RTH7600D 7-Day Programmable Touchscreen Thermostat, White

I purchased this thermostat to replace a 20 year old (original) mercury analog thermostat for our upstairs unit. The main reasons I chose this unit were price, features, brand name and overall reviews (touch screen was desired but not mandatory).IN THE BOX:The package came with everything necessary for installation, including wire flags to mark each wire with before you pulled them off the old thermostat so that you could more easily identify where they go into the new one (a very nice touch). The thermostat was, of course, included along with an installation manual and a user's manual, and a couple mounting screws with wall anchors.INSTALLATION:We have a gas furnace and ac, so for us it was a four wire job (no flags were even necessary). It couldn't have been any simpler to mount and wire. If you have an electric furnace w/ emergency heat and/or a multiple stage unit your installation will be more involved, but if you take your time and flag the wires it still shouldn't be overly complicated (if you don't feel comfortable doing it, it's better to get a professional to do the job - please don't risk messing up your several $K system). The installation manual is pretty clear, however I can see a few places where a bit of confusion may arise for those who have never installed a thermostat before. Overall, this thermostat is just as easy to install as any other thermostat on the market (they're all pretty much the same), if not a touch easier due to the thoughtful inclusion of the wire flags.SETUP:Read the manual!! Sorry, I had to get that out of my system after seeing many of the unfounded poor reviews on here from people who claim this thermostat is unable to do things that it actually is able to do, if they had just taken the extra couple minutes to flip through the pages in the user's guide...With that said, setup is a bit of a mixed bag - it's pretty easy to setup, however you MUST read the manual in order to set certain functionality, as it is code driven (the unit uses a numbering system to select functionality, and you must match the number up to that in the manual to select what features you want to activate / deactivate). Fortunately, once you set it up once, it's good to go. It could be a bit more intuitive, but to be honest, I thought the manual was easily understandible and I had no problems with the setup.The one thing that did bother me a bit was the fact that the date can only be found and changed under the numbered setup, instead of being programmable with the time under the 'normal' screen setup. I guess this should only have to be set once, though, so it's not really THAT big of a deal in hindsight (just a bit frustrating at the time).PROGRAMMING:Programming could have be bit more intuitive in my opinion, though it isn't difficult (and you don't have to do it often once you get it set where you want it While the manual wasn't required for me to do this, it would have probably been helpful on my first run. This thermostat has individual daily settings, each with four time slots for when you sleep, wake, are away, and return home, and each slot with their own high temp and low temp range (the thermostat can be set to change over from AC to Heat, or vice versa automatically as necessary in the setup codes, though we kept ours manual). You can select multiple days at once to program identically, which is a nice feature and saves a bit of time. Overall it's not difficult, however it was just a bit more tedious than our downstairs unit (a higher end non-touchscreen thermostat from another make).SCREEN QUALITY (TOUCH AND VIEW):The screen is easy to read, well lit and thus far I have experienced perfect touch sensitivity. The green glow may be 'outdated', but it does a nice job illuminating and we purchased this thermostat knowing that's what it had, so I don't understand why some other reviews have even mentioned that as a gripe... It's nice that you can touch the screen once anywhere in the 'touch sensitive' areas (along the bottom and right side) to light it for viewing, then touch it again to change settings. This seems like it should be a given, though I've dealt with touch screen units in other homes that require a touch it to light it, however that first touch changes settings at the same time). The buttons are large enough for me to comfortably navigate without worrying about hitting the wrong button or multi-button pressing (I have good sized hands).FUNCTIONALITY:The thermostat has worked very well for us thus far. We haven't had any of the constant cycling on/off issues that have been expressed in other reviews, however I installed it in late September so we missed the really hot season; we'll see how it does as it begins to get really cold now. I am not worried about it though - it keeps us comfortable and does exactly as it has been programmed to do. The temperature is also a LOT more accurate than our previous mercury model...MATERIAL / BUILD QUALITY:Overall the quality of materials is good. The plastic housing is a bit flimsy - once mounted on the wall the thermostat still has some give and play, though it's sufficiently stiff as to not allow movement during regular button pressing and such, and the electric contacts seem to be firmly in place.After I installed the thermostat, I did notice that the screen was not positioned correctly. It seems that the screen is held into place using just the pressure from the cover. I was able to use my thumbs and gently slide it back into the proper position, and it is held firmly enough so that it shouldn't be a future issue (unless handled somewhat roughly), but it does seem that they would have secured it better with clips or something.OVERALL:For the price of this thermostat (keep an eye out for the dicounts) it is practically unbeatable, and I have no gripes or regrets purchasing it. We wanted a simple second zone therostat with daily programming and at least two time slots per day. I did my research, and the Honeywell RTH7600D has met or exceeded all of my expectations so far. While setup requires the manual, you should only have to do it once. Programming takes a bit of getting used to, but once you do a few slots it's pretty easy. The touch screen is sensitive and well lit. Functionality is exactly as it should be.This has been a great unit for us, and it's certainly nice not having to slide the temperature adjuster every morning, then slide it back right before we go to bed (and wait for the temperature to get back into a comfortable range).

