Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart RTH9580WF Review

Overall, the Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat is a capable programmable thermostat. It has a simple onscreen interface, and its companion smartphone app is easy to use.

Top Ten Reviews Verdict

The Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat looks good and has plenty of traditional energy-saving features to cut costs. Still, it’s missing some advanced features found on the best thermostats.

Pros

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    The Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat's touchscreen display makes it very easy to use.

Cons

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    This unit does not have motion sensors to trigger your HVAC system if you are home outside of your usual schedule.

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Overall, the Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat is a capable programmable thermostat. It has a simple onscreen interface, and its companion smartphone app is easy to use. However, it has a short warranty, and its automatic scheduling features are limited to a quick questionnaire that helps it learn your preferences. Still, it’s a good standalone thermostat if you don't plan to have an extensive smart home setup. You can buy this product for about $179, which is average for smart thermostats.

This wireless Honeywell thermostat is compatible with systems that use up to two heating stages and two cooling stages. When it detects problems with your heater or air conditioner, it displays an orange alert button on the home screen. It also displays simple on-screen alerts when it is time to change the air filters. The Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat displays outside weather conditions so you can plan for your day. Unlike the Nest Learning Thermostat and ecobee4, it doesn't have motion sensors to detect when you enter a room.

You can set up different programs for each day of the week. To establish your settings, the thermostat asks a series of questions such as "Is someone home all day?" and "What temperature do you prefer when you are sleeping?" Once programmed, this smart thermostat is largely self-sufficient, turning your heating and air conditioning units on and off without any further action from you. Honeywell's Total Connect Comfort app allows you to turn your home’s temperature up or down from anywhere in the world using your smartphone.

With its large touchscreen display, the Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart is quite attractive and easy to use. It is one of the best-designed models we reviewed. Unlike most Wi-Fi thermostats, you can match the screen's background color to your decor. In addition, the keypad locks so you can control who can change the temperature at home.

The Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat works with quite a few smart home platforms, including several that give the unit geofencing capabilities, which activate and deactivate your heating and cooling system based on your location. You can also link your Honeywell Total Connect Comfort account to Amazon's Alexa to control the unit with your voice via an Amazon Echo.

During our testing, we found that installation was fairly straightforward. The thermostat doesn’t have a built-in level to help mount it evenly on the wall. It also requires a C wire, which added a few minutes to the installation process, but we installed the thermostat and connected it to the home network within 20 minutes. From there, programming the settings was intuitive.

Honeywell's customer support resources are good but not the best in our comparison. If you have questions, you can consult videos and manuals on the Honeywell website. You can also contact the company by social media, email, phone and live chat if you have other questions. The one-year warranty on this unit is below average compared to the two- and three-year warranties provided by competitors.

John Carlsen

John has been researching and reviewing home security and smart home products for Top Ten Reviews since 2013. As well as covering smart home and home security and safety, he also covers other home technology products such as HVAC, garage door openers and more. He enjoys DIY, writing and hiking in his spare time.