Honeywell T5 Review: The Best Budget Option
During all this time the Lyric T5 has evolved, offering a more affordable thermostat and many more benefits than its older brother the Lyric T3. It may be pretty basic, but as you can see in this Honeywell T5 review, it has everything you need.
Honeywell Lyric T5 Review
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The Honeywell Lyric T5 works with two of the major voice assistants, Alexa and Siri.
A C-wire is required to install the device, so if you haven’t got one installed, you’ll have to.
The thermostat is 4 x 4 inches and has a 3.6-inch touchscreen, making it easy to read.
It offers a 7-day scheduling program, which can be programmed using the touchscreen display or the mobile app.
Using the app also lets you take advantage of the geofencing for location-based temperature control.
The thermostat will also send you notifications to your phone regarding its overall health.
One of it’s best features is the adaptive recovery, which learns how long it takes for your house to reach a specific temperature.
Finally, the unit is compatible with most single or multi-stage systems, heat pumps, and cooling systems, but it’s still best to check out compatibility.
Key Features
- 7-Day scheduling
- 1-Year warranty
- 3.6" touchscreen display
- Geofencing abilities
- C-wire required
- Dimensions: 4" x 4"
What Other People Say
They brought this thermostat to replace the Nest Gen 2, for no other reason than wanting HomeKit and Siri compatibility. Their favorite feature was using the Siri commands and geofencing. The biggest downside for them was it wasn’t as attractive as the Nest.
Another customer’s lazy side loved this thermostat; they loved being able to change the house’s temperature from different floors. They found it pretty tricky to install the thermostat, but the Honeywell team helped them through it.
Final Verdict
The Honeywell T5 is cheaper than most of the major competitors, but it’s also not as technologically advanced. Which isn’t really a problem depending on what you’re looking for from your thermostat. The app works very well and has a very easy to navigate interface.
The geofencing was also good, but it felt pretty slow (They say it has been solved since the release). Overall the Honeywell Lyric T5 offers excellent heating and cooling abilities. Another nice feature was it’s compatibility with HomeKit and Alexa.
What We Liked
- Lyric Honeywell app
- Easy to schedule
- Easy to install
What We Didn’t Like
- Geofencing delay
Breaking Down The Honeywell Lyric T5
I want to leave you feeling like you know everything there is to know about the Honeywell Lyric. But to do that, I need to give more than a product description.
Which is why I’m going to break the product down to show you precisely what the Lyric T5 thermostat is about. Sound good?
Great keep reading:
Design
The Honeywell lyric has a very different design to some of its Honeywell Round model. In this version, they’ve gone for a 4″ x 4″ square with rounded edges. This allowed Honeywell to install a 3.5-inch monochrome screen., making it easier to read the information.
The Honeywell T5 Wi-Fi thermostat works with most forced air, heat pumps, hot water, and steam heating systems, so there’s no lack of compatibility issues. And to make things a little better, they also support two-stage heating systems.
But here’s the kicker…
It doesn’t support humidifiers or dehumidifiers and lacks several sensors that more expensive models offer. And to make it worse, it doesn’t provide any usage reports.
And it’s not all bad…
… It still works with HomeKit and Alexa, so you have a choice of voice assistant.
Setup
Like most Honeywell devices, the Lyric T5 has focused on being easy to install for anyone. It comes with everything you need to fit the thermostat, including the mounting base, screws, and installation guide.
Here’s a quick guide of how to install the Honeywell T5 to an existing thermostat:
- Remove the old thermostat from the pointing and take a picture of the wiring behind the plate
- Remove the old mounting plate and replace it with the new one
- Use the picture you took from the first step to rewire the T5 Wi-Fi thermostat
- Power up the thermostat and download the app
- Setup the configurations using the Touchscreen or mobile app by following the instructions
- Setup up the Wi-Fi and choose your voice assistant
Once everything is set up, you’re good to go everything should be responding well, and controlling the temperature is made easy.
Features
Although the Honeywell lyric doesn’t have all the fancy features, it’s more expensive competitors offer; it still has enough that I have to break this section down again.
Here are some of their best features:
Scheduling
The Honeywell T5 gives you few scheduling options to help control your home’s temperature that are worth discussing.
The first option is Time-Based Scheduling, which lets you set temperatures for certain times of the day for a seven day period.
You also have the option of location-based scheduling; this allows the thermostat to tap into your phone’s location to determine if you’re home or away. If you leave, it will turn to away mode and shut down the heating and save you money.
When you start heading back home, the thermostat will recognize this and start up the heating or cooling ready for you to get home.
Another option is Smart Scheduling, which combines the two techniques above. It will stick to a schedule unless you go out, where it will turn itself off until you get home.
Smart Notifications
Knowing what’s going on with your heating and cooling system is really important for general maintenance. But unless you have the experience, it’s unlikely you will know what the system needs.
The Honeywell T5 comes with a cool feature called Smart Alerts, and what it does is pretty neat. The thermostat will send you notifications about the system and its maintenance requirements.
It will also send you alerts if it detects any unusual conditions to your homes, such as extreme heat or cold. This feature gives you great peace of mind that your home will be safe while you’re away.
Geofencing Abilities
Geofencing is a pretty nifty feature; it lets the thermostat control your heating or cooling based on your location. The feature works through the mobile app by using your smartphone’s GPS.
When you leave your home, the application will pick up that you’ve left the area. The app then sends a signal to the thermostat to reduce its energy consumption.
Now you don’t have to worry if you’ve left the heating on; the thermostat will automatically adjust the heating for you. Once you’re on your way back, the thermostat will kick in to ensure it reaches the perfect temperature as you arrive home.
If you have multiple people in the house, don’t worry. The thermostat allows you to sync multiple users, so you don’t leave people in the cold.
Climate Controls
Smart thermostats are great at saving money, but this is because of the way they heat or cool your home. But this usually means it takes them a long time to reach the right temperature.
To make the thermostat work for you, the Honeywell Lyric T5 uses a smart response system. This system allows the thermostat to start heating or cooling a little bit before it’s needed.
Not only does this help you save money, but it also makes the thermostat work for you.
Smart Assistants
Smart assistants have become a massive part of people’s daily lives, so it’s great to see them working with intelligent thermostats.
The Honeywell Lyric T5 works with Amazon Alexa and Apple HomeKit, so you get a couple of options. If you want Google home, you’ll need to go with the Lyric T5+ model.
Using the thermostats allows you to turn the temperatures up or down with your voice, or entirely off if you need it.
Compatibility
One of the most significant selling points of the Lyric T5 Wi-Fi thermostat is its compatibility. Their thermostats are compatible with most 24-Volt heating, heat pumps, and air-con systems.
Your system will require a C-wire to install the unit; if you haven’t got one, you’ll need to install it. There is no way to work around it.
Final Verdict
It’s hard to argue the Honeywell Lyric T5 is a great budget option, which comes with some pretty nifty features. The thermostat was missing is Google Home, but other than that, it was all good.
The Wi-Fi thermostat is straightforward to install if you have a C-wire; if you don’t, it might be easier to call out a technician. They can have things up and running in a jiffy without you having to do anything.
One of the Wi-Fi thermostat’s significant benefits is the Homekit ability, it’s not often seen in thermostats, yet it remains a big assistant for people worldwide.
Overall if you are looking for a reliable thermostat, that’s a great price and can save you money; it’s hard to look anywhere else.
If you’re looking for more thermostat options be sure to check out my full review of Honeywell T5 Vs T5+.
