LEVOIT Smart Thermostat for Home, WiFi Programmable Digital Thermostat, Works with Alexa and Smart Sensor, Energy Saving, Large Touch Screen, C-Wire Adapter Included, DIY Install, Aura 400S, White

Excellent Smart Home Thermostat
I’ve used smart home thermostats for well over 10 years now and was looking for a way to upgrade to a new thermostat with newer features and this one did the trick. Since most smart thermostats offer a very similar set of features now, cost is starting to become a factor. The balance between cost and features really matters. I purchased the Levoit brand because I started using their home air purifiers and humidifiers and they work excellently. After mounting this unit on the wall (it’s much smaller than most other thermostats), it was easy to set up and update the firmware. I was up and running within about 20 minutes and was able to set the schedules and routines. A really nice features of this smart thermostat is that you can set it to Auto for both heat and air conditioning at the same time. Not all smart thermostats have this feature. There are times (here in the NV desert) where you need the heater at night and the air conditioner during the day as we’re transitioning between seasons. The auto feature comes in handy so I don’t have to manually change from AC to heat (and sometimes accidentally forget). Great thermostat!

Nice, But Not Without Issues
This thermostat replaces an older Honeywell RTH9580 WiFi Thermostat.Installation and connecting to my Ruud gas powered HVAC system was relatively easy. The previous thermostat used the Honeywell WireSaver module to provide for the missing C-wire. I replaced this module with the C-Wire Adapter included in the package.For the wall mount I decided to make the installation a little nicer and I used a low voltage frame to which I attached a Thermostat Wall Plate Compatible with THP2400A1027W Honeywell Home Thermostat Coverplate Assembly Wall Mount Plate (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C2P86X2Y). I had to drill 2 mounting holes in the Levoit thermostat baseplate so that it could attach to the wall mount plate. I found the incorporated bubble level completely useless. Once mounted in place it appeared all dark, the bubble not being visible. Not a big issue since I had my regular bubble level out for leveling the wall plate.After stripping back the existing 4 wires they plugged in easily into the terminal strip on the thermostat baseplate.Plugged in the thermostat and turned on power to be greeted by the Levoit name on the display.The initial setup steps were easy and testing the HVAC system operation completed successfully.I installed the VeSync app on my mobile device, added the Levoit thermostat to the app easily. I have to mention here that my WiFi system is a mixed 5GHz/2.4GHz network, uses a hidden network and also allows connections only for registered MAC addresses. These WiFi settings posed no problem.once the VeSync app completed the connection it offered to update the thermostat’s firmware. Nice.Configuring the thermostat’s settings is a little cumbersome using the touch screen but it can be done. It is easier to do it the app.About an hour later everything was done.The room temperature seemed to be the same with another thermometer I have in the room.At this time I am not using any additional sensors.WHAT I DON’T QUITE LIKE1. The user should be able to glance at the thermostat from across the room to see the current temperature. However, after a user set time period the thermostat display turns off completely. Answering to a question posted here, Levoit said that this is done to improve the display life and to prevent the heat generated by the display from giving incorrected temperature readings. My opinion is that they should allow the user to configure a standby brightness or at least reduce the brightness to something like 25%. I am sure that this would not have an effect on the display’s lifetime or on the amount of heat generated. Easily done thru a firmware update.2. Text other than the current temperature uses a font that I find too small. There is plenty of empty space on the screen to increase the size of the font used. Again, easily done thru a firmware update.3. I noticed that when the thermostat calls for cooling, I can hear the blower motor start up, immediately followed by a second motor start up sound. I thought that these were the sounds of the inside blower and the outside compressor, but that is not the case. The window to the outside is closed. Besides, with the previous thermostat I never heard this double motor rev up. An oscilloscope would show a trace similar to the one I have in the picture of a simulated trace. I am almost 100% positive that the inside blower stars to rev up, power is cut briefly and then restored causing the blower to start a 2nd rev up. This is very consistent with every time the thermostat calls for cooling. I checked all wires and they all have solid connections. Besides a loose wire would not be consistent with every start. I did contact Levoit about this issue a couple of days ago and I am still waiting for a reply.4. You can setup a notification to remind you when to change the filter. However this is based on a calendar date regardless of how long the heating or cooling ran. With my previous thermostat, Honeywell only counted up the time when the heating or cooling was on. With a setting of 30 days it took up to 6 months to alert me of the filter change.5. After about 10 days since I installed the Levoit thermostat, I received a notification from the VeSync app on my phone about a “cooling malfunction”. No other explanation or detail given. My HVAC system was running and I could not see any issue.UPDATELevoit responded to my issue regarding the rev up sound coming from the blower when starting cooling. They said to remove the Levoit C-Wire adapter and reinstall the Honeywell WireSaver module, connecting the “K” terminal on the WireSaver module to the “PEK” terminal on the thermostat base. I did so but this did not clear the issue. The thermostat ran just like before.To prevent potential damage to my HVAC system I switched to the ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced. All my issues are now solved.

Great product!
Updated to 5 stars, the company stepped up and sent a replacement unit. I guess there are still companies that will stand behind their product!Original review: I would have given it 5 stars. The unit works great, while it still works. Ours failed a couple months after the 2 year warranty expired, what a coincidence. We contacted the company to see if they’d stand behind their product, given that it was just past the end of the warranty period. They stonewalled, played dumb, answered questions we never asked, ignored the questions we did ask, basically just gave us the run around until we gave up. So we bought this one again (I didn’t want to rewire a whole new different unit), we’ll see how far past 2 years we get from this one. I miss the days companies took pride and stood behind their products.