Honeywell T6R
Smart heating made simple
Rather than having to fix it to a wall, the thermostat box connects to a conventional power outlet
£199.95 FROM Honeywell, honeywelluk.com FEATURES Smart assistant compatibility, seven-day scheduling, geofencing, iOS app
The Honeywell T6R smart thermostat offers up competent smartphonecontrolled heating for your home.
A big selling point is its compatibility with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri (through Apple’s HomeKit).
Rather than having to fix it to a wall, the thermostat box connects to a conventional power outlet, allowing you to put it anywhere in your home – although you need to make sure it’s in a room that’s representative of your home’s average temperature. A second boiler control needs to be installed by a professional.
Once up and running, you’ll need to connect the thermostat to the Honeywell Home app and your Wi-Fi network. The app provides a relatively straightforward step-bystep guide on how to set up the thermostat.
The simplistic design lacks style – it’s essentially a black square – but it’s functional. The touchscreen display dominates the front, with the temperature displayed in the middle. Tap the touchscreen and you’ll see plus and minus icons, allowing you to quickly increase or decrease the temperature.
Once everything’s connected, you can use the app to set a schedule; opt for grouped days to replicate the same behaviour over multiple days, or go for a day-by-day setup for different daily routines. The app’s home screen shows you the current temperature of your home at the top (and the outdoor temperature just above it), with up and down arrows allowing you to manually override a schedule.
A holiday mode allows you to input dates for when you’re away. The app can then make sure your house is heated for your return, without using energy in between.
Location-based control
The app boasts geofencing, allowing your thermostat to turn itself on and off depending on how close you are to home, and you can adjust the size of the radius around your home. It’s a feature that worked well most of the time, but it does use more smartphone battery.
You can share control of the app with others – handy if you’re having someone house sit for you while you’re away. You can also control the T6R with your voice thanks to integration with Siri, alongside Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant.
The Honeywell T6R isn’t as feature-packed as some rival smart thermostats, and it only offers one zone of control. This means you can’t use it to adjust temperatures in different rooms – any setting is mirrored around your home. It’s also not compatible with smart radiator valves, underfloor heating systems or hot water controls. It doesn’t learn patterns of usage either, or provide you with details on how much energy you’ve used or saved.