Hive Thermostat Mini Review: A Compact Device

Hive Thermostat Mini is a pocket-friendly thermostat that offers basic features and remote control possibilities for those who want to enhance their home heating system without spending much.

This touchscreen device stands out with its sleek, minimalistic look, making it an aesthetically pleasing addition to any home. The user interface is simple and lets us easily check the current/target temperature and keep track of our hot water/heating status.

Beyond its design, Hive Mini also delivers great performance when used independently.

In our article about the Hive Thermostat Mini review, we’ll look at its design, how it works and how well it performs – as well as what makes it one of the top-notch smart thermostats in all of the UK.

Technical Specifications

• Subscription: Optional Hive Heating Plus at 3.99 per month or 39.99 per year
• Warranty: 1-year warranty, continuous with Hive Heating Plus
• Installation: DIY is possible, but professional installation is advised
• Power: AA batteries x4
• Weight: 212 g
• Dimensions: 8.4 x 8.3 x 2.2 centimetres
• Self-learning: No
• Smart Voice Assistant: Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit
• Hive Smart Radiator Valves: Yes, 54£ each

Hive Thermostat Mini Overview

The Hive Thermostat Mini is a small, reasonably priced smart thermostat that has several of the original Hive thermostat key features. It’s an appealing option for people who want to start using smart home heating systems due to its ease of use and convenience.

You’ll find it easy to manage the target temperature in your house with this device as it comes equipped with a user-friendly interface and crystal clear display. Plus, you can incorporate it into any home décor style because of how compact yet sophisticatedly designed it is.

Aesthetics

When talking about aesthetics, The sleek and contemporary design of the Hive Thermostat mini makes it stand out from other devices.

This stylish thermostat has a clean, neat design with curved edges and is available in various colours to fit your home interior decor. The Hive Mini offers an affordable way for people who want to get into the smart home experience without shelling out too much cash, making it a good option for combining both practicality and aesthetics.

Installation and Requirements

Hive Hub Requirements

To take full advantage of the features of Hive Mini by controlling them remotely using mobile devices or computers, you must have access to their central control unit -the Hive Hub-. This is the simplest yet powerful tool when setting up your smart house system. The Hub links to your wireless router, allowing communication between your phone’s thermostat and the Hive app. For best results, you must place the thermostat away from heat or cold sources in a central spot.

Compatibility with Boilers

Hive Mini is designed to work with many boilers, including combi, system and heat-only ones. It also caters to hot water systems, which makes this gadget quite flexible when dealing with temperature regulation inside homes; however, keep in mind that OpenTherm connection isn’t available on this product; thus, there might be some limitations depending on heating systems.

Wireless Connectivity

Easy wireless access is integral for the optimal performance of Hive Thermostat Mini as remote control through its related mobile application gets enabled due to the Wi-Fi network at home. Hence, adjusting settings from cellphones and viewing essential information become hassle-free tasks using such connections within houses.

Smart Features

Let’s take a closer look at the amazing smart features of Hive Thermostat Mini, from heating schedules to geolocation technology, boost function and frost protection mode. Plus, it’s energy efficient too and can be used with multi-zone systems.

Heating Schedules

The intelligent heating schedule feature on the Hive Mini allows you to tailor your home’s target temperature according to your lifestyle so that it always stays where you want without needing frequent adjustments. Setting up these customised programmes should be relatively straightforward – meaning no more worrying about tinkering around with settings every single day! You’re also able to set different temperatures for each day as well.

Geolocation Technology

Have you ever wished that your home’s temperature would automatically adjust based on when you’re there and when you aren’t? With Hive Thermostat Mini, this is now possible! By enabling its geolocation technology feature, it will use your smartphone’s location services to sense if someone has left or returned immediately. That way, the thermostat can be set so it goes up a few degrees while nobody’s home and then turns back down once somebody gets close. It’ll help keep energy costs low without sacrificing comfort.

Boost Mode

This feature lets users make some temporary tweaks regarding their house’s specific room or zone temps – if they need one area quicker heating up (or cooling down) than others.

Using the Boost function on Hive Thermostat Mini is easy. All you need to do is open your Hive app and select the room or zone you want to heat up. Then, adjust how long of a boost and at what target temperature it should be set for – then let the thermostat take over from there.

You can customize this feature however you like; choose to boost duration anywhere between 30 minutes- 6 hours and set target temperatures according to your preferences.

Do note, though, that once you turn off the Boost mode after its specified time, automatically, the smart thermostat will revert as per previously chosen default settings again – so make sure not to miss out by leaving it too late if needed otherwise unnecessary energy wastage could occur due unforeseen circumstances.

Frost Protection Mode

If visitors stay in one room for an extended period, or if you need to quickly heat a space after it’s been empty for quite some time, the Frost Protection Mode on Hive Thermostat Mini can be beneficial.

Enabling this mode activates your smart heating system when temperatures drop below a certain level – helping prevent pipes from freezing during colder times.

Once activated, the thermostat will keep track of the temperature inside your house and turn on the heating if it falls below a certain point you choose. This will help stop those pipes from freezing up, which can cause serious destruction to your home and plumbing.

It’s easy to adjust how cold it needs to be for Frost Protection Mode with Hive Thermostat Mini – both what temp activates radiators & for how long.

Multi-Zone Control

With the help of Hive’s thermostat mini, you can now enjoy extra convenience when controlling the temperature in multiple rooms. This is especially useful if winter weather challenges keeping cosy and warm at all times or during long absences from home.

Using Multi-Zone Control on this device requires installing hive radiator valves into each room where individualised regulation needs occur. Once installed, which is easy, setting up different temperature settings throughout the day becomes possible via an app available on most phones today. Hive radiator valves make multi-zone systems even more sophisticated as one can gain comprehensive management within their house walls.

