Best Buy - The Honeywell RTH8500D or the Honeywell RTH7500D Programmable Thermostat

Both the Honeywell RTH8500D 7-Day Touchscreen Programmable Thermostat and the Honeywell 7-Day Conventional Programmable Thermostat are great programmable thermostats that can help you make big savings on your yearly heating and cooling bills. They are both approved under the Energy Star rating system and both come with limited 1 year warranties.

To buy a cheap Honeywell RTH8500D costs about $130 whereas the cheapest Honeywell RTH7500D can be bought for about $65. The difference is considerable so what does the consumer get with the Honeywell RTH8500D to justify spending the same amount again?

The answer is that the consumer gets a large backlit touchscreen interface on the Honeywell RTH8500D for the extra money. Also the Honeywell RTH8500D has a vacation mode that is missing on the Honeywell RTH7500D. The lack of vacation mode is not critical because you can change your daily settings to allow your HVAC systems to just tick over while you are away. The issue of the touchscreen is another matter: since the rise in popularity of iPods, iPads and iPhones the public has fallen in love with touchscreen technology but is it worth it?

In every other way the Honeywell RTH8500D 7-Day Programmable Thermostat and the Honeywell RTH8500D 7-Day Conventional Programmable Thermostat are the same. Here is a list of the features that these two programmable thermostats have in common:

• Compatibility with a wide range of 24 volt heating and cooling systems including single and multi stage systems (2 heating and 2 cooling).

• Easy to understand menu-driven programming system.

• 7 Programmable slots for each day of the week and within each day there are 4 different periods to set up – morning, afternoon, evening and night.

• Filter change warning display to make sure your HVAC is running at its most efficient.

• Smart response technology that learns how long it takes to heat or cool a room and uses this information to pre-heat or pre-cool the room prior to the start of a programmed period.

• A temporary hold button.

• Armchair programming.

• Accuracy to within 1 degree Fahrenheit.

• The ability to automatically switch between heating and cooling to precisely regulate indoor climate.

These are the salient features of both programmable thermostats. If used correctly the Honeywell RTH8500D or the Honeywell RTH7500D can both save you 33% on your heating and cooling bills by allowing you to cut out waste and by allowing you to take advantage of cheaper off-peak electricity.

The only useful functions that these two programmable thermostats don’t include are:

• Swing Control to let you set up a parameter within which the thermostat doesn’t activate the heating/cooling. This prevents the furnace, air-con etc. constantly cycling to keep the room at an exact temperature.

• Lock out function to stop children and unauthorized people changing the thermostat’s settings

• A relative humidity display to help you to gauge if your hardwood, coconut or bamboo flooring is in danger of swelling or shrinking.

These extra features can be found on the Lux Products TX1500E Programmable Thermostat or the Lux Products TX9100E 7-Day Programmable Thermostat.

Whichever programmable thermostat you decide to buy make sure that it is compatible with your heating/cooling systems and that it has an Energy Star approval.