Tado Smart Thermostat: A Legitimate Review

A while ago, I got my hands on the Tado Smart Thermostat. And let me tell you, I am super excited to break down all the cool stuff this device can add to your home, from the smart features to the real difference it makes in energy use and even how it helps the planet.

The Tado Smart Thermostat is pretty smart, and it can control the temperature in each room separately. It’s a champ at cutting down those energy bills when utilised to its potential.

Unsurprisingly, it’s up there with the finest smart thermostats.

In my review, we will cover all the bases – how easy the Tado is to use, going into details with all the smart features it provides, whether it’ll fit with the system you’ve already got at home, the kind of energy savings you might see and why you should consider getting one.

I’ll share my experience so you’ll have a solid idea of what to expect. Let’s get started!

Quick Verdict – Does the Tado Smart Thermostat Justify Its Price Tag?

Are you considering upgrading your heating system and investing in a Tado Smart Thermostat?

While Tado is not the cheapest smart thermostat, it offers several unique features that can justify its price tag through potential energy savings and increased convenience:

Weather Adaptation allows the Tado Smart Thermostat to adjust your home’s heating based on the weather forecast, ensuring you don’t waste energy heating your home more than necessary on milder days.
Sophisticated multi-zone control. You can install up to 25 heating devices in your home, which should be enough even for the largest homes.
Tado Intelligent smart assistants can significantly help save on heating bills thanks to their intelligent schedules that adapt to your daily routine.
Open Window Detection is another energy-saving feature that automatically turns down the heating when it detects an open window, further preventing energy waste.
Geofencing ensures your home is heated when you’re there and saves energy when you’re away.

On top of it can be integrated with different smart assistants, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit. Also, with the ever-increasing energy costs, the Tado smart thermostat will likely pay for itself within approximately one year, depending on how well all the features are utilized.

Who is Tado Smart Thermostat For?

If the following appeals to you, then the Tado smart thermostat might be a perfect choice:

People with Busy Lifestyles: Users who value convenience and are often on the go may find the geofencing feature particularly useful. It automatically adjusts the temperature based on location, ensuring energy isn’t wasted when the home is unoccupied.
Energy Conscious Consumers: Individuals aiming to reduce their carbon footprint and save on energy bills will benefit from Tado’s smart features, such as geofencing, weather adaptation, and Open Window Detection, which help optimize heating and cooling usage.
Residents in Variable Climates: Those living in areas with fluctuating weather will appreciate the weather adaptation feature, which adjusts the heating based on real-time weather data, ensuring the home is always at a comfortable temperature.

The Tado smart thermostat might not be the right fit for you if:

Budget Constraints: If you’re looking for a low-cost solution for temperature control, the upfront investment for the Tado Smart Thermostat and its additional smart radiator valves for multi-room control might be beyond your budget.
Minimal Energy Usage: If you’re already very conservative with your heating and cooling or live in a climate that isn’t heavily used, Tado’s energy savings potential might not be as impactful for you.
Renters with Restrictions: Renters not permitted by their landlords to change their heating systems may be unable to install a Tado Smart Thermostat.

Tado Smart Thermostat Review

Design and Aesthetics

The Tado Smart Thermostat’s design is characterized by a minimalist and modern approach that blends well with various interior decors. It features a sleek white exterior with clean lines and a refined look that is both discreet and stylish.

The Tado thermostat’s interface is user-friendly, with a clear, LED-backlit display showing the current temperature and settings. The display is designed to be discreet, lighting up when interaction is needed and fading into the background when not in use. This contributes to its minimalist design while still providing all the necessary information at a glance.

Overall, Tado’s design philosophy emphasizes functionality, simplicity, and elegance, ensuring that the thermostat provides intelligent features and complements contemporary homes’ aesthetics.

Mobile Application

Using the Tado Smart Thermostat smartphone app is easy. Its clean and uncomplicated layout makes setting up, monitoring, and regulating your home’s heating easy. A glance shows exactly what the temperature of each room was like.

Customization

The Tado mobile app empowers you to modify your schedule, activate Home and Away modes, or tailor your settings with personalized geofencing. Its customization options allow us to adjust our heating effortlessly to suit your unique needs and lifestyle.

Moreover, its analytical features offer invaluable data to help us improve energy efficiency. Simplifying our heating management has made reducing our energy expenses more simple.

Smart Features Breakdown

Geofencing

One of the Tado’s smart thermostat features is geofencing, which uses your smartphone’s location services to determine your proximity to your home. It enables the Tado Smart Thermostat to automatically adjust the heating based on whether you are home or away, providing energy savings and enhanced comfort.

Tado’s geofencing works with multiple users, so it can intelligently manage the heating based on the comings and goings of all household members who have the app on their smartphones.

Users can customize the geofencing feature, choosing how early the heating should turn on before arriving home or how quickly it should turn off after departure, tailoring it to their preferences and schedule.

Weather Adaptation

Tado’s Weather Adaptation is an intelligent feature that utilizes local weather forecasts to optimize your home’s heating system. By integrating real-time weather data, the Tado Smart Thermostat can adjust the heating schedule and temperature settings in your home to account for changes in the weather, which can impact how warm or cool your home feels.

This feature works automatically, so once you’ve set your preferences, Tado takes care of the rest, adapting your heating to the weather without requiring your input.  By anticipating and reacting to the weather, Tado helps to prevent energy waste, potentially leading to lower heating bills.

