Hive Active Heating
Price from £179 (£249 with installation) / stuff.tv/hiveheating
What’s the story? Hive was one of the first smart heating systems, starting life as British Gas Remote Heating in 2011; and while it’s still a major player, it lacks some of its flashy young rivals’ clever tricks. It’s not smart enough to learn your habits, and can’t offer individual room control beyond a maximum of three zones.
at doesn’t mean it’s lacking in skills, though. You get full app and browser control over your heating, there’s IFTTT and Alexa compatibility, geolocation, holiday scheduling,
and it’ll integrate with other Hive products such as lights, door sensors and the like.
Is it any good? Hive’s all about simplicity. e mobile app gives you full control over your heating without overwhelming you, and there’s a stylish standalone thermostat that your Luddite parents will get on just fine with. You can set schedules with just a few swipes, give your heating a toasty boost with one press, and if you want more detail – for instance, seeing your home’s average monthly temperatures – you can find it on the web app.
Hive’s other main advantage is that it’s so well integrated with other smart home systems. You can use IFTTT or geolocation to turn the heating off or on when people leave the house or get within a certain distance. Alexa control is better still: you can simply tell her to set the heating to your preferred temperature.
It’s great if you’ve got other bits of Hive kit too – they all use the same app, and switching between them is an absolute doddle.
STUFF SAYS A simple but slick system with enough smart skills to impress