App Profile: ThinkEco smartAC

vincent stowell

Rating: 1/5

The primary function of this app is to turn your AC on or off remotely. This works about 60% of the time. The setup process is a bit involved, and failed the first few times I tried to use it for unclear reasons. On the fourth attempt it worked, but the system occasionally became disconnected, again for unknown reasons. The app also tracks ‘cool points’ which are supposed to be earned for alleviating the predicted energy demands on Con Ed by turning your AC off during designated hours. The app’s tertiary function is therefore to inform you as to when these hours for earning cool points are scheduled. This opportunity arose only about once per month during the summer, so the potential for earning rewards was almost non-existent. I did manage to earn the minimum single participation necessary to avoid paying $100 for the loaned device because my AC happened to be off during one instance of said incentive. I don’t think the system helped me to save money or energy, nor to alleviate intervals of high stress to the Con Ed grid. It did force me to spend extra time installing the device and repeatedly make sure it was working, and use my phone to turn my ac on/off instead of using its buttons.

MelissaHe

Rating: 5/5

After reading about the problems many others experienced in the other reviews, I was worried that I would experience the same things, but the process of setting up the modlet and remote went smoothly. When connecting my modlet to wifi, I noticed it couldn't see my 5 GHz band wifi (which doesn't really matter, this was just an observation that I thought would be nice to know), but it could connect to my 2.4 GHz band wifi just fine. In any case, I've used both this app and the actual remote to control the wifi, and I've had no problems at all. Sometimes there is the occasional lag in the response to the AC when I'm using the app (like 10 seconds, max), but it goes through eventually. The app itself is easy to use and navigate, but I wish the energy usage graph it displays for each device was more detailed. Since everything seems to be working great, I don't plan on updating this app because the next update could be another flop and there's no need to fix what's not broken. I will update if I have any other problems in the future.

MJustice

Rating: 4/5

I'm assuming eventually they will get all of the glitches out of this app. It took quite a while to set it up. There were a couple of days where it would stop functioning and I got in touch with customer service. Customer support is quite extraordinary for this app and they got in touch with me right away. They reset passwords, they reconfigured whatever it was that needed to be reconfigured, and got back in touch with me to tell me what steps I needed to take. It was worth the trouble. I am out of my apartment all day and we are at the beginning of the summer in New York, when it becomes excruciatingly hot. The fact I can turn on my window air conditioners a half hour before I get home means I arrive to a cool apartment. I'm saving both energy and money. I enjoyed showing off to my friends the other night as we were leaving a Broadway play. I said, "wait a second. I need to turn on my air conditioners." I pulled out my iPhone and within seconds was able to turn on both the air-conditioners in my apartment. My friends were duly impressed.