tado°

I like several other people did a lot of research before opting for Tado. Hive and Nest apps get pretty poor reviews in the App Store and I was keen to understand why. I wanted a robust geofenced solution with the option to integrate with HomeKit if necessary. Tado was the only option that fits the bill. I was also keen to avoid overly ‘clever’ learning systems that would try to anticipate movements invariably getting things wrong. Tado provide a logical approach to heating based on a schedule combined with (multiple) device locations and manual overrides providing an extremely flexible solution. I have no experience in central heating systems and have an elderly system with two independent underfloor heating zones. The system is over 20 years old. Needless to say Tado support was excellent in identifying the old thermostats and providing the necessary installation instructions. It was super simple to install, in fact the Extension Kit simply pushed on to the existing programmer backplate without any rewriring. Geofencing seems to work like magic ensuring the house is warm on arrival but heating is turned off when we go out. The various graph views are indispensable for a getting a temperature profile throughout the day. 10/10.

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Have been using Tado for 1 year. Mainly very impressed indeed. Best feature is undoubtedly Tado's ability to maintain constant temperature throughout house. Still, I am surprised that the following 2 things do not make it to the list of things needing attention. 1) There is no scope for creating 2 or more timing set ups for the whole house. For example I have one timing programme for the whole house during a normal working week, but then need a totally different set up for holiday periods. I also ideally need a further set up for when my kids are home from uni but I am still at work. What happens in practice is that I dare not lose all my timings for the most common set up, so I keep that set-up but then end up manually controlling the whole house during holiday times! I think you will agree that is a very bizarre scenario given how easy it would be for you to add several more programmable schedules to the app. In our case it isn't possible to use the GEO location option for a family because in practice you can't rely on teenagers having their phones (a) with them and (b) charged. 2) The noise of the thermostats is enough to wake a light sleeper. This never gets mentioned in your literature. For some this renders thermostats pointless in a bedroom, and for other such as myself means that I have to artificially work round the problem by setting switch on times to later than desired.

We live in a big old house that, until now, has been controlled by switching the heating on or off. No thermostat. It gets pretty cold here in Scotland over the winter months, and we’ve got a couple of young children, so being able to keep their rooms a little warmer during the night is amazing. And the level of control that we now have across the entire house is incredible -I finally feel as though I’m in control of the heating in my house. I started with a couple of valves, and have wound up doing the whole house - got eight or nine of them now. Despite all my glowing praise, installation for each of the devices was never straightforward. There were calls to support, who had to dial in to reset things, and then there was the language barrier between (I think)Spanish support engineers and Scottish me. Also, I had to improvise the valve installation, using bits of folded paper to make the valve adaptors fit my Danfoss valve connectors. That said, once it’s done, it’s done, and I really, heartily recommend Tado.

I installed the system myself some 5 months ago with a few problems that were resolved by support quickly. The instructions could have been clearer to help me determine what I needed for multiple zone CH and HW. I had to order a second batch to get what was actually needed. I have multiple smart radiator thermostats but also needed a room thermostats with the extension kit to ensure that any zone can call for heat and turner the CH on and off. Overall it’s easy to use. Just manages 4 stars as 3 would be unfairly negative; 3.5? However, heating is started/left on more often than needed; perhaps as my home is old and poorly insulated. Temperature readings from smart radiator thermostats are not always reliable (although you can set an offset to adjust for this). I reckon adding room thermostats for each zone would help accuracy. Support helped adjust the settings their end but I’ve not fully configured the system to hit the target temp when I arrive home. So much for AI! For improvement: - Overall on/off switch (otherwise each zone needs to be turned off) - Realistic energy saving report (based on the schedule prior to installation rather than the tado schedule) - More rapid/frequent updates and development Overall quite an investment - over £1000 - that will take 2-3 years to pay back. As long as tado stays in business and the kit works, I’ll be happy!

I have waited for 9 months to write this because I reckon most of the reviews here have been left by people who have only just bought and installed the system. I thought it would be useful to have the input of an experienced user too. I bought 11 radiator thermostats, one room thermostat, a newer home-kit connector and a hot-water and boiler controller (a big system with a big investment). While Tado isn’t 100% perfect (i.e. the UI on the app home page could do with the colours changing according to heating activity rather than the thermostat setting temperature; and the batteries on the radiator thermostats don’t last as long as advertised), all my issues with it are small niggles and I am confident they are working to fix them. Since I have had the system (which I fitted myself easily, including wiring the boiler controller) it has received updates that have improved performance, reliability and feature-set. I am currently saving roughly 30% on my gas bills with Tado (real world analysis on actual meter readings), and my house is a more comfortable temperature than before too. This will have represented a saving in year 1 of roughly £380, which means I will break even before the end of year 2 (worst case scenario, as in reality rising fuel prices mean it will likely be quicker).