Shopping for Smart Thermostats

The Superstat thermostat from Honeywell receives pricing signals from the utility — through a meter-mounted wireless transceiver — and turns temperatures up or down in increments set by the homeowner. Available for a monthly fee only through utilities that offer time-of-use pricing.

Wireless thermostats like Carrier's Multi-Stage Programmable ($300) allow you to control temperatures from as many as four different locations, a boon for anyone who wants to ward off the chill of a north-facing room or the heat from a southwestern exposure. Each portable thermostat sends a radio signal to a receiver, which is connected to the heating and cooling system. To prevent thermostat wars between family members, only one person can be in control at a time.

Carrier's sleek "flush-mount" model ($170) projects from the wall just 1/8 inch (the thickness of two pennies). Like many digital thermostats, it allows seven-days-a-week, four-settings-per-day programming. It also can receive signals from an outdoor sensor and display them on its big, easy-to-read back-lit LCD screen.

For large rooms or zones that warm up or cool down unevenly, Honeywell's Perfect Climate Comfort Center ($270-$375) averages readings from sensors (as many as you like) scattered throughout the house, in order to maintain a more comfortable and consistent indoor temperature. This thermostat also monitors humidity, indicates when air filters need to be replaced, and, when hooked up to an optional outside sensor, puts the outdoor temperature on display.