Expert's Rating
Pros
- Geofencing support
- Supports up to 12 optional remote sensor/controls for other rooms
- Adapter kit provided if there’s no C-wire in your wall
- Very affordable
Cons
- Simplistic on-device display, with a rudimentary interface
- Thermostat doesn’t have a persistent display, you must press a button to read it
- No secondary cover plate for hiding holes left by earlier thermostats
Our Verdict
Degrii’s Smart Thermostat offers some features that usually found only on much more expensive models, but it also has a few important shortcomings.
Best Prices Today: Degrii Smart Thermostat
The Degrii Smart Thermostat is one of the least-expensive products in its class—its $60 MSRP makes it $20 less than Amazon’s smart thermostat, and we found it discounted online to just $49 as we were preparing this review.
That’s a great price for a true smart thermostat with a mobile app, especially one that features geofencing and that supports optional remote sensors for other rooms in your home (those cost $30 each). If you opt for those (up to 12 are supported), the Degrii will monitor the occupancy and temperatures in those other rooms and average their readings along with the thermostat’s measurements and strive to achieve a happy medium temperature for the whole home.
But before you drop one in your cart, know that the Degrii Smart Thermostat has some shortcomings that you might not be able to tolerate, even with the low price.
The Degrii Smart Thermostat is a good option if you’re working with a very tight budget.
Installation and setup
Degrii says its smart thermostat will work with 95 percent of HVAC systems, including heat pump systems; gas, oil, and electric furnaces; boilers; and air conditioners. If there’s no C wire coming from your HVAC system to thermostat for power, Degrii includes a conversion kit in the box that you’ll need to install at the unit itself. Multi-zone systems found in larger homes, however, are not supported.
I found the thermostat easy to install, with the Degrii app guiding me through the wiring portion, but the app offers little to no such user guidance once the hardware is hooked up and you’ve downloaded the latest firmware update. A sticker on the device informs you that the thermostat will need about 30 minutes to calibrate itself before it can read the ambient temperature accurately, but neither the thermostat nor the app informs when the calibration has been completed.
This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart thermostats.
Degrii also doesn’t provide a cosmetic back plate—in the box or as an optional accessory—that can cover the holes that might be left exposed when you uninstall your old thermostat. That’s an issue for me, since I sometimes review several smart thermostats every year.
Unlike the Amazon Smart Thermostat, the Degrii Smart Thermostat is compatible with Google Home as well as Alexa; neither product is compatible with Apple’s HomeKit ecosystem.
Design and features
You can monitor the temperature in up to 12 additional rooms with these remote sensors ($30 each). The Degrii Smart Thermostat will average the readings from these and from the thermostat itself and set your HVAC system to heat or cool as necessary to achieve your desired temperature.
Jason D’Aprile
If you like simple design, you’ll love the Degrii Smart Thermostat—at least until you want to know what the temperature is. The sleek, black plastic, oval-shaped device features a monochrome display that shows the current temperature in a dot matrix.
There are three control buttons on its bottom of the thermostat: the left and right buttons change the desired target temperature, and there’s a button in the middle that calls up a rudimentary menu for functions such as changing HVAC modes and turning the fan on. You can perform the same tasks with the Degrii app, so you might never touch the thermostat itself.
My biggest complaint about the Degrii Smart Thermostat is that it not only doesn’t persistently display the ambient temperature, but it also lacks a proximity sensor that would reveal that information as you approach. If you want to see its display, you must push one of its buttons. As a consolation, the thermostat can be integrated with the Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant ecosystems, so you can use voice commands to get the information you want and to otherwise control it.
On the bright side, the Degrii supports geofencing, which enables it to warm or cool your home based on your location—well, the location of your smartphone. This can save energy by setting target temperatures that are different when you’re home and when you’re away.
Degrii’s app does a great job helping you install the thermostat, but you’re pretty much on your own figuring out how to use the device after that.
Jason D’Aprile
I was also pleasantly surprised to find that Degrii offers remote sensors for up to 12 rooms as optional add-ons ($30 each on Amazon). These can help eliminate hot and cool spots in your home by monitoring the ambient temperature and humidity in the rooms where they’re deployed and reporting that information to the thermostat. In turn, the thermostat will average these readings along with its own and trigger your HVAC system to heat or cool accordingly.
So, if you have your HVAC system set with a target temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 C), and the ambient temperature at the location where the thermostat is installed is already at 68 F, but the sensor in the kitchen is reading 75 F (24 C) and the one in the living room with the southern-facing picture window is at 78 F (25 C), the Degrii will run the HVAC system until the average ambient temperature reading of all the sensors reaches 68 F.
These remote devices also have occupancy sensors and the thermostat can be programmed to ignore the readings for empty rooms that don’t need temperature control at the moment. The remotes are also outfitted with their own buttons for adjusting the temperature.
Should you buy the Degrii Smart Thermostat?
The Degrii Smart Thermostat is a good option if you’re working with a very tight budget. You’ll give up some features in exchange, but you’ll have the option to eliminate hot and cool spots in your home, depending on how many of those remote sensors you can squeeze in. And this thermostat’s geofencing options should help reduce your energy consumption, too.
You’ll be highly reliant on Degrii’s app to program and operate the thermostat, as its display is extremely limited; but for the price, it’s a good value.
Best Prices Today: Degrii Smart Thermostat
Author: Jason D'Aprile, Contributor
Jason D'Aprile is a freelance writer with over 30 years of experience covering consumer technology for a variety of sites and magazines. His focus has been on both entertainment technology and media and a wide variety of smart home and mobile devices, especially high-tech thermostats, cell phones, wearables, and other assorted products. He resides in a relatively secluded home in West Virginia.