Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen 7-Day Programmable Thermostat

Technical Details

- Seven-day programmable function provides convenient and precise temperature control
- Detailed and clear instructions included for easy installation
- Extra-large backlit touchscreen for increased visibility and ease of use
- Equipped with filter change reminder and low battery indicator
- Compatible with heating, cooling, and heat-pump systems

Honeywell makes a very large line of programmable electronic thermostats. At first glance, this particular thermostat has nothing to distinguish it from any other programmable tstat from your local hardware store. (7-day programming, +/- 1 degree accuracy, etc.) However, this thermostat has some functions that make it quite a bit better. I've had RiteTemp's and Lux tstats, and this one is much better.

Most electronic thermostats kick on the system when you are one degree under, and then run it until you are one degree over. This (and all Honeywell electronic tstats) instead target a certain number of cycles per hour (based on system type), and try and hold the temperature as constant as possible. Since I installed this a few days ago, it has not budged off of the setpoint.

Another cool feature is the recovery feature. Basically, it measures how quickly your house is losing heat (or warming up, in the summer), and kicks on the system at the correct time so it is at your setpoint right at the time you program. This eliminates guessing how long it will take your house to heat so it will be toasty when you get home at 6PM. Instead, you just set the tstat for 6PM and let it figure out the rest.

The install guide is clear and presented me with no problems. Admittedly, I don't have a complicated system (1-stage heat/cool.) It tells you how to properly wire it, and is fairly straightforward on when you need to call for help. Most folks shouldn't have any problems.

IMPORTANT: Use the included wire stickers! Some installers do not attach, say, the white wire to the "W" terminal. Depending on whim, they can completely attach the wires at random. Bad things happen if you plug the wrong wire onto the wrong terminal. If a wire was on the "W" terminal before, it needs to go on the new W terminal, even if it is bright yellow.

I didn't have any trouble at all programming this one... in a few easy steps:
1) Hit the "Schedule" button.
2) Use the arrow keys and the "select" button to select which day(s) you want to program. Hit "Next Step".
3) Use the arrow keys and "Next Step" to go through the setpoints and times.
4) Hit "Done" when finished.

If you need to set any advanced options (like changing to a two-stage furnace or A/C, setting heat pump options, etc.): Hit "System", then hold down "Fan" for five seconds. Use the table in the manual and "Next Step" to pull up the option you need to change and use the arrow keys to change it. I set up the Filter Change Reminder that way. The fact you have to refer to the manual isn't that bad since they are options you won't have to change more than once.

I had a new Bryant small packaged system installed and decided to replace my older White-Rogers digital thermostat with Honeywell RTH7600.

Three days after the installation the thermostat is working fine. The numbers are large and clear, the programming was easy and intuitive. It is quite a bit smaller than the old White-Rogers and looks more elegant. I like that the thermostat can be taken off the wall and programmed while you sit in a chair.

I noticed a few issues, but nothing to prevent me from recommending this thermostat. These are the issues that I wanted to mention:

1. There is no back light button. For the back light to turn on, you have to touch one of the buttons on the screen. Once you do that, it activates the appropriate function (lowers temp setting, goes into fan functions, etc.) Then, you have to cancel that operation if that is not what you want. Therefore, just a simple checking of the temperature setting in the dark involves a bunch of button presses.

2. Advanced programming relies on codes. I needed to use the advance programming to set a reminder for filter replacement. The advanced functions use codes like 0120, 0170, 0300, etc. instead of words. Then, you have to select an appropriate switch for each function, e.g. "0" off, "1" 1 month filter reminder, "2" 3 months filter reminder, etc. I would prefer English words on screen rather than codes. However, codes are very clearly explained in the installation manual, so you better hold on to it if you need to use advance settings in the future.

UPDATE: It's been a year and a half since the installation and the thermostat is working fine. I decided not to do any advance settings for auto switch between the heater and A/C. It is still on it's first set of rechargeable LSD AA batteries (Sony CycleEnergy AAs). I am satisfied with this thermostat and, other than the lack of a backlight button, I do not have any concerns.

I had bought this for use on my Carrier Heat Pump with Auxiliary heat. I had a hard time figuring out if it was compatible with this configuration but this is the unit you would want. It was only a couple of bucks more for the touchscreen so I went for it.