This thermostat is wonderful, and easy to use. It takes a little knowledge to program it, but the manual takes you through it step by step. Once it is programmed, I takes off all by itself to provide a temperature that is comfortable to you that you set. It is easy to change the heat - cool mode, or you can set it up to auto-change, which the thermostat uses to decide by itself to determine if you need heat or cool to achieve your desired temperature. I set to it to where I decide if I need heat or cool myself, and it is so easy to change the temperature myself.

About a year earlier, I purchased and installed a Lux TX9000TS Touchscreen 7-Day Programmable Thermostat. It's a good thermostat and has many similar features. My house has two zones with central heat and air conditioning, and I felt that the Honeywell was better suited to my second zone. While both are good thermostats, there are some notable differences.Both thermostats are described in detail by their respective manufacturers, and both offer flexibility with the ability to program four temperature settings for each day of the week. Both have touch screen displays that can show comprehensive information and allow you to change settings with relative degrees of ease. Both fall short in some areas, and both exceed the other in some ways.An important feature for any thermostat is ease of use, the ability for a user to change the temperature without reading a user manual, and the ability to program the thermostat without a confusing array of steps. Traditional thermostats have a single knob or lever that allows a user to point a line or arrow to a specific temperature. Ironically, both of these thermostats have situations where even raising or lowering the temperature by a few degrees can be a show stopper for an untrained user.The Lux model has a clean and concise user interface. It has a pleasant looking blue LCD touch screen with larger numbers and less crowding. It has a separate button for back lighting. It displays the current temperature, and touching the temperature lets you see the set point and up and down arrows to override it. The problem with that is that despite its elegant appearance, not seeing the set temperature leaves untrained users at a loss. When I was out of town, another resident of the home had a party and nobody there could figure out how to start the air conditioning. The temperature had been left on hold. Since the button for the light is not on the touch screen itself, it's easy to miss by somebody searching the screen for it.By contrast, the Honeywell has a busier screen with more information. It displays both the room temperature and the set temperature. The up and down arrows are always visible. Touching the screen once lights up the unit. The down side to the latter feature is that the first press of any button will not perform its function until the unit lights up. That's potentially confusing, but not a show stopper. The feature on the Lux is preferable for somebody who knows how to use it, but the Honeywell is better for typical users.One of the reasons I bought this unit is that it works with heat and air conditioning and does not need to be switched from one to the other. As the seasons cool down, the local temperature drops down to the mid to low 50s, Fahrenheit. But I still get days when the afternoon sun will raise the temperature of some rooms to over 80 degrees. If the air conditioner is needed in the evening, the room is comfortable on its own at bed time, and the heat is needed in the morning, the Honeywell seems to make the most sense. The catch, however, it the notion of the set temperature. If you want AC to go on when the temperature is above 80 and you want heat to go on when the temperature is above 66, the thermostat can handle it fine. If the temperature is outside of that range, it's clear which set point is relevant.UPDATE:But if the temperature is within that range, there are two concurrent set points, but only one is shown. If the last function was heat, then the up and down arrows show the heat set point and let you change it. Likewise for AC. But if you want to change the "other" set point, (for example, you have a hot day followed by a cold night, but not cold enough for the heat to go on) the arrows alone won't help. When you press an arrow, the set point temperature will flash, and will have the word "heat" or "cool" under it. The word "system" will also flash on the bottom left corner. If you press "system" while it is flashing, it will toggle the heat/cool set points that the arrows are adjusting. That was far from obvious and the user manual didn't help. Almost all users would be at a loss to change the temperature for whichever was not the last function used.END UPDATE.Both thermostats work well and are generally easy to use if you read the manual. Many one-time settings for the Honeywell require cycling through cryptic code numbers and setting a value for each of them, making things easy with a manual but impossible without one. On the Honeywell, setting the year, month and date will allow the unit to know the day of the week. But the date is never displayed on the screen in general use, which raises the question of why you are not simply asked to specify the current weekday at setup time. Knowing the date allow the thermostat to keep track of daylight saving time, so it's ultimately for a purpose. But having a simple way of displaying (and changing) the date would have made sense. Setting things on the Lux is generally easier overall, but on a day to day basis, the goal is to rarely need any user interaction.Both thermostats keep track of filter usage, but the Lux keeps track of the number of hours that the system was in use. It also give the user more information about recent energy usage in general. The Honeywell keeps track of the number of days of use between filter changes. I believe that means the number of hours/24 rather than on how many days the filter was used. Seeing a message saying "Filter usage count 288 hours" is less ambiguous than one saying "filter 12 days."From a functional standpoint, both thermostats work well. If you've read the manuals, chances are that you will do well with either. The Honeywell has a more nicely presented professional looking manual, but it also needs one more than the Lux. Both have annoying quirks, and both have strengths over the other. In an environment with seasonal changes and big temperature swings, having a thermostat like the Honeywell can be an advantage. It has Smart Response technology to keep track of how long it takes to get the room to the set temperature so it can get there at the set time, rather than merely going on at the set time and taking however long it takes. That could be an advantage depending on how long your system takes to heat or cool, and depending on temperature range settings.Either one of these thermostats could work quite well, but the Honeywell is theoretically closer to the ultimate goal of "set it and forget it."

I've had this a couple of years. It works well. I change the battery once a year. I did have someone come to wire it in and it does not need that c wire so all good! And very easy to program. That's important.