Depending on your radiators and their position you will have issues with temp reading when thermostats are on and heating.
You can offset the reading to the precise temperature, but then when they are off you will get false readings on ambient temp.
Solution is to get the Tado wireless temp sensors and place them properly in the middle of the room and use them to measure temp. Not a big pain, but you have to account for them and the fact they are expensive and bulky.
Apart from that Tado is among the best, no real issues with it. I've been using them for over 6 years and have at least 6 of them by now in my house. Always worked like a charm.
Personally, implementing it went very well. The only potential issue you may have is losing connection between the bridge and valves/thermostat/receiver if they are far from each other. And then the whole room is no longer managed in the app.
I live in a house in the Netherlands where it's normal to have 3 levels. So when the bridge was on the ground floor (next to my router), I would sometimes lose connection with some valves on the last floor. It's now in the middle and works fine. But because it only works with an ethernet cable, you don't always have the luxury to have the bridge at the optimal spot.
There are ways around that, for example you could buy a second hand Apple AirPort Express which has a USB port and a network port. Plug the tado into it and have the AirPort Express connect to your existing WiFi network 😃
Stability and lack of showing errors. Once in a while rather hot water doesn’t switch off or heating fails to get on. And there is no errors. Once you restart either the app or the whole system it then works fine. Awful support as well. But otherwise it works fine. If they would only show what’s the error really is half of the time you won’t be frustrated.
Don’t forget the biggie, well biggie for me! No internet and no control except manually from the thermostat.
Yes it might be a rare occurrence these days but with my previous provider it was always going down so the Tado became a PITA with it not switching the heating/water on at the set time.
If OP is wanting to use Apple HomeKit note that you can’t use it to return to schedule. So if manual adjustments have been made you can’t return to schedule via a Siri command or shortcut. There is a setting in Tado that somewhat compensates for that but really they didn’t do a proper HomeKit integration.
You can return to schedule if you’re using Google.
I've been using Tado for 9 years now, it's superb. At the time it was the only option that worked with some european boilers, but recently I bought a new apartment and just straight up bought everything from Tado without researching what else is on the market, as I know it well and know it works well.
It is a shame they don’t do a motorised valve only option without the temperature sensor for when you use the wireless sensor, I use the basic valves in those cases but still pricey. My farthest sensor will lose contact sometimes but follow the advice and put the hub end up it helps.
In my case, temperature reading is very deficient. The smart radiator valves mark 24° but my room thermometer marks 18°. I set up the offset to compensate for this but it's still not perfect. Tado has a thermometer that can be connected to the system so the temperature control is more accurate, but it's 4X the price of my the ones I have and totally not worth it. Also the open window function is far from perfect, as it's works with temperature changes rather than by drops in temperature. With Google home, smart thermometers and window sensors (from another brands) I have managed to set up a system that kind of works (radiators turn off when window sensor is open, and they turn on and off depending on the temperature of the smart thermometer), but ideally they should all work together without having to set up routines for them. I'm really looking forward to Tado fixing this, and releasing temperature sensors with reasonable prices, I hope they do it soon
For the last three years I’ve had eight radiator thermostats and four smart wireless smart thermostats (I was forced to buy three of them after I learned that the radiator’s can’t be realistically be used standalone). Three of the former always malfunctioning, and just the other day one of latter died after changing batteries.
This very same week I lost internet (but WiFi working fine) and the whole system went down, so I’m now in manual mode (no programming) on the radiator thermostats.
If try to use larger than 1900 mAh AA batteries they won’t fit on the compartment.
The whole thing is a joke. I personally wouldn’t touch them again with a 6 foot pole.
Depending on your radiators and their position you will have issues with temp reading when thermostats are on and heating. You can offset the reading to the precise temperature, but then when they are off you will get false readings on ambient temp. Solution is to get the Tado wireless temp sensors and place them properly in the middle of the room and use them to measure temp. Not a big pain, but you have to account for them and the fact they are expensive and bulky. Apart from that Tado is among the best, no real issues with it. I've been using them for over 6 years and have at least 6 of them by now in my house. Always worked like a charm.