Open Window Detection

When the Tado device senses that a window has been opened, it temporarily turns off the heating in that room or zone to prevent wasting energy. Tado allows you to adjust the shut-off duration to suit your preferences. By stopping the heating when a window opens, Tado helps conserve energy and lower heating costs, as you’re not heating the outdoors.

When you open a window, you can configure Open Window Detection to work automatically or manually set it via the Tado app. It can also notify you if an open window is detected, allowing you to turn off the heating or ignore the alert if you’re intentionally airing the room.

Smart Schedule

Tado’s Smart Thermostats allow users to create and manage heating and cooling schedules that align with their daily routines, make them comfortable at home, and save energy when away. Users can set different temperatures for different times and other days of the week, tailoring the heating and cooling to their schedules and preferences.

The Smart Schedule can work with Tado’s geofencing feature, which means it can automatically adjust to an Away mode when no one is home and resume the schedule when it detects someone returning. The Smart Schedule also integrates with Tado’s Weather Adaptation feature, allowing the system to adjust the temperature settings based on the local weather forecast for increased efficiency.

Finally, Tado provides reports on your heating and cooling usage, giving insights into how you can optimize your Smart Schedule for even better energy savings.

Multi-room Control

Multi-room Control is a feature offered by various smart home systems, including Tado, allowing users to independently control the heating or cooling in different rooms. This feature is handy for homes where other family members have different temperature preferences or certain rooms are not always used.

By heating or cooling only rooms that are in use, you can significantly reduce energy consumption and save on utility bills. Multi-room control often works with smart scheduling, allowing you to program different temperatures for each room at different times or days of the week.

You can adjust temperatures and settings for each room remotely using a smartphone app, which is particularly convenient when you’re away from home.

Voice Control

You can manage your Tado device using voice commands through integration with virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple HomeKit.

Voice commands can be used for various functions, such as setting specific temperatures, turning the heating on or off, activating pre-defined smart schedules, or even asking for the current temperature in a particular room.

Tado’s voice control capabilities are designed to work seamlessly within broader smart home ecosystems, allowing for a unified approach to managing all your smart home devices.

Tado Device Ecosystem

The Tado system focuses on developing a comprehensive multi-room control heating and cooling system rather than providing a range of smart home devices across various categories. This includes the Tado Smart AC Control for managing air conditioning and smart radiator valves for more advanced control of individual radiators in each house room.

Here is a quick overview of each Tado device that can work together to create a comprehensive smart heating system, hot water, and cooling system:

The Tado Smart Thermostat is a central component of the Tado heating control system, designed to manage your home’s temperature and energy usage intelligently. It allows for precise control of your heating through geofencing, open window detection, and smart scheduling, which work together to ensure efficiency and comfort.

You can use multiple smart radiator thermostats to change the heat in different parts of your house independently. No more walking around to warm up cold rooms — you can set the temperature from anywhere with your phone or another smart device. This keeps your home comfy and helps you save on your energy bills.

The Tado Smart AC Control is a device that connects to your air conditioning unit, allowing you to manage it via your smartphone, tablet, or voice commands. It’s designed to work with any AC unit with an infrared remote control, making it a versatile addition to your home. This device fits into the larger Tado ecosystem by communicating with other Tado products, such as the Smart Thermostat and Smart Radiator Thermostats, to create a cohesive and intelligent climate control system.

It uses the same interface and app as other Tado devices to control your home climate from one platform.

Tado Auto Assist

Tado Auto Assist is an optional subscription service that automates certain features within the Tado heating system. It enhances the capabilities of Tado devices by automating tasks that would otherwise require manual input.

With Auto Assist, the following features become automated:

Geofencing: Auto Assist adjusts the heating or cooling based on your location, turning down the system when the last person leaves home and turning it back up when someone starts heading back without needing to change the settings manually.
Open Window Detection: When an open window is detected, it can lead to wasted energy. Auto Assist temporarily turns off the heating or cooling to prevent energy waste and then resumes normal operation after a short period or when the window is closed.

By subscribing to Auto Assist, users can enjoy a more hands-off approach to their Tado system, as it intelligently responds to environmental changes and user location, ensuring energy is used more efficiently and enhancing overall comfort. This service fits within the Tado ecosystem by connecting and enhancing the functionality of all connected Tado devices, creating a more seamless and automated experience.

Final Verdict – Should I buy a Tado Smart Thermostat?

If you’re considering a smart heating system that efficiently manages your home’s heating and cooling, the Tado Smart Thermostat could be a strong choice.

The Tado ecosystem is explicitly tailored for climate control rather than a broader range of smart home devices, which means it’s dedicated to optimizing your heating and cooling experience. It’s particularly suitable for large homes, as it can support up to 25 heating devices, allowing you to maintain a comfortable temperature across different rooms and areas.

When writing, the starter kit without thermostatic radiator valves costs around £134, which is quite competitive considering the calibre of a device you are getting.

However, if you’re still on the fence about it, let’s explore other options.

What Are The Alternative Smart Thermostats?

There are other alternatives to smart thermostats. The Tado Smart Thermostat faces strong competition from brands such as Nest, Hive, and Drayton Wiser Smart Thermostat.

Here is a quick overview of some other smart thermostats on the market: