an error that said "System turned off". The manual has no information about this error and I couldn't find any more information about it on google, despite spending more than 30 minutes looking for a solution.
We were so cold at this point, I was on the verge of ripping the device out of the wall and getting it exchanged for a Honeywell, when I decided to push all the buttons to see if I could get somewhere. Eventually, I hit the "flame" icon again, which bought me into a sub-menu that indicated heat mode was off. Now you'd think basic engineering or logic, either of which would try and implement an idiot-proof design, but evidently both failed in this case. I fail to understand why on God's green earth would someone program a system to indicate that heat mode is OFF / ON AND have one icon to show for it.
Having cycled through the options, I turned on the heat and things only got better from this point.
I threw the manual to the side and (being a self professed tech-savvy person) played around with all the options to my heart's content. The system started working (and working very well) once I had a handle on what every visible icon did. I set the Fan "Refresh" mode on and was pleasantly surprised at how effective it really is. On our old thermostat, we would set the temperature at 70 at night and I would still be a tad cold when I was up at 5:00 am (the bathroom would be even colder). Having run the device at 68 all night with the refresh fan mode on, the house was nice and warm in the morning and the bathroom was just the same. This really impressed me.
Moving on to my positives so far
- Love the temporary / permanent / holiday hold on the temperature setting
- The 4 time slot 7 day programming
- Backlight changes to "red" when heating and "blue" when cooling
- Fan "Refresh"
- Relatively inexpensive (when compared to other brands with similar features)
- Automatically change from hot to cold (though not tested how well this works yet)
- One of the best looking programmable thermostats in the price range.
There negatives I have to complain about
- Manual needs a serious re-work. Having read some of the negative reviews about emergency heat kicking in thereby pushing energy bills by $200/Month, quirky software performance, etc. I can't comment on, but I do empathize with the folks who could not get the device to do what they wanted to or had undesirable results, simply because of poor documentation.
- Interface needs to be re-designed with some basic idiot-proof design.
- No 24 x 7 tech support. In my case, I had no one to reach at 8:30 PM EST, in order to determine the problem because they are closed. My only option to rescue a house in the middle of winter and with temps dropping would have been to return the device and get another one.
- The backlight stays on briefly and there is no option (yet discovered) to keep it lit during the course of the night. I realize this is a battery operated device and that would be a battery drain, but even if they had it light up very dimly, just enough where you can see the display in the dark as well as the temperature, that would be nice. You're pretty much left fumbling in the dark pushing the screen, which, if you end up pushing an icon, you go into the sub-menu and that is a nightmare (see next point below) when all you want to do is see the temperature in the
house.
- There is no cancel / back button. This is an enormous drawback considering the above negative point I have listed of fumbling in the dark. If you end up in a sub-menu, you have to cycle through all the options in that sub-menu, in order to get back to the programmable main menu or even before you are able to get back to the home screen. This becomes a bigger pain when you are trying to set a Temporary/Permanent/Holiday hold on the temperature because now you have to cycle through all the settings a second time around (in case you accidentally hit the "Hold" button on the home screen).
- No designated "Home" screen icon. I don't want to end up having to press 5 buttons just to see the temperature at night.
- Having used a Garmin Navigation for more than a year, I've become accustomed to the sensitivity of the touch screen. This screen isn't as sensitive and the experience leaves more to be yearned from the usability perspective.
Notwithstanding the negatives, the device does what it is supposed to do very well, which is why I would be willing to overlook a majority of the negatives and also why I gave it 4 stars. It would also be an even better device IF the manufacturer would have provided a USB cable to connect the device to your computer and connect to the manufacturer's website, in order to download firmware updates etc. such that some of the negatives can be addressed.
I am considering returning the device to swap it out with the Honeywell TH8320U1008 since at least one of my negatives (i.e. all night back light) is addressed by that unit.
I will update at a later stage with long term reliability, energy costs etc. but so far, I will admit I have been rather pleased with what the device has to offer and how it offers it.