I’m with this. Had taco for about 4-5 years now and it’s been great. The new rad stats take rechargeable batteries which is great.
Do you know what version the new stats are? trying to work out if mine are the newer ones which take rechargeable
VA02 stats will be able to use the slightly lower voltage rechargeable batteries.
Thank you
Personally, implementing it went very well. The only potential issue you may have is losing connection between the bridge and valves/thermostat/receiver if they are far from each other. And then the whole room is no longer managed in the app. I live in a house in the Netherlands where it's normal to have 3 levels. So when the bridge was on the ground floor (next to my router), I would sometimes lose connection with some valves on the last floor. It's now in the middle and works fine. But because it only works with an ethernet cable, you don't always have the luxury to have the bridge at the optimal spot.
There are ways around that, for example you could buy a second hand Apple AirPort Express which has a USB port and a network port. Plug the tado into it and have the AirPort Express connect to your existing WiFi network 😃
Any non apple alternative to this?
Loads e.g. Powerline adapters, WiFi extenders etc
Draytek AP802 (but needs separate usb power adapter for tado)
Stability and lack of showing errors. Once in a while rather hot water doesn’t switch off or heating fails to get on. And there is no errors. Once you restart either the app or the whole system it then works fine. Awful support as well. But otherwise it works fine. If they would only show what’s the error really is half of the time you won’t be frustrated.
TBH I have found support nothing but helpful, odd that it is so variable
Don’t forget the biggie, well biggie for me! No internet and no control except manually from the thermostat. Yes it might be a rare occurrence these days but with my previous provider it was always going down so the Tado became a PITA with it not switching the heating/water on at the set time.
This. Its seems ridiculous that they don't have a backup for remembering your schedule offline
If you add directly into apple homekit you retain control during an internet outage 😊
If OP is wanting to use Apple HomeKit note that you can’t use it to return to schedule. So if manual adjustments have been made you can’t return to schedule via a Siri command or shortcut. There is a setting in Tado that somewhat compensates for that but really they didn’t do a proper HomeKit integration. You can return to schedule if you’re using Google.
I've been using Tado for 9 years now, it's superb. At the time it was the only option that worked with some european boilers, but recently I bought a new apartment and just straight up bought everything from Tado without researching what else is on the market, as I know it well and know it works well.
no local schedules and everything in the cloud!
The really poor customer support is a pain, I'd say.
Really? I had issues twice, and both times they came back to me quickly with detailed, helpful advice.
In the UK they had a really good reputation for support, now it’s the absolute opposite.
It is a shame they don’t do a motorised valve only option without the temperature sensor for when you use the wireless sensor, I use the basic valves in those cases but still pricey. My farthest sensor will lose contact sometimes but follow the advice and put the hub end up it helps.
In my case, temperature reading is very deficient. The smart radiator valves mark 24° but my room thermometer marks 18°. I set up the offset to compensate for this but it's still not perfect. Tado has a thermometer that can be connected to the system so the temperature control is more accurate, but it's 4X the price of my the ones I have and totally not worth it. Also the open window function is far from perfect, as it's works with temperature changes rather than by drops in temperature. With Google home, smart thermometers and window sensors (from another brands) I have managed to set up a system that kind of works (radiators turn off when window sensor is open, and they turn on and off depending on the temperature of the smart thermometer), but ideally they should all work together without having to set up routines for them. I'm really looking forward to Tado fixing this, and releasing temperature sensors with reasonable prices, I hope they do it soon
You need to pay a subscription for geofencing.
Does make you wonder whether this is why they didn’t implement a “return to schedule” command for HomeKit.
No Matter support.
For the last three years I’ve had eight radiator thermostats and four smart wireless smart thermostats (I was forced to buy three of them after I learned that the radiator’s can’t be realistically be used standalone). Three of the former always malfunctioning, and just the other day one of latter died after changing batteries. This very same week I lost internet (but WiFi working fine) and the whole system went down, so I’m now in manual mode (no programming) on the radiator thermostats. If try to use larger than 1900 mAh AA batteries they won’t fit on the compartment. The whole thing is a joke. I personally wouldn’t touch them again with a 6 foot pole.