UPDATE: They no longer serve N.America. This will NOT WORK IN YOUR HOUSE unless you live in the UK. DONT BUY. So I opened it up and was surprised to find two smaller boxes inside the larger one. One of them contained the wall-mounted control interface and the other had a “hub”. I immediately found this to be a bit annoying: none of my other smart devices require a separate hub connected to the modem... not even my roomba, plugs, Echo, cameras, none of them... just odd. The unit is big and bulky and is not, in any way, sleek or small on the living room wall. Once I got it wired, updated, and ready I walked through the setup and found the scheduling part to be confusing. This should be intuitive. I hooked it up in December in Indiana, and for the first week I couldn’t get it to stay on a schedule and my whole family would wake up freezing. Once I finally figured it out, it’s still unreliable; inexplicably cranking up out of nowhere. It’s integration with Alexa is non-existent. I’ll ask Alexa to tell me the thermostat setting and she will tell me (normal setting). But I’ll personally check a few minutes later and it’s randomly set to 63 with an internal temp of 66... what the heck??? THEN, if I ask Alexa to change the thermostat setting, most of the time she will simply say “hmm zone 1 is not responding.” So I’ll pull the unit off the wall and put it back on and it will reconnect. For a while, this worked for a couple days, MAX. Now it never works, no matter what I do. I have NEVER been able to control it remotely from my phone. It also worked for a couple days, but now nothing; not on my home network not through my LTE. Every other smart device on my home does this with no problem. I’m seriously considering reinstalling my old device and selling this trash in a garage sale.

After looking at the NEST (and a few other 'smart' thermostats), I decided to go with this less expensive option when Amazon emailed me a special one-day deal. Installation was a breeze and I've never installed a thermostat before even though I'm pretty handy and can figure most things out. Word of advice: take a few photos of the wiring set-up of your OLD t-stat BEFORE you start pulling apart the wires. This helped tremendously as there are several wires that I was unaware of. Luckily most of them matched up perfectly with the HIVE unit (even though some of them are labeled slightly different on the HIVE diagrams, ie: some might have an extra letter or there might be more than one spot for only one wire, don't worry. The main wires (especially the 'C' wire) will match up and that's the important one.) After installing the hub (router) for the wireless setup (as instructed), it took a while to do a software update after connecting to my network. I let it do it's thing (also as instructed) then I went to install the t-stat. As I mentioned, installation was actually pretty easy. The old unit came off the wall quickly and simply. I pulled the wires through the hole on the new HIVE unit and used the enclosed screws to install it. There's also a handy 'level' built-in to the unit so you can level the stat (under the cover; it sits at the top of the frame mount). After mounting it, I installed the wires to where I thought they should go based on the HIVE diagram(s) and instructions. One note: in the HIVE manual, they include some handy small label stickers with letters so you can label your wires BEFORE you remove them from the old stat. DO IT! It will help immensely. I have an android phone (LG g6) and installed the HIVE app and created an account. The only issue I had after installation was getting the unit to connect to the hub/router. Have patience: it took longer than expected but after about 30 minutes of me leaving it alone it finally connected. The wall unit will prompt you upon initial setup to use the manual controls to distinguish what type of furnace you have. If you're not sure, you can change it. (I know my type of unit, but if you're not sure, call your HVAC person that works on your unit and they'll tell you, OR....google the manufacturer/model number and look it up. You should also be able to call a local HVAC company and they can tell you over the phone if your unit is a heat pump, etc. by giving them the manufacturer and model number. I was able to use the phone app almost immediately to control the stat (which was the entire reason for me buying this unit). It's been connected for several weeks now and is working perfectly. I'm happy with all facets of the system, from the style and appearance of the stat itself to the performance of the unit. I don't have an Alexa or Google Home (yet) so I can't attest to the compatibility to those units, but I would recommend the HIVE to my family and friends as a less expensive alternative to the NEST system but one that seems to work equally as well (after also seeing the NEST in use at several friends' homes.)

