Our review
The short take
The Smart Thermostat Premium is ecobee’s play for households that want one wall-mounted brain for HVAC, indoor air, and a slice of home awareness — doorbell Live View, smoke-alarm listening (where supported), and geofencing to guess when you’re actually home.
It’s ENERGY STAR certified, bundles a SmartSensor in the box, and leans hard on software to trim runtime without turning the house into a sauna. ecobee advertises savings up to 26% on heating and cooling versus holding 72°F — your mileage varies with insulation, tariffs, and how aggressively you let it drift.
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What works
Air quality and maintenance nudges
The built-in air-quality monitor flags rough days, offers practical tips, and pings you when it’s time to swap the furnace filter — useful where HVAC maintenance slips through the cracks.
Hardware that feels “installed,” not gadgety
ecobee touts a larger display, metal siding, and radar-based occupancy sensing — the UI reads more like a small control panel than a plastic puck. Built-in audio means Spotify or podcasts without reaching for a phone — handy in kitchens and mudrooms.
Ecosystem breadth
On paper, compatibility is broad: Siri (with a compatible Apple home hub), Alexa, Google Assistant, HomeKit, and SmartThings. HVAC coverage spans most 24VAC gear — furnaces, conventional AC (2H/2C), heat pumps (2H/2C plus two-stage AUX), boilers, PTACs, and fan-coil units with three fan speeds. The box includes a Power Extender Kit for homes missing a C-wire and a trim kit for clean wall lines.
Specs at a glance
- Model / ASIN
- ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium · B09XXS48P8
- Street price (tested)
- $229.00 USD
- Included sensor
- SmartSensor (ecobee cites a $50 standalone value)
- Audio / assistants
- Built-in speaker; Siri or Alexa selectable — Siri requires an Apple home hub
- HVAC compatibility
- Most 24VAC systems; PEK included for C-wire-less installs
- Notable integrations
- ecobee wired doorbell Live View and two-way talk; smoke alarm detection (feature-dependent)
Pros & cons
Pros
- Strong comfort tuning with SmartSensor to reduce hot/cold rooms
- IAQ alerts and filter reminders tied to real conditions
- Premium fit/finish; radar occupancy is less visually intrusive than some PIR setups
- Wide assistant and HVAC support; PEK included
Cons
- Some marquee security features need subscriptions and extra sensors
- Open-window pause requires SmartSensor for doors/windows plus ecobee Smart Security
- Speaker is convenient, not a hi-fi replacement
- Compatibility still demands a pre-install checklist on older or exotic systems
Feature notes — read before you buy
- Savings claims: ecobee cites up to 26% annual heating/cooling savings with ENERGY STAR certification — treat that as an upper bound, not a guarantee.
- Doorbell tie-in: Pairs with ecobee’s wired Smart Doorbell Camera for Live View and two-way talk from the thermostat screen.
- Install confidence: ecobee says the unit works with ~95% of systems; use the official Compatibility Checker before you unbox wire nuts.
- Air management: On-device IAQ monitoring surfaces poor air episodes and coaching; it won’t replace dedicated remediation if you have chronic PM2.5 or VOC issues.
- Security bundle: If a window stays open ~5 minutes, ecobee can alert and pause conditioning — but SmartSensor on openings and a Smart Security subscription apply.
Bottom line
For homeowners who want thermostat-grade control plus a credible IAQ nudge — and who will actually use sensors and schedules — Premium earns its price. Budget shoppers can get most of the energy story lower in the stack; this model is for buyers who value display quality, audio, and tighter camera/security hooks.