Thermostats

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Thermostats

What's behind our thermostat Ratings?

Experts at our National Testing and Research Center tested 39 models in thermostats to see which ones perform best.

We look for:

Overall score
This is based mainly on programming ease and and display visibility. The displayed score is out of a total of 100 points.
Ease of use
Denotes ease of setup and making routine adjustments and changes to setback programs, including overrides.
Display
Includes clarity and visibility of information.

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Recommended thermostats

Recommended thermostats are standout choices with high scores. They include CR Best Buys, which offer exceptional value. When narrowing your choices, weigh features, price, and attributes that matter to you.

Recommended thermostats

Thermostat buying guide

To find the thermostat that is right for you, read our expert advice on which features to consider and how to find the best value.

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Ratings & recommended thermostats

Thermostats (39)

Recommended models are standout choices with high scores. They include CR Best Buys, which offer exceptional value. (Occasionally, high-scoring models are not recommended due to their Brand Repair History or other issues.) When narrowing your choices among models, weigh performance, features, price, and attributes that matter to you, such as color, size, or style.

Thermostat buying guide

Programmable thermostats can trim about $180 a year from your energy bill by automatically reducing your heating or cooling when you need it least. Some thermostats tested by Consumer Reports were easy to set and use but others were so complicated that you might end up spending more on energy, not less.

That's why you won't find the Energy Star on any thermostats, which stopped certifying them in 2009 mostly because they were hard to use. New standards that factor in ease of use are being developed. But you don't have to wait. Manufacturers have made some thermostats less daunting by adding colorful interactive touchscreen displays.

Most thermostats can keep rooms close to the set temperature so our testers rated ease of use based on how simple each thermostat was to set up and make routine adjustments to before reading the manual and then, if needed, with the manual. All of the thermostats in our Ratings have basic pre-programmed settings.

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