Honeywell Home – Smart Color Thermostat with Wi-Fi Connectivity – Silver

I really like the way this thermostat is laid out and how it functions. I purchased it for a family vacation home. It allows me to easily check the temperature in the house and change it as required remotely. I like that it can be changed to a schedule when the house is occupied and a static temperature when it’s unoccupied. I do wish there was a temperature spread mode that could switch between Cool and Heat automatically that didn’t require using the schedule but it is easy enough to just check the app and make changes as required.
The app is quite easy to use once you become familiar with it. If you want to get more info at a glance, you can go to the website. The website makes programming a schedule much easier. There is also a way to allow others to access the account so my family members can set temps before they arrive at the house. The display indicates not only indoor temperature, it also indicates the outdoor temperature as well as indoor/outdoor humidity.
It was fairly easy to install, however, the video and instructions explaining the onscreen setup didn’t match what was on our screen 100%. There was an extra question regarding the efficiency of our fan unit. Our fan unit is over 20 yrs old and there was no efficiency rating on the unit that I could find. I also couldn’t find the manual online. So I had to guess that it was under 90% efficient. Additionally, the touch screen is not very responsive. Sometimes it takes 3-5 pokes of the screen to get a touch to register. That is my biggest issue with this thing.
I really like the larger always-on screen. I use a Nest thermostat in my office and like the look of the Honeywell and the info it provides better than the minimalis Nest display. It is also easier for my elderly father to operate. The Honeywell was also $50 less expensive than the Nest when I made my purchase. All in all I would recommend it. Especially to people who are already familiar with Honeywell thermostats like me.

Our furnace, air conditioner and thermostat were all replaced in 2006, in a house built in 1985. I don’t remember if the thermostat wiring was replaced at that time or not. Our current thermostat is a very simple set-back thermostat that runs on alkaline batteries and does not use a C wire. I happen to have all of the manuals and installation instructions for all of our HVAC products, and that helps to sort out the installation and set-up process of this Honeywell thermostat. Our high-efficiency Trane brand furnace has a C wire terminal, marked “B/C”. The old set-back thermostat required four wires to hook it up, but luckily our thermostat wiring is a five-conductor cable. To install this Honeywell RTH9585 thermostat, I only had to utilize the unused fifth wire in the cable and hook it up to the appropriate terminal on the furnace circuit board and I had my needed C wire connection (this is a simplification of what I actually had to do, but in essence is what the end result was). This made me happy because if I had to use the alternative hook up with the green wire, I would lose the ability to use the fan continuously (according to the “C Wire Addendum” that comes with the User Guide) and that is something that I occasionally do depending on the season and the weather.
When mounting the thermostat wallplate to the wall, check to see if either of the screw locations will hit a stud (one of mine did) as the included screws are long enough to pass through typical 1/2” thick drywall. If you just go ahead and drill two 3/16” holes for the drywall anchors, and hit a stud, the 3/16” hole drilled will be too big to use the screw by itself. If a hole lands on a stud, drill a 7/64” or 3/32” hole and you can use just the screw without using the plastic anchor.
The thermostat body snaps onto the wallplate with a lot of pressure. I suggest snapping the thermostat on and off the wallplate numerous times before mounting the wallplate to the wall as this will make it easier to pull the thermostat from the wallplate in the future if you need to remove it.
The one thing missing from this thermostat is a larger wallplate trim ring to cover holes left over from the old thermostat installation. I fabricated my own from a piece of sheet styrene purchased from a hobby shop (see picture). My old Lux thermostat came with one, and I’m guessing it would have cost Honeywell less than $0.25 to include one. Kind of an oversight on a $200 item if you ask me.
Once you get over the wiring hurdle, installation, set-up and programming of this Honeywell thermostat is really easy. Their web site is well done, the instruction manual is well written, and the menus and walk-through on the thermostat itself are all exceptionally well done. Honeywell, whose name was once synonymous with home thermostats, I feel has been under pressure in recent years from a number of different thermostat manufacturers, but they have really redeemed themselves with this model. The only thing that is really missing is geofencing capability, but after doing some reading about this feature, I’m not so sure it is something I would find useful. I have had a few times where the app on my phone appears to be unresponsive to my commands. If I close the app and reopen it, it works fine, so I have gotten in the habit of closing it once I make my adjustment and then open it again in the future when I need to use it. We are also having a little difficulty figuring out how to set up my wife’s phone to allow her to make remote adjustments to the thermostat that is registered with my email address. I’m sure it is something simple we have overlooked, but it is a little frustrating nonetheless.
The main thing I like about this thermostat versus the competition is all the information that is displayed on the screen “at idle”. When you haven’t used the thermostat for a bit, the display dims slightly, but is still very legible without needing to be touched. The following information is available on the “Home” screen without having to scroll through different displays and/or menus: current temperature, set temperature, outdoor temperature, both indoor and outdoor humidity, current time, and the time when the next programmed change takes place. A quick tap of the outdoor temperature gets you more current weather details and the forecast for 6 and 12 hours in the future – quick and easy when you are headed out the door and want to know the need for a coat or umbrella.
The RTH9585 is a very full featured thermostat that can do just about anything a homeowner would want or need an HVAC controller to do. I’m going to just talk about the features for residential use. Business use is the other alternative, but I suspect most business owners will just have a contractor install a thermostat of the contractor’s choice and won’t go shopping for one on their own. Obviously the thermostat can follow a set schedule of temperature changes for each day of the week (meaning each of seven days can be different from the others), but you can also change from the typical four schedules per day to just two if that is all you need. There is a fan option to run randomly about 35% of the time to circulate the air in the house. This is a nice option compared to having to run the fan continuously (which is still an option with this thermostat). There is a setting for the thermostat to change over automatically from heating to cooling. There are reminders for the filter and humidifier pad. You can set a vacation hold until a certain date and time and the thermostat will heat or cool your house for your return. There is a mode to allow you to clean the screen for 30 seconds without disturbing any settings. There is a lock mode that allows partial lockout (only temperature can be changed) or full lockout and you can also set a password to unlock the thermostat. Honeywell’s “Smart Response Technology” that anticipates ramp-up time to reach a given temperature by a specific time gives you the option of turning this feature off. The display can show Fahrenheit or Celsius temperatures and 12-hour or 24-hour time with Daylight Saving Time turned on or off. There are also settings specific for using the thermostat in a business setting. The thermostat will work without Wi-Fi, but you do lose some of the features. You can also set your account to send you email alerts if the temperature or humidity go outside of the range you specify. The phone app also gives you the option of voice control and the Honeywell Total Connect Comfort App will interface with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT, and SmartThings. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, you can change the color of the screen to match your decor. Ours is set on black background with white lettering as I like easy-to-read contrast since I have gotten older.
I can recommend this thermostat to the average and above do-it-yourselfer and I don’t think there is anyone who would be disappointed with the feature set this product offers.

Installation was easy (Read the manual first!). I replaced a 20 year old Honeywell T8112D1005 that still worked but a pain to program. Note: the common wire was there but had to be connected in the furnace and thermostat.
My furnace was not holding temperature after my service provider replaced the blower motor. He was sure it fixed the problem. After setting this unit up on my iPad, I could work with him by the furnace. He then understood that he had to do more diagnostis and foun the problem.

This thermostat is great. I love the color especially ability to change the screen color when active and not active. The Honeywell app is easy to use as well as the on screen buttons. The Best Buy TotalTech installer was great, cordial and quick. I highly recommend this item for upgrading to current technology.