Mapawatt has personally tested this product.  It was given to us by Ecobee for our review.  We recommend this product for all users.

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat is an excellent product and is still working great in our long term product test.  The touch screen is a nice feature and the ability to interface with Ecobee Smart Plugs with their Zigbee module really makes this thermostat a home energy manager. 

Compared to the other wifi thermostats on the market, the biggest complaint with the Ecobee Smart Thermostat would be the difficulty of installation.  Almost all of the wifi thermostat manufacturers recommend having a professional HVAC contractor install the thermostat, but some are easier to self install than others.  The Ecobee Smart thermostat has an Equipment Interface unit (EI) that resides between the thermostat and the furnace.  From our original blog post on installing the Ecobee Smart thermostat:

The first installation step was to install the Equipment Interface (EI) unit that resides between the Smart Thermostat (ST) and furnace.  The EI unit is powered by a 12 VDC AC power adapter which is supplied.  You have to have an outlet within 5 feet of the EI because that is how long the power adapter’s cord is (or just use an extension cord).  You will probably want to mount the EI to something as it is not meant to stand by itself.  We just screwed mine through the insulation into the sheet metal on the air return side of the furnace.  It might be nice if in future units the EI is meant to standalone as some homeowners might not like to permanently mount the EI.

The next step is important:  Turn off power to your furnace!

Next, wire up the EI to the furnace.  Chances are your current thermostat is wired directly to the furnace and does not have something like the Equipment Interface in between.  This means that you will probably need some thermostat wire due to the extra piece of equipment!  If I had installed this myself I would have been on the way to the hardware store for the first time to pick up some wire at this point.  I’m not going to cover the actual wiring because a) I didn’t do it – Ed did, b) I would probably tell you to do it wrong, c) the installation manual covers this.  Don’t put the cover to the EI back on after wiring it because you still need to wire the programmable thermostat.