Had my HVAC genius friend install it in early January for me, and install looked very straightforward. Thought the thermostat was working fine until I checked my bank account around April/May to see the last four electric bill payments were off the charts. My house is only 1250 sqft so prior years my bill has averaged around $120-150 from Dec through March and then drops to $90-$110 in April and May. With the Hive thermostat, my bills in Feb and March were OVER $400, and January was well over $300. I started "troubleshooting" with their tech support in April, but since they don't even actually have an HVAC technician on staff (at least at this time), they insisted they could still help me. Long story short, after several calls, online chats, and MANY of weeks of "wait and see if that takes care of it", I was out even more money in insane electric bills. The icing on the cake: after spending over an hour on the phone with tech support (again, NOT a licensed technician), I followed his instructions while on the phone, and within 5-10 minutes of hanging up with him my heat was blasting 40-45 degree-air (yes-Fahrenheit). At that point I was losing my mind from being so cold for so long I pulled the thermostat off the wall and reinstalled the old thermostat myself and everything went back to normal with warm (and MUCH less expensive heat) literally immediately. This was by far the worst purchase I have ever made in my life. And despite my multiple months of Hive thermostat hell, they did absolutely nothing to try to improve my experience whatsoever--they wouldn't even refund the price of the thermostat.

Fun thermostat. If you don't know how to add a common "c" wire, you will need to have someone do it for you, or buy a add on "c" wire power kit. (Those options are silly because youtube will teach you and save you hundreds). Pairing with the hive box was easy. Make sure your hive box is registered and powered on before you turn the thermostat on. If your hive box is not on or registered the thermostat will not pair and is completely useless until you pair it. The thermostat will just display a counter. But once the thermostat is paired to the Hive it stores the schedule in memory, so if your internet goes down, or your hive box breaks because kids play hockey in your house, then the thermostat will still work. You can also adjust it manually AFTER you pair it to the Hive. Temp and humidity is 100% accurate. I have a salt walt tank with very expensive probes and they show the same thing the thermostat does. The look and feel is quality. I have no fears that it will fail me anytime soon. I am also not worried to leave the house and go on vacation and come back to a frozen house. The scheduling was super easy and works as I programmed. My only gripe is with the Alexa interface. There is a 10-15 second delay from when I say "Alexa set the heat to 68", the hive responding, her response, and the the heater turning on. It makes me want to say the command again, as you think Alexa didn't hear it. My analog thermostat was instant so I know it's the Alexa Skill code, and not the thermostat or the heater. Other than that in love it.

I've gone through the trouble of having to return $650+ worth of HIVE equipment today, mostly because I live in the United States. Unless your router is right next to your thermostat, and you have little to no need for any support or additional products from their website, I suggest NEST instead or going SIMPLY SAFE for security in combination with another smart thermostat, with a company that is based in the United States. This is a UK-based company and it is clear to me they have not clearly addressed all the issues for US customers. EDIT: I have spent a lot of time with their support team, which I hated. I FINALLY got this to work (on my own basically). Here's what you do when your router won't reach or your house is setup in a way where you can't even get your wifi upstairs: Use the ACTIVE PLUGS. They DOUBLE as signal boosters; That's all they had to tell me, and It would have solved my problem. Instead, they wasted hours of my time. I decided to BUMP my review from a 1/5 stars to a 4/5 stars after getting it working; I now feel it is worth the money. If you are not willing to work out a few problems, DO NOT BUY...as it can be a headache in some cases it seems. If you are in the US, prepare for worse customer service (that's now the only complaint I really have). I rarely leave reviews. I usually only review when I have been either blown away, or critically disappointed. That being said...I take this upgrade to a 4 star review really seriously...as I've never done it before. The product itself managed to redeem itself after I spent more time with it, and used the active plugs as signal boosters (which they WILL NOT MAKE AVAILABLE TO YOU FOR SALE if you live in the United States - so stop looking for it, and buy the active plug instead).

I bought this mainly because I cannot get a single smart thermostat for the same price as this whole kit. So far I have set up the HUB, thermostat, one smart bulb, a amazon dot, and google mini. HIVE APP: So far the hive app is been OK. It is not complicated to use, but not the easiest. I dilike the connecting to new devices. Sometimes it takes it time trying to find new smart items, but have not had an issue with it not finding them. Setup was simple enough for someone electronically inclined. Thermostat: Just got this installed. It looks great compared to an older digital screen one. I did have to get the "C" wire adapter to have to powered correctly as my wiring was not correct to just wire it to the house. I like the fact you can either set up Cool only, heat only, or setup a comfort zone that will turn heat or cool on as needed. The thermostat will also lock if you dig into the settings. This comes in handy with a toddler running around changing it to 85° all the time. Smart light: Most of my house has a smaller bulb fitting so I cannot use the larger smart bulbs in most of my lighting. I only have one installed in my dining room, which for some reason all of my smart devices have this named as "dinning" room. Somewhat annoying when I say to turn the DINING light on and it says it cannot complete this task becuase it does not know what they is. I explicitly have to say the word wrong to get it to turn off or on. Or I can just go on any of my three apps to change it. Motion/door/window sensor: I have not installed these as I have not had the time or wanted these on my system currently. Compatibility: Works great with my amazon dot (gen2) and my google home mini. I have not had any issues with syncing or anything. The main downside is using three different apps. I have the HIVE, Amazon alexa, and Google home apps to ensure everything communicates smoothly. I do not have to open every single one of them to do one thing which is nice, as I said they are pretty self sufficient. I do not have a nightly routine or leaving routine made for either the google or the dot, but I may at some point. They are currently mostly used for playing shark do do and goofy goober for the kid. Smart outlets: I attempted to set one of these up. I was unsure of what exactly they are used for other then to turn something one and off. I attempted to set it up on a Xbox one and maybe I did not set it up correctly, but it would not turn it on. Perhaps this is more for a light/lamp items. Over all, for the price of the system, I got it for less then $200, you cannot beat it. Even if you did not want the hub, bulb, or smart outlets the thermostat still is compatible with smart systems. I was hesitant at first, but over all its a good system that works with the other smart systems.

