Your Suggestions: Nest Thermostat

I was curious to see what all of you out there thought of home automation, specifically, why you want it. So I took to the Smart Porch Facebook page (if you haven't like it yet, there's an easy way to fix that) and asked you. One response I got stood out at me, specifically a message that popped up in my inbox from RJ. Apparently he had so much to say, he didn't want to limit it to a comment, and he didn't disappoint:

"I'm saying money's the big reason I want all this stuff. I've seen that new thermostat with the touchscreen at home depot, the big round one? And they were saying if you install it, it saves you a couple hundred bucks on your heating every year. It just sucks because the thing costs like three hundred by itself. Spend money to save money, and all that."

All good points made, RJ. The Nest Thermostat is a beautiful piece of hardware, actually designed by the same man that designed the iPod. Nothing but a round touchscreen and a big dial that's oddly satisfying to spin. And RJ's right, they do claim to be able to save quite a bit on your heating and cooling bill. But how exactly does it do it?

Well, to start with, Nest is dead simple to use. You spin the dial to the temperature you want. If it gets too hot, turn it down. Too cold, turn it up. After a few days of playing with it, it starts to learn what settings you like at specific times of day. Like it colder at night? It will notice, and start automatically cooling the house when it gets dark.

Not only that, but Nest also has motion sensors that can tell when you've left the house. So if you're usually gone for work from 9-5 each weekday, it won't worry about keeping the house comfortable while you're gone. But it will make sure to have it comfy for you when you get back.

Nest is one of the first home automation products I've seen that is genuinely cool looking from every angle, and I would love to have one for myself. But with a price tag of $249, it's tricky to invest in one, even if it claims to pay for itself in savings on your electrical bill. And that's the problem, RJ is absolutely right: You have to spend money to save money, and that's never been truer than it is in home automation.