Amazon shipped it out to me from a warehouse that is only about 20 miles from my home in Indy and for some reason it took 10 days from the time of shipping! That was a disappointment but once I got it here it was easy to install and setup even for my complicated setup. I read some reviews that complained about the back light feature not being easy to turn on and I do agree with that problem which is the only reason for the 4-stars instead of 5. To get the back light to turn on, you have to hit a button on the screen which ends up changing something that you may not have wanted to change or gone to a menu that you did not want. What they need to do is design a button on the top of the unit (outside of the touchscreen) that you could easily find in the dark which will light up the screen.

Once installed, setting the unit up and programming the features as well as setting up the schedule and temperatures was a piece of cake. I'm not sure why others had problems I thought it was easy (although I am an engineer!). Also, I read a review that mentioned a loud "clicking" noise the unit makes when kicking on and off. I disagree with this as the standard Carrier thermostat that came with my furnace was noticeably louder than this Honeywell unit so I am pleased with that.

I would recommend this unit to anyone but just don't expect the back light feature to be useful as I still have to turn on the hall light to see what I'm doing so the feature is pretty much useless. Its easy to install, easy to operate, and should end up saving me a lot of money on my electric bill!

About a year earlier, I purchased and installed a Lux TX9000TS Touchscreen 7-Day Programmable Thermostat. It's a good thermostat and has many similar features. My house has two zones with central heat and air conditioning, and I felt that the Honeywell was better suited to my second zone. While both are good thermostats, there are some notable differences.

Both thermostats are described in detail by their respective manufacturers, and both offer flexibility with the ability to program four temperature settings for each day of the week. Both have touch screen displays that can show comprehensive information and allow you to change settings with relative degrees of ease. Both fall short in some areas, and both exceed the other in some ways.

An important feature for any thermostat is ease of use, the ability for a user to change the temperature without reading a user manual, and the ability to program the thermostat without a confusing array of steps. Traditional thermostats have a single knob or lever that allows a user to point a line or arrow to a specific temperature. Ironically, both of these thermostats have situations where even raising or lowering the temperature by a few degrees can be a show stopper for an untrained user.

The Lux model has a clean and concise user interface. It has a pleasant looking blue LCD touch screen with larger numbers and less crowding. It has a separate button for back lighting. It displays the current temperature, and touching the temperature lets you see the set point and up and down arrows to override it. The problem with that is that despite its elegant appearance, not seeing the set temperature leaves untrained users at a loss. When I was out of town, another resident of the home had a party and nobody there could figure out how to start the air conditioning. The temperature had been left on hold. Since the button for the light is not on the touch screen itself, it's easy to miss by somebody searching the screen for it.

By contrast, the Honeywell has a busier screen with more information. It displays both the room temperature and the set temperature. The up and down arrows are always visible. Touching the screen once lights up the unit. The down side to the latter feature is that the first press of any button will not perform its function until the unit lights up. That's potentially confusing, but not a show stopper. The feature on the Lux is preferable for somebody who knows how to use it, but the Honeywell is better for typical users.

One of the reasons I bought this unit is that it works with heat and air conditioning and does not need to be switched from one to the other. As the seasons cool down, the local temperature drops down to the mid to low 50s, Fahrenheit. But I still get days when the afternoon sun will raise the temperature of some rooms to over 80 degrees. If the air conditioner is needed in the evening, the room is comfortable on its own at bed time, and the heat is needed in the morning, the Honeywell seems to make the most sense. The catch, however, it the notion of the set temperature. If you want AC to go on when the temperature is above 80 and you want heat to go on when the temperature is above 66, the thermostat can handle it fine. If the temperature is outside of that range, it's clear which set point is relevant.

But if the temperature is within that range, there are two concurrent set points, but only one is shown. Given the temperatures mentioned, after the AC cools the room to under 80 degrees, 80 will show as the set point. If the room heats up, the AC will go back on at that point. If you want the room cooler, you can override the temperature with the down arrow. If the temperature drops to 65 degrees, the displayed set point will be 66 degrees and the heat will go on. All that is sensible, but what if the temperature drops to 67 degrees overnight and you want to override it to 70 degrees? The up and down arrows become useless. Of course the temperature can be changed, but just as with the other thermostat, a situation is created where somebody not familiar with the thermostat will be unable to change the temperature. If you had set it to go up to 70 degrees when you woke up, but got out of bed an hour early, finding yourself unable to perform a simple task could be frustrating. If I could suggest one change to Honeywell, it would be to be able to touch the set point temperature when the HVAC is not running, to toggle it between displaying the heat and cool set point temperatures.

