NEST Thermostat

Woke up this morning, looked outside only to be shocked to see the 1/2" of fresh snow that feel while we slept. I realize that 1/2" is nothing, but it's just a little crazy because it hit 60 yesterday which finally melted most of the snow from the last few storms. It was raining when we left work last night but I did not think it was cold enough for snow, much-less for snow to stick.

As nice as snow is to look at it puts a wrench in our morning routine. It begins with the clearing of the driveway, then a slower commute to work with a higher risk of a minivan plowing into us on the road and that sort of thing.

Tagg

Anyone that has read any of my previous posts knows that our fuzzy kid, Oggy, is well connected as far as technology goes. For starters he has a GPS Tagg pet tracker collar to monitor him in case a fence section blows down from the wind and he get out. If this happens, we will get a text message and an email along with a real-time map to his current location. This way we can get home before he gets too far, or worse. It also monitors his activity level throughout the day so we know if he is getting enough exercise when we are not there. This is really important especially during the winter because Chihuahua's tend to put on weight easily and it's hard to get them to shed it, even as much as we walk and play with him. The Tagg collar will even alert us if he somehow managed to knock the tracker off while exiting through the broken fence area, unfortunately if that happens we have to go "old school" to try and find him in the neighborhood, although the way it connects I don't see it coming off of his collar very easily, if at all. Without a doubt it is totally worth the upfront cost of the collar and base station and the fee that we pay for monitoring, currently $7.95/month.

We also have food based toys that challenge and stimulate his mind throughout the day at different intervals so he does not go stir crazy being at home without us and in-turn chew up things he shouldn't. He also has many other gadgets and gizmo's to keep him both entertained and safe while we are at work each and everyday. It's important to us, he is not just a dog or a pet, he is a member of our family and we treat him as such. I only wish more people would do the same with their pets.

NEST

A little over a year ago I was looking for a replacement thermostat for home. My main goal was to find one that I could control remotely from my iPhone 5. This way I could turn up the heat on the way home on cold days, or cool it down on warmer days as well as turn up the temperature or lower it if I thought it was too cold for the fuzzy kid - this was much harder to find than it sounds. Many of the thermostats out there I found that you had to already have some sort of home automation system setup for lights and related or at the very least you had to have specific brands of furnaces and A/C units. Once you had all of that the thermostats were still in the ballpark of $600 or more and did not offer all of the features I wanted needed.

While searching I stumbled upon a review in Popular Mechanics for one called NEST that was brand new to the market. It had this sort of old school look yet a new modern design. After reading the reviews and specifications I knew that it was perfect and had everything I wanted and more! It was controllable from the internet or a smartphone, it was a learning remote so it would learn your habits and adjust accordingly to both keep you comfortable and save you money on your monthly heating and cooling costs, and about a hundred other awesome features that I did not realize I needed until NEST pointed them out in their product specifications sheet. Sign me up, where can I get my hands on one I thought, holding cash in hand!

Unfortunately my bubble was popped because at the time it was only available for pre-orders and shipments were about 2 months out because they had sold every single unit after a recent trade show where they were first demoing them to the public and distributors. No biggie, I threw down my money and waited and I am so friggin' glad that I did. Today you can find them all over the place and even in most of the Apple stores. I am by no means an electrician or heating / cooling expert but I can say that the NEST was super easy to install and setup in every way possible. It looks awesome and it works even better. I honestly don't know how I managed without one in the past.

My point for adding information about it into an entry over a year later is that it deserves the recognition once again. For example: today my NEST learning thermostat allowed me to warm up the house for the fuzzy kid who, as usual, was a good boy, went out and did his business after getting his noon snack (it's on a timer, we have a new one coming that will work via text message - cool 'eh). I noticed that it was a little cold in the house via the NEST iOS app and because it's also a cold snowy day outside and Oggy was probably damp from being out back I wanted to warm up the house a little more for him. I was able to turn up the temperature of the house from work, how cool is that!

I have used it while on vacation as well. For example let's say we were running late (as always) to get to the airport and left without adjusting the thermostat for being away. The NEST is intelligent enough to know that there has not been any movement in the house so it will automatically go into a mode that saves energy. If you have that turned off you could still quickly set it from anywhere you have internet access via WiFi, 3G, 4G, LTE or what ever. Then what I do is when we are flying or driving back home and about an hour away, I turn on the heat or cooling system so the house is nice and welcoming upon our arrival back from vacation - you are drooling I know, and if not, what the heck is wrong with you?

Outta Here

So that is all for today, I wanted to give NEST some more props for their awesomeness and what their idea, turned into a product, has allowed me to do. Same goes for Tagg pet tracker, the product is amazing and I feel 100 times safer away from home knowing that our fuzzy kid is safe and secure.

The weekend is right around the corner which means supercross racing on TV so that makes me one happy camper! I just hope #7 James Stewart did not screw up his knee as bad as they were thinking he did in Anaheim and he will be out there racing this weekend in Phoenix. If not he is losing a little of my interest as harsh as that probably sounds. James Stewart is one of those riders that is filled with crazy amounts of natural talent. The problem is that he has barely raced indoor or outdoor in almost 2 years if memory serves me correct.

Anyway I guess I am just saying it's kinda hard to cheer for and follow a rider that is not around. Either way I wish him and the team good luck this upcoming weekend, I will watch the race and swear, hoot and holler the entire time at the TV if #7 is there or not. After-all I have my kick-ass new SpeakerCraft sound base setup and I cant wait to hear it rumbling the house with the sound of 20 riders blasting-off the line as the gate drops!

Photo: Nest Thermostat