# Nest Thermostat

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Nest Thermostat and 53 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (5 owners).

**Verdict:** Owners praise its long life and remote control, but critics agree Google's cloud shutdowns and data collection strip features from older models.

## Why people recommend it

- Reliable for years with few problems (2 comments): "still works fine after 10 years and it works with old furnaces" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46088184)) "I have a first generation Nest and haven't had a problem" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45819558))
- Easy to control and automate (3 comments): "It was much easier to have it known when we left the house and it would automatically turn down" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45820840)) "I can fiddle with it from my bed rather than going downstairs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45826163)) "The Nest Gen1/2 UI was pretty slick." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45815784))

## What people warn about

- Features lost when Google shuts services (6 comments): "If it depends on some services that are being sunset then the cost of getting them working again approximates the cost of getting them working in the first place." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50227651)) "Google disabled cloud services, and therefore the app. The remote control features were a key reason many bought these." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45817984)) "they turned our Nest back to shitty thermostats last year by dropping older models from their Google Home service" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48207326))
- Pushes Google account and more data (3 comments): "My Nest works great other than the app trying me to get to change my account to Google" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46388380)) "The termostst should have been dumb the whole time, not an avenue for harvesting our data." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50226928)) "the Nest app is already pissing me off too much by trying to get me to give it more data" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109193))
- Hard to control, limited smart features (3 comments): "those things were bad UX. Those things are really hard to control, and no scheduling, no remote control, no sensors" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50227551)) "No one took this into account, they were more concerned with making the thermostat pretty." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45820615)) "the smart functions are not smart enough and I spend more money than a basic calendar" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50229498))
- Early hardware bugs and failures (2 comments): "Early generation Nest hardware was garbage, and was known for blowing FETs that failed closed, turning people's ACs into giant ice cubes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45816846)) "My gen 3 had a bug where when selecting heat mode from off mode after previously being in cooling mode, it'd pulse the AC briefly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50230730))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Ecobee thermostat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ecobee-thermostat.md): 5 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Google+Nest+Thermostat&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://store.google.com/product/nest_learning_thermostat_4th_gen?hl=en-US)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Nest Thermostat", https://hackerapproved.com/p/nest-thermostat/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).