Both thermostats work well and are easy to use if you read the manual. Many one-time settings for the Honeywell require cycling through cryptic code numbers and setting a value for each of them, making things easy with a manual but impossible without one. On the Honeywell, setting the year, month and date will allow the unit to know the day of the week. But the date is never displayed on the screen in general use, which raises the question of why you are not simply asked to specify the current weekday at setup time. Knowing the date allow the thermostat to keep track of daylight saving time, so it's ultimately for a purpose. But having a simple way of displaying (and changing) the date would have made sense. Setting things on the Lux is generally easier overall, but on a day to day basis, the goal is to rarely need any user interaction.

Both thermostats keep track of filter usage, but the Lux keeps track of the number of hours that the system was in use. It also give the user more information about recent energy usage in general. The Honeywell keeps track of the number of days of use between filter changes. If you have days with little or no usage as well as days with heavy usage, keeping track of hours of use makes much more sense. Seeing a message saying "Filter usage count 86 hours" is less ambiguous than one saying "filter 39 days."

From a functional standpoint, both thermostats work well. If you've read the manuals, chances are that you will do well with either. The Honeywell has a more nicely presented professional looking manual, but it also needs one more than the Lux. Both have annoying quirks, and both have strengths over the other. In an environment with seasonal changes and big temperature swings, having a thermostat like the Honeywell can be an advantage. It has Smart Response technology to keep track of how long it takes to get the room to the set temperature so it can get there at the set time, rather than merely going on at the set time and taking however long it takes. That could be an advantage depending on how long your system takes to heat or cool, and depending on temperature range settings.

Either one of these thermostats could work quite well, but the Honeywell is theoretically closer to the ultimate goal of "set it and forget it."

I have a heat pump system whose thermostat was original (early 80s). I changed out the old thermostat for this one in about 10 minutes. The little labels this one comes with are awesome. And the "alternative wiring" chart is really helpful since some of the wire names have changed but their function hasn't. The only thing that was a SLIGHT problem was my fault, not the products (in the advanced menu where you setup the heatpump type, I input a wrong setting. I realized it the same day and fixed what I had done) Everything works flawlessly and my system seems to be running less yet keeping the house comfortable.

I bought this thermostat mostly for its modern appearance, as a replacement for my dated looking programmable thermostat. I also hoped that it would be able to regulate the temperature better than the old one, which struggled to keep the temperature correct on the schedule I programmed.

I'm not technically inclined, but installation was a breeze. The hardest part was separating the thermostat from its backplate, which there is no obvious way to do other than just pulling and hoping nothing breaks. That seemed to be the correct approach though, for both my old and new thermostats!

There is a helpful quick installation guide, which walks through the wiring in a very clear and simple way, from the point that I removed the wires from the old thermostat to when I placed them in the new. The whole installation took less than 15 minutes, including drilling one new hole in the drywall.

The width of the new thermostat is less than that of the old, resulting in some exposed wall painted in the previous color that the wall had. I will have to touch up some time soon.

Programming the thermostat was a little more challenging. It is not that it is hard, just not intuitive enough to do without reading over the manual. Once I got the hang of it, it took a few minutes to actually program. I was able to choose groups of days of the week, and specify typical settings for them. I have a schedule for Mon-Fri, and for Sat-Sun.

It is worth mentioning that there are default programming settings, based on Energy Star recommendations. I'm sure the summer settings would save energy, but they would not make for the house being very livable for us, as we prefer a summer temperature in the 70s, not 80s. I'll try the heating settings come winter, as they may be more realistic.

Once installed and working, the thermostat has a feature that ensures it reaches the right temperatures *at* the times I specified. It got it wrong the first day (it was a little warm when we came home), but by the second day it had adjusted itself to the conditions of our house, and now the temperature is very reliable, and very constant (does not swing at all). The thermostat does an EXCELLENT job of regulating temperature.

