The Carrier Cor smart thermostat has plenty of features to help you conserve energy and save money on your utility bills. It monitors indoor and outdoor temperatures and humidity, and it adjusts the inside temperature using this information. Professional installation is required to benefit from the maximum warranty. Still, the three-year self-installation warranty is very good.
This programmable thermostat's Smart Setback feature monitors the inside and outside temperature and humidity and adjusts your HVAC system accordingly. It uses advanced algorithms to maintain a comfortable temperature while conserving energy, and Carrier also provides usage reports to help you identify ways to reduce energy use.
Its large touchscreen makes programming easy, but it feels a little clunky. While the display has a modern, smartphone look, the icon graphics are a little dated. The thermostat’s motion sensor signals the screen to dim when it’s not in use and turns up the brightness when you walk by.
The Carrier Cor isn’t sophisticated enough to learn your habits or automatically switch into away mode when you leave home. It’s easy to adjust your home’s temperature from your smartphone, but the thermostat lacks geofencing technology, so it doesn’t automatically adjust the temperature as you drive home. The thermostat is easy to program – you just choose the temperature settings for the Away, Home, Wake, Sleep and Vacation modes from the main menu. It also works with smart home platforms from Amazon Alexa and Wink.
Carrier requires professional installation. This isn’t to say you can't install the thermostat yourself – when we tested it, we installed it without professional help. The Cor’s installation process was relatively straightforward and no more complicated than most of the thermostats we tested.
During our testing, we noticed a peculiar similarity between the Carrier Cor and the ecobee3 lite. It turns out the thermostat is a product of a partnership between Carrier and ecobee. While much of the underlying technology is the same, the Cor isn't quite as polished as ecobee's products.
The thermostat comes with a three-year warranty, which is among the best we've seen, but if you have it professionally installed, the warranty increases to five years. If you have questions about the installation requirements or other issues related to the thermostat, you can contact Carrier via email or phone.
The Carrier Cor costs $249, which ties it with the Nest Learning Thermostat and ecobee4 as the most expensive thermostat we've tested. However, it falls short when compared to these products in our thermostat tests. It might be worth the cost if you can find it at a discount, but its full price is not a good value.