UPDATES SEE ALL BELOW !! (April 2015)
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What did the advertising blew me right, that's exactly what I need as Gadgetfan! My old heating control was anyway already broken and I control my flow temperature (gas boiler) the whole time manually. The price was compared to the original controls that do not have Internet function, really good. However, after initial tests and trials of the system immediately came the disillusionment. It could be so good ...
What is not promised anything, Tado is yes so scary "intelligent" Imagine an on heating and house, recognize whether I am at home or not and regulates very smart against which everything. Too bad, if such grandiose promises are then not kept in practice by both hardware as well as software and you are as a user rather beta testers. Connect the box to Th1 and Th2, here me the support has helped super well in advance by phone and e-mail and given information. This one can complain on no account, the people there give itself real effort and help you where they can. Because the online tutorial was for my conditioning her little useful information and is no longer available as soon as one has even clicked through. The bad PBX from Tado service but has made the contact first be an ordeal, because with my Fritz! Fon and LTE Telephony I can not send touch tones ... "press the one" so help me a little, especially because after a particular time does not automatically been put through, as with other hotlines usual. However, it has finally worked out by mobile phone. Though it involves only a minority, but I can only hope that at this point already reworked in order to achieve the support better.
Tado itself indicates that one should his radiator thermostats open all at least 80%, since now the Tado box controls the room temperature. I can only say: Fatal Error! Were from my 20 degrees desired temperature in practice rather up to 24 degrees in the living room. Very quickly, I have the temperature settings of my thermostats so reactivated to obtain no sauna here. In one week absence with 15 degrees setback it was still over 19 degrees in the booth. I let me now explain how tado works: It closes or simply opens only the bridge between Th1 and Th2 of the heating system, either on or off, that's all. The flow temperature is not controlled tado how - or at least I - might assume, but it is the existing setting put on the heating. So when I put my Therme at 60 degree manually, then heated with Tado to 60 degrees, I set only 40 degrees, in this case only so far and so on. Tado regulates only whether the heating in the manual mode can jump (on), or not. By "intelligent" I would have imagined doing anything else and my radiator thermostats no way I can leave now easily opened because the temperature in the house otherwise does not really fit.
Also one has only a single room thermostat, after then have to address the other rooms. I do not know how it is with other people, but I would have therefore not open all thermostats, because I do not have any room in the house heated equally. 20 degrees in the living room are already desirable, but I have this also in the bedroom? Probably not, so you do here the valves to more. Annoying but then sometimes: Are there 20 degrees in the living room, the bedroom but too cold, I can there, of course, so much turn up the heating as I would like, it will not be warm, Tado since directed only to the living room and the heating system remains off , Note: I am aware that such behavior actually have all controllers that work with a room thermostat, this I chalk so tado not now! I want to have only mentioned it to people who previously used a system with room thermostat. Because this principle is probably more something for people who want to heat all the rooms in the apartment more or less the same, I've been told now.
App and Software: small disasters that are avoidable.
Properly annoys me so far especially the app. I'll start with the worst: The location detection. The fact is practically useless in my case. If you move away from home, Tado is the basis of the distance lowering and recognize when you're back at home to heat again in the Home mode the temperature. Whether with or without GPS or WiFi on the smartphone, it usually does not work properly. While I'm at home, the whole system numerous times between away and home jumps back and forth, the temperature is so constantly lowered and raised again, even though all the time I'm at home unchanged. There are often only a few hundred meters, to which fluctuates the geolocation on my Nexus 5, but here remains tado hard and takes it extremely accurate. Why not by yourself can determine its radius than home users, she will not reveal to me. This would avoid such problems and would be simple to implement. Nor why precise location information for this function requires a system that can provide but only the approximate position. Short explanation: Wi-Fi and GPS are with me both very accurate GPS would therefore not even necessary (and work in confined spaces so often anyway not really!). The recognition by cellular network, however, is naturally rather spongy. Now Android seems time to use one, sometimes the other source to determine the location, even if I set the highest accuracy and GPS. So I think any time is again resorted to a mobile network, I am for Tado away from home. Unfortunately, time and again.
If that's all it would be ... The app complains constantly with status messages in the phone:
- "No Wi-Fi!" (But I have activated the mobile Internet!)
- "No mobile network!" (WLAN is on but!)
- "Flight mode is on!" (So what, WLAN running yet!)
- And so on ...
