Jordan O'BrienWhile devices like the Nest Learning Thermostat and Hive promise to give users the ultimate control over their heating system, it’s limited in its ability to control individual rooms. That’s where the Elgato Eve Thermo comes in, as it replaces the traditional radiator valve to give heating control one radiator at a time.
The Elgato Eve range already offers a huge selection of smart home products, including indoor, outdoor, window and door sensors and power outlets, but the Thermo is its most unique product to date.
With a retail price of £59.95 the new device can be installed on standard radiator valves, retrofitting the radiator for remote, smartphone control. Best of all, the Thermo is HomeKit-compatible, meaning users will be able to control the temperature of individual radiators using Siri, Apple’s voice assistant.
While thermostats can be slightly tricky to install, that’s not the case for the Thermo. In fact, any novice should be able to get started with Elgato’s latest smart home product – which is really the point. It’s unlikely that users are going to save bundles of money through this product however, as it’s not directly connected to the boiler like a thermostat and instead relies on controlling the temperature of individual radiators.
That’s where the Elgato Eve Thermo really falls down. While users will be able to set-up groups of radiators and set heating schedules, it’s all useless if the heating is turned off. There’s no way to get the Thermo to turn on the heating either – as it cannot communicate with the boiler in anyway, meaning with these products users will either need to leave their heating permanently on, costing them money, or manually operate it.
There are also technology disadvantages to the Elgato Eve Thermo when compared to the likes of the Nest and Hive heating systems. Both of those technologies use Wi-Fi technology which means they can be operated no matter where the user is in the world, unfortunately that’s not the case for the Thermo. Instead it uses Bluetooth 4.0, which is useful in terms of battery life as it’s powered using AA batteries, but means that, unless there’s an Apple TV nearby to pass on the commands, the iOS device used to control the temperature will always need to be in range.
Despite those shortcomings, for those keen on radiator-by-radiator control it could be the ideal solution, if they’re willing to forgive the device’s shortcomings. It also offers HomeKit compatibility, which many of its competitors don’t.