By now you've probably seen the new NEST E in your local big box store and the first thing you've said you yourself is "why is it cheaper; what am I missing out on?"

I decided to write this article because all of the articles I've found through searches don't seem to nail it on the head to fully describe the differences.  At our company (EnergyESC.com) we are NEST Pros and even after talking to NEST when they first came out, we didn't truly understand the differences until after we purchased it and installed our first one.

So, without further ado, here are the areas it differs and below I will try to explain in more detail the differences:

• Lower Cost ($169 vs. $249 - a $70 difference)
• Farsight (The NEST E still sees you coming we haven't really seen a performance difference here)
• Less display options (This may be what they mean when they say it doesn't have "Farsight", the E only displays the thermostat info, no weather or time, etc.)
• Fewer wire terminals (6 vs. 10)
• Lower resolution Display (Display has a frosted look when not displaying an image)
• General Fit and Finish

 So how to choose: 

1) Do you have a complex heating/cooling system (more than 2 stage heating plus cooling, or 3 stage heating?)? If you don't know ask a Pro to check it out

2) Do you want the Farsight features that the "E" doesn't have (e.g. Changeable display when you walk up towards your thermostat)?

3) Do you want the high end look of the traditional nest or is the traditional thermostat look all you need?  For many a thermostat is just a thermostat (in fact some times the fancier look of the traditional NEST looks out of place).

As always please feel free to give us a call at (860) 946- 4372, or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , and we'll try and help you out if you have any further questions.  

EnergyESC Home Services Team