Basically, the app not only gripe if you have turned around the clock WiFi + mobile network + network coverage, the best yet for the GPS location (work then but still often not, as mentioned). Eventually, one may not see these messages, they are switched off but not too. I turn on my phone at night always in airplane mode, with Tado but I can no longer, the app immediately complained. But not only that: As soon as the mobile phone loses its connection to the box, this is the last stand mode and is immediately completely "dumb". If my night lowering eg to 23.30 clock and I go to bed earlier and turn off my phone, is not reduced but continues further heated as the day. I feel now like a slave of my own heating before ... (Note .: According tado FAQ it turns very well in the sleep mode even when the phone is off. I have herumprobiert so and could not confirm that. Perhaps ran at me something wrong, so I let myself be happy to correct, if this item is not correct!)
Now the box has a manual Home button. This is for example intended if one loses or forgets his cell phone. Well, I thought to myself, I turn up manually in the home mode. Result: In manual mode home the night setback is also ignored and increasingly heated to the same temperature. I wonder what I can set daily schedules, each with a time for getting up and going to bed when they are completely ignored when either is manually set to home or cell phone has no Internet connection. Such plans should really be the appropriate fallback and not "nothing". Yet for clarity: There is also a manual mode without "home", ie an identifiable from me temperature. Here I would understand the behavior and so it would be as logical. However, when it additionally a manual HOME (!) Mode are that signals the system "I'm at home, no matter what my phone says" why he ignored then all schedules? Absolutely incomprehensible.
So I will summarize again: The system does not recognize properly that I am at home and therefore switches ever incorrect. The same when the smartphone is turned off, my schedule is simply ignored. In manual mode, the home sleep mode also does not work anymore. As a student in the fields of IT and usability I have to say, for these "interesting" behaviors of the system have been clearly too often the word "intelligent" used in advertising. Well, the system and the company are still very, very young. If you manage to make such really still serious shortcomings, the whole thing could be a really great thing. And sure it works for many people quite well when cast their geolocation at their site also works well via Android or iOS and they have 24/7 mobile phone running with an internet connection. Actually, I'm almost certain that many users simply rely on Tado work smart and have simply not realized that the heating often does not lower or if it does not then it should. But unfortunately, you can not affect all the end-user and then either just lucky or unlucky with the system. So please her tado guys, let me as a user Just choose my home even arbitrary radius (
My solution so far: As I have now discovered, you can "incorporate this device into the location-aware" in the Appeinstellungen the point just turn off. Then simply tado heated only by schedule, and that's it. That's better than nothing. But one of the features is werbewirksamsten so first off the table.
! IMPORTANT! Some I would like to make it clear: I am not the type of user who connects to a system and here the next day auskotzt if it does not immediately everything work right away. I have now nearly two weeks very intensively with Tado, Android and my heating system, on the latter even screwed around several times, adjusted, optimized and monitored everything, tested and repeatedly sent to customer support. I'm not sure if each customer would have such patience and motivation. So this here is by no means simply bleating, but rather a public feedback and bug reports to the manufacturer, the product still has a very very significant weaknesses in my eyes at the moment - but all solvable would be to make a really great deal about it. I think you will it ultimately be able to measure it, how to deal with this ...
FIRST UPDATE: The Tado Support has my Home radius now magnified times. Well wait times and continue testing. But above mentioned advance, the support is already really good, thumbs up for that. But still should each user the best for himself to set, I think.
(Update Update: Unfortunately there has been little taken ...)
SECOND UPDATE November 2014: Tado has designed the app for Android from scratch. The temperature profile now looks a bit different, and better prepared, otherwise, little has changed. It is said in any case, it has been completely reprogrammed from scratch. What has changed, not really something for me. What I find really bad: The thermostat can hardly operate, it is a horror. It is precisely such a slider / slider, where you can adjust the temperature from left to right with your finger. Lets go of it, she disguises himself in this very moment almost always. It's really annoying extremst how fiddly it is easy to set up only one temperature ... which sometimes takes several attempts. Otherwise, everything was the same, improves nothing, at least not that I would know.
Still and also annoying: The Week in the webapp (temperature variation) ... almost never works. Ladebalken to eternity. Can export the data you do not, too bad, but would have been handy.
Update April 2015: Have increased times to 3 stars. Many annoying service stories have been solved with the latest app update. Support is also always super effort. Unfortunately geolocation problems remain partially yet, but here, too, is doing what. I watch more and then I guess my vote here again.