I figured I couldn't go wrong buying this top-end product, especially with all the good reviews. I bought two because my house has two independent heating/cooling systems. I have a major and a minor quality complaint.

The major complaint is that the touchpad of one of the two units is defective. All needed areas worked except the low middle button area. This button is crucial because you use it often in creating the heating/cooling schedule. So one unit works fine and the other needs replacement.

My minor complaint is that the main body of the unit doesn't mount securely to the wallplate, so that when you depress the right side of the touchscreen (the up and down keys), the unit physically moves (i.e., pushes in toward the wall). This gives the unit a cheap feel.

Great purchase at a reduced price. I previously priced this product at over $119 retail price, and then at $100 after receiving a HVAC Technician's discount before finding it on Amazon for $85.

A programmable thermostat is great for homes when it is necessary for your A/C system to run while you're not home or asleep. Personally I have a pet, so I need for my home to remain cool while I'm at work or else I would just turn the system off until I come home. This product is great because I can set the temperature at a reasonable level without it constantly running, skyrocketing my electric bill, and having the house nice and cool right before I return home from work. The touch screen is a nice "touch", which lights up appropriately, even in the dark. The programming features allow you to set the temperature for several hours of the day and even raise or lower the temperature when you sleep, for everyday of the week.

Installation is not difficult, although it is very important to note and document the location of all wires on your old t-stat before removing them, so you can place them correspondingly on the new one. It is also important to know what type of system you have (heat pump, "straight cool", gas furnace, 1 stage, 2 stage...etc.) so you can program the t-stat to work with your system. Even as a HVAC Technician, I forgot to program the Honeywell to work with my heat pump system, so if you decide to do it yourself, remember that little piece of advice to save you some confusion as to why your system is running in heat instead of air conditioning.

If you are on the fence, I would encourage you to give it a try!

NOTE: If you decide installing the thermostat is too difficult for you, I would suggest NOT calling a A/C company unless you want to pay an exaggerated price because you did not buy it from them. For this type of thermostat companies may charge up to $400 or more for purchase and installation. Try talking to an individual A/C Technician that you feel comfortable with and explaining your problem and see if he or she would be interested in installing it on their own time, since it only takes about fifteen minutes to install. You would definitely come out spending less money working with an individual technician opposed to the A/C company itself should you require the assistance.

My house only have a one-stage furnace, so installing it was as easy as swapping two wires. (If your setup is complicated, and you're not confident about installing it, by all means get someone to do it for you.)

I haven't had a programmable thermostat since my Honeywell Chronotherm III gave up the ghost a decade ago; it was one of the first with Smart Response Technology. Basically, it learns how far in advance it needs to kick the heat on to bring it to your desired temperature at the time you select. That's a nice feature and makes this unit worth the extra cost.

I'm also unforgiving about the ease-of-use aspect; if I need to crack the user manual to make an electronic device go, that's a design flaw. No worries on that score - I had it going straightaway. (The manual is useful for learning about its various features, of course.)

The touchscreen is crisp and responsive. I agree with other reviewers that the backlight needs to be activated by a touch anywhere on the screen, and not just on a button. (Doing so requires you to undo whatever your touch did.) Still, there really isn't much need to play with it once you've got it programmed.

On the whole it's a good unit. Honeywell's been in this business for a long time.

I am very pleased with this thermostat. It was a good price for the options included. I ordered this for the office at work. We needed an area to remain the same temperature 24 hours a day but did not want to invest in an expensive climate control system. This thermostat's auto changeover function allows you to program it so that it switches automatically from heat to cool without having to manually flip a switch. This feature is not visible when you first look at the thermostat settings, but you can enter a program code to activate the feature. The thermostat has worked great so far for climate control. You must have at least a 3 degree split between the high and low temperatures, but the thermostat stays on top of it and always keeps the temperature within a degree of the desired temperature--which is perfect!

I agree with other reviews that it's weird that they use different numbers to indicate different program settings instead of having each setting named accordingly. This means that you MUST have the programming booklet to be able to do any advanced programming. The instructions are fairly easy to follow--just take it step by step.

Overall, I'm very happy with this product. It's a good value with lots of options.