Ecobee Essential Thermostat review: Simple and smart, but is it worth it?

I went all-in on Apple HomeKit about five years ago. Before that, my smart home setup was a mess—some accessories worked with Google, others with Apple and Alexa, and nothing felt unified. I wanted everything in one place, so I consolidated everything into the Apple Home app. My first major purchase was an ecobee3 lite, which I got at a discount through my local power provider. Since then, my Ecobee thermostat has been the heart of my smart home. So when Ecobee announced the budget-friendly Smart Thermostat Essential, I knew I had to try it. Here’s my hands-on experience with their latest smart thermostat. The first thing I recommend when you get this is to download the Ecobee app. It will walk you through everything. It helps you find out which type of heating and air conditioning units you have, walks you through how to install everything and just makes the setup dead simple. I am someone who knows nothing about this and I was able to install it and have it full running in less than ... Read full article.