Venstar T2000 - Explorer Mini Voyager WiFi Digital Programmable Residential Thermostat

Some minor problems with the installation but once it was up and running it has worked without fail. The main thing you need to know is it requires its own power source, and the wire you choose also needs to be properly connected on your HVAC board.

This is a good WiFi Thermostat, and very well suited to automation in both residential and commercial settings, but with a major caveat. Without my intervention (and no settings available to enable or disable updates) Venstar recently updated my firmware remotely which caused the local API to fail.Within a week they uploaded new firmware that fixed the API (again, without permission or notification from me). I am glad that the problem is fixed but I should not have to worry about Venstar doing anything on a machine inside my LAN without my permission or even notification. They provide no support for retail customers, so I have no way of expressing my unhappiness with all of the MAJOR security implications of this. I am surprised that this is acceptable to their commercial customers using the same units--customers who may each be managing hundreds of these units remotely--given the possibility for malware on their network or unexpected catastrophic failure of their HVAC automation.If this doesn't mean anything to you then this is probably not the thermostat for you anyway--look at something like the Nest instead. If you understand the risks that I am talking about, you know enough to decide for yourself.

The Venstar T2000 is a simple easy to use Thermostat with physical buttons to press to raise or lower temperature. It's has a significantly smaller size than most thermostats making a room look more appealing and modern. The red LED makes understanding what's going with the HVAC immediately from across the room while being soft enough to not pose an eye sore. If you have family members that shoot for the stars in raising or lowering temperatures to make it go faster, the red button might help them understand that it's either on or off and that set points don't have to be at extremes to make the HVAC system respond (You know who I'm talking about...). The Wifi interface works great as does the scheduling capability. I've installed many of these thermostats with my customers and in my home. If you want to save money and go simple, while having the remote capability to access your thermostat from outside the home, this is it.

Hooking up to wifi was a challenge with my Android phone but my iPad accomplished the task in a minute. Easy to program and now we can turn on/off or up/down from our bed from my Pixel 3XL! Not super fancy but it does the job well.