10 Best Thermostats

The Drayton Wiser Smart Thermostat is a solid choice for homeowners looking to control heating and hot water across multiple zones. It works well with both combi and conventional boilers, supporting up to three heating channels, which is great if your home has more than one heating zone. The system starts with two room thermostats and a Heat Hub, and you can expand it with additional radiator thermostats to control temperatures room-by-room, up to 16 rooms, offering excellent flexibility for larger or complex heating setups.

Its smart features stand out, with compatibility with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and IFTTT, allowing voice control and automation. The app provides useful tools like energy monitoring, budgeting, and insightful heat reports to help you save money, with modes like Away and Eco to reduce energy waste. Open window detection is a handy feature that turns off heating in rooms where a window is open, preventing unnecessary heating and extra costs.

Installation is designed to be user-friendly, with the Heat Hub fitting onto a standard wall plate and straightforward instructions for a DIY setup. The user interface includes touchscreen thermostats that are simple to use and customize. While the system is expandable, adding multiple radiator thermostats and smart plugs can increase the overall cost. Also, the product relies on Wi-Fi connectivity, so a stable network is essential for smooth operation. Some users might find the app features a bit much if they prefer simpler controls. The Drayton Wiser Smart Thermostat offers a versatile and energy-efficient solution for homes needing multi-zone heating control and smart home integration, balancing advanced features with user-friendly installation and control to help manage heating intelligently and save on energy bills.

The Drayton Wiser Smart Thermostat is designed mainly for homes with combi boilers, offering a straightforward way to control your heating through a smartphone app or voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Its compatibility with combi boilers means it won’t work with all heating systems, so that’s an important check before buying. Setting it up is quite user-friendly, with a DIY installation that involves swapping out your old controller for the new heat hub on a standard wallplate—no special skills needed.

The system shines in programmability and energy efficiency. You can create heating schedules, monitor your energy use, and even set budgets to help save on bills, with smart modes like Away and Eco that adjust heating automatically. A neat feature is the open window detection, which turns off heating in rooms when a draft is detected, helping avoid wasted energy.

You can start with the basic kit, which includes the heat hub and one smart thermostat, and expand by adding radiator thermostats for room-by-room control—up to 16 rooms supported—giving you tailored comfort throughout your home. The app provides helpful insights and heating reports, making it easier to manage your heating smartly.

On the downside, this system focuses on heating only, so it doesn’t control hot water, which may limit its usefulness for some homes. Also, since it relies on Wi-Fi, a stable internet connection is essential for full functionality. The user interface through the app is generally straightforward but might feel a bit basic compared to some competitors.

In essence, this thermostat suits UK homeowners with combi boilers seeking an affordable, easy-to-install smart heating upgrade that offers solid energy-saving features and flexible control options.

The Hive Nano 3 thermostat is designed for controlling heating in homes with combi boilers using OpenTherm technology, which helps communicate precisely with your boiler to save energy and maintain a steady temperature. This can lead to up to 12% lower gas usage, which means potential savings on heating bills and a longer boiler lifespan. It connects via Wi-Fi through the new Nano 3 Hub, which is easy to set up and offers reliable performance without lots of cables. You can program heating and hot water schedules with up to six daily time slots, giving you good flexibility to match your routine.

The thermostat includes smart features like geolocation to adjust heating when you leave or come back home, frost protection to prevent pipe freezing, and a holiday mode so your house is warm when you return from a trip. The user interface is a simple touch screen with button controls and clear graphical display, making it straightforward to use even if you’re not tech-savvy. One nice bonus is the included 50% discount on Hive Plus, a service plan that can help you save more energy.

It is specifically built for combi boilers using OpenTherm, so it might not work with other heating systems. Some users might also find the initial setup of the hub and device slightly involved if they aren’t comfortable with smart home gadgets. For anyone wanting an energy-efficient, programmable, and smart heating solution that’s user-friendly and well-supported, the Hive Nano 3 represents a solid option.