tado° Smart Radiator Thermostat X, Temperature Control via App and Smart Speaker (Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant), Save Heating Costs, DIY Installation

I was fired by Google/Nest as they mothballed my version of the Nest Learning Thermostat. I was incentivized to get a Tado replacement with a discount voucher. The Tado version of the Nest is a bit tinny compared to the hefty and style of the Nest but much better functionality. BUT purpose of this review - I bought some smart radiator thermostat Xs in Black Friday sales AND they are brilliant (bought 5!) Not tinny and each one can communicate directly with the central receiver - game changer. Heating temperature stability up and costs down! I got ChatGPT to help me optimize the settings. Also crazy easy to install took minutes. Customising the per radiator schedules took longer. Very pleased 😊

I really rate these Tado thermostats. I find it’s best to match with a room thermostatic for really accurate reasons and ease of adjustment. Slick system and would highly recommend. I’ve got about 20 of these thermostats and none have gone wrong at all in 18 months. Had to charge them once which takes a few hours. When charging it’s worth doing them all in bulk

Gather ‘round, fellow warmth seekers and smart home enthusiasts, for I have a tale that’ll make you chuckle, ponder, and perhaps rush to expand your own kingdom of cozy with the tado° Add-on - Smart Radiator Thermostat. Yes, I said “expand,” for my abode was already a bustling metropolis of tado° devices, each serving its lord (that’s me) with unwavering loyalty and precision. Why, you ask, did I choose to add another tado° knight to my round table of radiators? The answer is simple: I was on a quest for the Holy Grail of home comfort, a quest that led me to the realization that one more thermostat was the missing piece in my puzzle of perfect temperature control. Let me paint you a picture of life before this latest addition. Imagine a house so smart, it almost has a degree from Oxford. Yet, there was one room, a rebellious little nook, that remained as chilly as a penguin’s picnic. Enter the tado° Smart Radiator Thermostat, stage right. Installation was easier than convincing a toddler that bedtime is fun. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve dealt with a more complicated setup, I’d have exactly zero nickels. It was as if the thermostat whispered sweet nothings to the radiator, and voilà, they were in sync, spreading warmth like a gossip spreads news. Now, let’s talk about the real magic - the control. With the tado° app, I wield the power of warmth like a wizard with his wand. At the flick of a finger, I can summon heat to the far reaches of my castle (okay, it’s a semi-detached, but let’s not get hung up on details). And the energy savings? Let’s just say my wallet is fatter than it’s been in years, all thanks to the efficiency of my tado° setup. But the pièce de résistance, my friends, is the way this thermostat has brought harmony to my home. No longer do I engage in thermostat wars with my household. We live in a utopia of temperature perfection, where every room is just right, every moment of the day. In conclusion, adding another tado° Smart Radiator Thermostat to my collection was akin to adding another star to the night sky - it just made everything brighter. If you’re on the fence about expanding your tado° empire, let me nudge you over with a promise of warmth, efficiency, and a touch of magic. Five stars, because in a world where you can be anything, tado° chooses to be awesome.

Great devices, but expensive and the product details assume an understanding of modern IoT (Internet of Things) standards. Once I grasped these, setup was surprisingly straightforward, but there were significant extra costs (£80) and steps. I've installed mine in the living room which I only use in the evening. It will take a long time to break even, but at least I'm not contributing to global warming unnecessarily and I have started the journey to home automation. ------------------------ Here is some detail for novices, like I was. Modern IoT devices increasingly use Matter — the protocol that allows devices to exchange instructions and events (like “motion detected” or “turn on”). Matter can run over Wi‑Fi for high‑bandwidth devices such as cameras, and over Thread for low‑power, battery‑operated devices like sensors and plugs. Thread is a bit like Wi‑Fi in that it creates a home network, but it’s designed for low‑power devices. Each Thread device forms part of a self‑healing mesh, relaying signals across your home. To connect Thread devices into your wider network, you need a border router — in my case, a HomePod mini (bought second‑hand on eBay for £50). I also added a Matter‑over‑Thread plug (£20) to extend the mesh into the room with the radiators. To power the HomePod mini I needed a USB‑C adapter (£9). For control, I use the Apple Home app for an integrated view, and the Tado app to set up the room temperature schedule. As a final tip, the temperature offset, mentioned by other reviewers as needed because the thermostat is next to a hot radiator, is set to zero as a default. I had to adjust it to -3, and I think that would be a better default. Once I had learned how Matter and Thread fit together, and bought all the components, it was easy to get everything working as I wanted. And now that I’ve got the basics in place, I’ve even added a Matter‑over‑Wi‑Fi security camera to the system.

These are very easy to fit if your existing valve is modern. If not, there are several adapters in the pack. These have always worked for us but can be a little trickier to fit. Three issues exist: - fit your valve when the radiator is cold or it’s altogether more difficult and you might get burned fingers. - set the valve to 25C before fitting. - as with all smart valves, when these these actuate (only now and again, of course), they emit a slight audible whirring noise. We’re used to it now but they are not silent. - and now, the BIG ISSUE: too often the heat from the radiator affects the valve and the so called “offset” feature fails to correct this. In this case, you will need to buy a Tado wireless room thermostat. Wait for an Amazon offer as these are otherwise prohibitively expensive. We just got one at £45.00 and that is enough to pay. With one of those in each main room, the system works par excellence! Despite this latter problem, we wouldn’t be without our Tado. So impressed are we that we’ve fitted them to our son’s house, also. We’re now into our fourth year, I think, and still all good! We thoroughly recommend these if you can afford the initial outlay and want excellent smart heating control.

Love them, they are the most integral part of our life during the cold winter...they will pay for them selves in about 2 to 3 years...i tink itll be even quicker....I have 8 of these and the made life soo soo much easier and save a a lot of money as they allow u to isolate rooms that we dont need to heat...the app is absolutely amazing ...if we leave the house ...it turns off the heating automatically...it heats up the house beforw we get home...it heats up the house before we weak up in the morning...this is the best thing you will do to you heating...get this with the main thermostate ...iv not seen the boiler for a long time...i just do it all from my phone...i just love these thing

Unfortunately the Tado system is limited to small and modern buildings. The technology is very limited with poor communication and transmission to the various thermostats if your home is of older or stone construction. The results are that valves that don't respond to adjustments using the app, constant warnings about batteries needing replacement (as they constantly look for the hub) and problems with your boiler running the whole time because of communication issues. You won't be able to turn the boiler off without physically disconnecting the boiler from the electricity supply as the app will not work correctly. The hub must be positioned perfectly in the home (and I mean, perfectly - pointing in an exact orientation) in order to be able to detect more than a couple of thermostats. You may find the 'sweet spot', but don't worry - you'll have to play this game again in about 14 days. Please don't believe the hype, these won't save you a penny and will in-fact cost you more in energy bills due to your boiler running far more than an old manual timer unit. Tado: the technology is poor and underdeveloped for older (stone built) buildings. Spend your money with a better alternative.

If you have the Tado system and have water filled radiators, these are a very good addition to very finely control the heating in individual rooms, which, I’m convinced, saves significant energy cost. The on/off and temperature setting flexibility is nothing short of amazing. I now have 12 fitted. Be aware that: - you should have good WiFi coverage so that all units can communicate with the Tado bridge, which is connected directly to your router - they require regular attention, particularly if you schedule many temperature changes a day, as the batteries in each unit will deplete every 6-8 weeks, which can be annoying - one of the units failed 14 mths after installation - if you previously had manual thermostat valves fitted to your radiators and they were installed many years ago, check that the valve isn’t jammed. Three of mine were jammed which necessitated draining the system in order to replace them