TheInsider Picksteam writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships so we may get a share of the revenue from your purchase.I consider myself a pretty tech-savvy person. It's my job to know about the latest-and-greatest gadgets and tell people about them.But I have to admit something embarrassing.In all my years of constructing and deconstructing computers, running multiple operating systems, and performing all sorts of gadget surgery, I never quite mastered the art of working a thermostat.That's why, in February of 2014 (the coldest one in 21 years), a pipe burst in my childhood home. I thought I had set the heat on in one zone of the house, but I guess it turned off' I'm still not sure, because quite frankly the device was impenetrable to me.That's also why, in February of 2014, I bought a Nest. Then another. Then a third. Replacing all the thermostats in the house with an easy-to-understand solution became a major priority, and wow, did it pay off.Nest is the original smart thermostat, designed in part by Tony Fadell, the inventor of the iPod. It shows, because itworks pretty much like an old-school iPod click wheel. Turn its circular face to the left to decrease the temperature, and turn it to the right to increase the temperature.The current temperature is displayed in big, bold numbers on the Nest's face, so you can check it at a glance. If you change the temperature, the Nest will show the current temperature and desired temperature on a little grid around the parameter of the interface, with the present temperature still prominently displayed.If you're making a big jump, the Nest will tell you how long it'll take (approximately) until you'll reach your desired temperature. That's howI use the Nests in my life, but you can do so much more. You can set Nest to learn about you, at which point it'll keep track ofyour usage patterns and adjust automatically to save energy.If you turn the temperature up in the morning and down at night, for instance, you can get to the point where the Nest takes care of that for you.This might come off as complicated, but it's dead simple to set up and operate. The only annoying part of the setup process is entering your Wi-Fi password. Once set up, you can control your Nest from anywhere in the world (cooling your house on your way home from the airport after a trip, for instance.)The biggest compliment I can give the Nest thermostat is this: When my mom moved into her new condo I said she should pick up a couple to replace the existing thermostats. She already had.Nest Thermostat (3rd Generation), $248.50, available at AmazonThis article was originally published on 10/31/2016.DON'T MISS:I've written about a bunch of great smart-home tech, but these are the gadgets I use every day ' here's whySEE ALSO:How the Amazon Echo won me over and became the center of my smart homeJoin the conversation about this story
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