We had a heck of a time getting this thing set up. Hive has discontinued this product (and maybe all of their products) in North America) and are offering limited support only. The hub/thermostat pairing was time consuming and frustrating. The website couldn’t identify the device serial number. Support has limited hours that seem to cater to UK residents. In the end, we were told that the device was registered for UK use, not US, which is why nothing was working properly. It looks pretty cool if you can get it up and working (my husband works in IT and was like, wtf). I would suggest that they not sell a device in the US that isn’t being designed for use in our country. I would further suggest a lock with a passcode feature to keep kids from adjusting the temperature.

Purchased for X-mas and installed it. Install was easy and straightforward. Worked great for about 2 months, then the company pushed a software update. It stopped working. Apparently the issue from them was that the new software stopped receiving weather information from the internet source they use, as a result the thermostat wouldn't turn on the outdoor unit. This of course was figured out after I had my system serviced to find the issue and had to have a new thermostat installed. Hive's initial answer was to use the thermostat in "stand-alone" mode, so no connectivity, unable to turn on remotely, etc. I asked for a refund, never heard back. I just reached out to them again and was told the issue was fixed, but that they don't refund anything purchased through Amazon. Not planning to put this one back on the wall, even though it is supposedly fixed. I'll go another route.

Update 7/12/2020: As of now Hive has “discontinued the direct sale of our products and related services in the United States and Canada” This means you can’t access your thermostat on their website, so if you’d like to adjust the temperature from a computer you no longer can. Furthermore, Hive released Homekit for their heating thermostat and other products, but excluded the heating and cooling thermostat for whatever reason. Given their track record of taking a long time to add support, i don’t expect it to get Homekit support anytime soon. After using for some months, i’ve noticed when the hive servers are down you can’t adjust your thermostat or connect to it. This scares me if they ever decide to drop support completely, i’d basically just have an expensive paperweight. With these changes i’d no longer recommend this thermostat, even though they promise continued customer support and updates. ——- Old Review —— So I bought the Thermostat and Hub on sale, and it was a great deal for the devices. Installation was somewhat painful for me, as it’s not as easy as say with a Nest device. I had trouble knowing which set of wires I needed for my HAVC. Overall after troubleshooting, I finally got it working. It looks nice, and has consistently worked great. No technical issues after I sorted out the installation. Pros: -Includes backplate if needed. -Comes with a Zigbee hub that can integrate with Alexa and Philips hue. -Looks nice with and without the backplate. -Can Create Custom Schedules -Has a Quick heat/cool function that works well. Cons: -No Homekit support. (Still, 7/13/20) -Installation can be kind of a pain. -Lacks some of the advanced features you find from other brands. Overall, if you can get the hub and thermostat on sale, it’s a good deal and has worked well for me.

So far the Hive has been easy to set up and use. Our old thermostat did not have a C wire and I was easily able to add an external wall plug transformer as the C wire. (just google it) I'm really irritated that the "lock" function, is not what you think it is. Basically, you can put a child lock, so children who can't read can't play with it, and you can put a lock on the app so it can't be opened. Other than that. An adult can easily unlock it, as it tells you exactly how! I was under the impression that being able to lock the thermostat meant that you could control it so that people aren't changing the temperature if you don't want them too. I hope they can update the device so that you can lock the thermostat or at least be alerted when people start playing heater tag. I had a little trouble getting the hub and thermostat to communicate during initial set up. This was fixed by contacting live chat support and they did some magic mumbo remotely. The thermostat works well and I love that I can control it from my phone.