Multi-zone thermostats are getting a lot of attraction nowadays. They’ve brought new functionalities to smart thermostats allowing customers to pick different temperature zones with a single central thermostat. The Honeywell brand, it is one of the most well-known and long-time manufacturer of modern home heating and cooling equipment. It’s for this reason, that we’ve written an article specifically on their devices with a focus on on of the most sophisticated multiple zone smart thermostats the Honeywell T9.
The most recent model is equipped with the new technology—this Honeywell multi-zone thermostat support room sensors. The thermostat’s package comes with 1 room sensor, but many more can be added. Like every device, there are points of improvements that will covered in the upcoming paragraphs, however it still one of the most complete offerings currently available on the market.
For more information on your options out there, see our comparison articles on the Ecobee3 lite vs Nest.
Multi Zone Technology of Honeywell Smart Thermostat
This thermostat is functional for homes big and small. With an ability to connect to multiple sensors and a great range of sensor connectivity, this device is great for homes with multiple floors. Alternatively, it’s also great for plots with multiple buildings that need monitoring, such as a guest house along with the main house. Through the use of a single app the Honeywell thermostat can provide information on all sensors in one practical place .The Honeywell connectivity technology also ensure secure communication frequency between sensors and thermostats to ensure consistent heating decisions.
Core features:
- Long Range room sensor range with up to 200 feet of range
- Equipped with on thermostat temperature and humidity sensors
- Capable of sensing whether people in home or not
- Connects to up to 20 sensors
- Sensors run on 2 AAA batteries
The room sensors help reach the ideal temperature in each particular room or zone, and once installed with the 2 AAA batteries, these can run for at least one year. These are very low energy consumption devices that only send data to the central smart thermostat, which takes care of processing the data and making decisions.
During my review of these sensors, I had a great experience with the device but I was met with a bug in the updating process. While my Honeywell app went through an update, the connectivity with the devices was lost. Bizarrely, temperature information was no longer showing on my phone. The simple solution was to go through each sensor one by one to get the updated information. Somehow going on to each individual page made the data request that was required for my device to start getting the temperature information again.
You might also like our recent blog posts on the 3 Best Ovens With Slide Away Doors and Smart Thermostat Ecobee3 Lite Vs Nest E available on Smart Brainy Homes.
Notable Features of the Honeywell Multi Zone Thermostat
Please don’t think that Honeywell devices are second or third class products. The Honeywell product lines, with their wide compatibilities are without a doubt top of the line. The first notable feature is the versatile compatibility with both heating/cooling systems, as well as compatibility new central hub manufacturers like Amazon and Google.
A second notable feature is the great Honeywell iOS and Android apps. They provide basic functionalities, such as temperature control from anywhere, but also offer unique features. These features include custom schedule creation, great visual reports that showcase the usage and custom alerts to allow you to know of any large temperature change.
This specific smart alerts feature is very interesting. Using push type notifications delivered to your phone or tablet, alerts can be setup to allow you to get informed of changes in temperature, changes of settings (from one schedule to another), as well as when some work is required is on your system.
The smart thermostat’s flexible seven-day scheduling feature, accessible from mobile and thermostat, is also very useful to allow the setting multiperiod schedules. The setting up of these schedule might be useful for cottages or simply to align with an always changing work schedule.
Honeywell uses smart thermostat technology at its best. One feature that impresses us the most is its location-based temperature control. What this function allows you to do is allow the Honeywell T9 to heat/cool when it realizes you’re getting close to home and turn off your HVAC appliance when you’re away. It uses your phone’s location to detect your location and make the decision on whether systems need to be on or off.
This last feature means you don’t have to take any decisions yourself. If you prefer not setting up schedules and or adjusting temperature to the times of the day you’ll be in each room, you can simply allow the thermostat to do these things for you.
Voice Assistant Built-in: No
ENERGY STAR Certified: Yes
Power Source Compatibility: 24-volt common wire for heating and air conditioning systems
Touch Screen: Yes
Programmable Schedules: Yes
App Compatible” Yes
Multi-Zone Control: Yes
Compatible with 24V Cooling: Yes
Compatible with 24V Heating: Yes
Program Type: 7 day, Learning
Works With: Amazon Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant, SmartThings
Compatible Products: Air conditioners, Furnaces, Heat pumps, Hot water systems
Operating System of Mobile App: Android, Apple iOS
Along with focus on high-end sensor technology, Honeywell also designed a display that a lot of people like and find very easy to use. This an interactive high-quality display has an extremely user-friendly interface, which is quite easy to navigate even on your first time using the device. We found menus to be very clean and organized making find information, such as temperature in each room a very simple process.
The display features large numbers and has a backlight to make it readable in the dark. The large font has color settings that make it easy to see whether you’re home is heating or cooling with a quick glance at the thermostat.
Honeywell has ensured that this thermostat makes all rooms of your home comfortable with it’s smart multi-zone sensors. No more cold basements or hot second floors! We found this device incredibly easy to setup. Beyond the basic configuration, we were able to connect the thermostat to our smart phones and smart hubs in no time. Compatible with the Amazon Alexa using this new thermostat with the voice-activated commands will also be fun. It’s quick to react when a command is made through Alexa, which means that while watching tv or cooking dinner controlling the temperature within your home will be easier than ever.
Disadvantages of the Honeywell T9
As we mentioned earlier this article, no smart device is perfect. In order to develop strong features, Honeywell had to make decisions to not work on other features, which would have been interesting to have. For a every users, many of the features outlined below will not be an issue. On the other hand, for consumers who have a good understanding of smart home technology and will want to maximize their automation, the following might be a problem. After about six months of usage here is our list of disadvantages of the Honeywell T9:
- No motion sensor to detect home movement on the thermostat
- Does not support Homekit for Apple devices
- Limited automations available through IFFT
- Does not have Desktop app or website for controlling and viewing energy statistics
- Not compatible with electric baseboard heaters (120-240V), dual fuel, and millivolt systems
- Multiple profiles to have different temperature settings depending on whose home not available
Overall, this thermostat is among the best devices on the market for managing temperatures when a multi zone compatible smart device is required. Whether in multistory homes or to control garages separate from the home, this device will be able to handle the task. Sensors have a range of 50 feet with each other or a range of up to 200 feet from the central device. Its Wifi connectivity is stable and fast to connect, and energy reports can be viewed on the mobile app. The Energy Star Certification means the device has been vetted for it’s low energy usage and ability to reduce energy bills. On our use of the device over a 6 month period, we found that our heating bill had decreased by 15% compared to the same months on the previous year.
Remember that when purchasing the Honeywell T9 you can begin with a simple setup using 1 additional sensor. Over time you will be able to improve your home by adding the smart heating sensors to different rooms and zones. You will be able to do so up to 20 sensors, more than enough in almost all cases.
