The Honeywell Lyric T5 Thermostat is smart-enabled, meaning you can control it from pretty much anywhere as long as you have your smartphone with you.
Offering good value for money the Honeywell Lyric T5 offers the features premium models have including scheduling, smart alerts, auto changing of temperatures in your home, and smart home product compatibility.
To compare prices or see the other thermostats we reviewed, head to the full guide to the best smart thermostats.
Honeywell Lyric T5 Thermostat: Features
The Honeywell Lyric T5 Wi-Fi thermostat is a slimmed-down version of the Honeywell Lyric Round. When comparing the two models, the T5’s biggest drawback is that it doesn't have the same motion and humidity sensors the Lyric Round has. However, it has other energy management tools such as usage reports and geofencing. It also works with some key smart home platforms but not much else. In addition, Honeywell’s technical support is good compared to most other brands.
The Honeywell Lyric T5 is an affordable way to add a smart thermostat to your home. It offers a lot of the features more expensive models have but with a much smaller price tag.
The Lyric T5 supports two-stage heating and cooling equipment, which means it works with most HVAC systems – though not as many as thermostats that support four heating stages. Unlike the Lyric Round, you can lock the T5’s screen to keep people from changing the temperature setting. You can also tell the thermostat how many heating or cooling cycles per hour it's allowed to run. This is an excellent way to conserve energy, but it means your home might not be as comfortable if you set a lower limit.
While Honeywell Lyric thermostats don't have the same automatic scheduling features as the Nest Learning Thermostat, they can react to your schedule if you set up geofencing. This lets the thermostat activate your home’s heating or cooling based on your smartphone's location. It's a convenient way to only run the HVAC system when someone's home. You can also look at basic usage reports in the Lyric app to find ways to conserve more energy.
You can connect this programmable thermostat to smart home platforms such as Google Home, Apple HomeKit, and Amazon Alexa, each of which lets you control the unit with your voice. Unfortunately, the Lyric T5 isn't compatible with as many smart home systems as Nest and ecobee thermostats.
The Lyric T5 is easier to use than the Lyric Round, especially when navigating between menu options. When we tested the Lyric Round in 2016, it wasn't as easy to use as our top picks from Nest and ecobee – this performs as well as average smart thermostats but not at the level of our top picks.
Honeywell's technical support is quite good. You can contact the company via social media, email, phone, and live chat if you need assistance. The two-year warranty on the Lyric T5 is average among thermostats.
Honeywell Lyric T5 Thermostat: Installation
When we installed the Lyric T5 during testing, it took 35 minutes, roughly twice the time it took to install the Nest Learning Thermostat. Much of this extra time came from two failed attempts to connect the thermostat to WiFi, where the Lyric app sat on the same screen for nearly 10 minutes. During the second attempt, we force-closed the app and everything worked properly upon restarting. Once installed, the digital thermostat asks you several questions to determine your preferences, which is a nice touch that makes programming a little easier.
One of the Lyric T5’s unique features is its use of Honeywell's new universal mounting back plate. This means you can upgrade your thermostat with a future Honeywell model without going through the whole installation process again. This standardization allows Honeywell to sell multiple models of a thermostat, so you can choose the one that's best for you. This may be particularly helpful if you are a landlord because it can help you swap out defective units more quickly.
Should you buy the Honeywell Lyric T5 Thermostat?
The Honeywell Lyric T5 Thermostat is a great choice if you're looking for a good value, programmable thermostat for your home. It has a lot of useful features including auto scheduling, however, installation does take longer than with some other models, and it's not compatible with all smart home products.