Hive App and Control

The Hive app is a must-have part of the Hive Thermostat Mini experience. It’s where you can control your smart heating system and access plenty of cutting-edge features. Let’s take a look at several subsections that highlight what the app can do:

Notification Features

One major benefit of having this app is its notification system. You’ll receive timely notices when there are temperature issues in your home or if it’s time for an adjustment regarding smart heating — which helps save money and energy and ensures things stay comfortable.

Schedule Assist

Another awesome aspect of the Hive app is its Schedule Assist. This handy tool makes it much easier to time temperature adjustments according to our regular routines. It takes the tediousness out of planning schedules, enabling us to construct a tailored heating plan that fits our lifestyle perfectly. With Schedule Assist, we can guarantee that our house always feels comfy and cosy when needed.

Actions

Lastly, The Actions feature in the Hive application gives us even more power over our devices. This amazing tool allows us to design tailor-made sequences that initiate multiple automated functions based on certain conditions or events. For instance, we can switch on our heating while driving back home with the help of geolocation technology or turn on a boost option in case temperatures go under specific thresholds.

In brief, the Hive app and its control characteristics have an important role in realizing the utmost potential of Hive Mini. With useful notifications, Schedule Assist and innovative Actions feature – this app makes our lives more convenient and energy efficiency oriented!

Pricing and Subscription Plans

Regarding cost, the Hive Thermostat Mini stands out as an extremely cheap smart thermostat option. You can get the device for £119, including a necessary Hive Hub. If you’re already a proud owner of their Hub, you’ll be glad to know that buying just the Mini will only set you back by £59. The same stand-alone price applies if you purchase a separate Hive Hub – that would come with a tag of £80.

Of course, remember that for your new mini unit to work properly, connecting it to the existing heating system is required. Furthermore, there’s a subscription service on offer from this company called the ‘Hive Heating Plus’, which aims to improve its basic version’s capabilities, such as adding an central heating efficiency monitoring feature (which wouldn’t be accessible without paying extra). This plan costs either £3.99 per month or £39.90 every year, ultimately still being reasonably priced if you want to optimise all the features of Hive Mini fully.

Here’s a brief overview of the pricing details for the Hive Mini:

• Hive Thermostat Mini (including Hive Hub): £119
• Hive Thermostat Mini (for current Hive Hub owners): £59
• Hive Hub (separately): £80
• Hive Heating Plus subscription: £3.99 per month or £39.90 per year

User Experience and Review

Most customers seem to think highly of the Hive Mini Smart Thermostat. People love its sleek form, ease of use, and ability to save on energy bills. Folks also appreciate that they can control the thermostat remotely through their phones with the help of a dedicated app or verbally using Google Assistant/Amazon Alexa.

There have been some reports about issues related to connecting and setting up – however, these are not very common. The customer service team at Hive has handled them quickly by providing appropriate solutions.

The Hive Mini Smart Thermostat has typically been praised for its ease of use, and many users have reported less energy consumption plus financial savings. Folks are pleased with the user-friendly design and simple operation of the Hive app.

Hive Device Ecosystem

The Hive Thermostat Mini is not only a single device; it’s also part of a wider network known as the Hive ecosystem, which works together to give you an all-inclusive smart home experience. This section will look at different types of devices from this hive:

One essential component in any efficient heating system is controlling individual radiators. You can customise your smart heating system with the Hive Smart Radiator Valves. Together with the Hive Mini, it creates an exact multi-room setup. You get to decide different temperatures for every room – no more walking into a cold bedroom! Every area of your home is heated per your comfort level – how convenient. Plus, this keeps energy consumption low since rooms that aren’t being used don’t have to be warmed up.

On top of all that convenience comes even greater ease in controlling household appliances – thanks to smart plugs. Using your smartphone or any other smart device that can work with the gadget, you can adjust from a distance once it is plugged into an everyday power outlet and attached to whatever appliance you want to control.

You can manage the lighting in your home via smart lights by using either the Hive app or voice commands given using a sophisticated speaker, so quickly changing its brightness and hue according to what best suits your sentiment or activities wouldn’t be a problem.

Hive door and window sensors – these incredibly small devices which remain unnoticed when placed on windows, doors, and other entryways around the house while providing notification straight to your own devices informing you when it has been opened.

Thanks to Hive motion sensors, having peace of mind about your home’s security is easy. A notification is sent to your connected devices like smartphones when a door opens. Plus, they can turn on other interconnected gadgets when movement is detected – making life simpler and more energy efficient.

Competitors

The market for smart thermostats has been growing since the release of the Hive Mini Thermostat but some rival companies offer comparable or superior features in their products too. Some of the big names in this sector are Nest, Tado and Drayton Wiser.

Here is a quick overview of those smart thermostats:

Conclusion

Since energy prices have been on an upward trend lately, opting for a Hive Thermostat Mini is a practical decision. The user-friendly interface makes setting up our ideal heating program easy with just some taps on the screen — we can even access everything remotely via the free app. Not only does all this give us more control over our home’s temperature, but it can also help us shave off extra costs associated with keeping warm during wintertime.

The Hive Thermostat Mini may not be as technically advanced as a few other smart thermostats on the market, but it still serves as an entry point for those looking into home automation. Better yet, pairing the thermostat with some of their smart radiator valves would further boost its capabilities. The accompanying app – available on iOS and Android devices – makes interaction easier so you know where all your settings are at any given time. All while giving you peace of mind about safety and security measures.

In short, if affordability is most important to you, then this right here might suit your needs best: no fuss features that help manage heating costs effectively whilst providing excellent performance value for money-wise buyers.