bit-tech Shopping: Hunter Fan Company 44360 7-Day Energy Star Programmable Thermostat

Rating: 8

Time with product: 7

Strengths: easy to install, easy to program, good design

Weaknesses: need more screws to fit tight to the wall

Summary: Nice thermostat with good shape. Looks like a new living room with this thermostat. It just takes 30 min to install. Detailed manual. Nice idea about the tags for the wires preventing confusion.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 2 Days

Strengths: Lots of features

Weaknesses: None

Summary: I'm one of those people that will research a product's reviews, specs, features and ratings for months before I buy anything. I researched throughout the internet for a thermostat that would fit my needs for every possible scenario. Of course my first requirement was an Energy Star compliant thermostat. You can program every single day of the week with or just a block for the week or weekends. It also comes with a preloaded program that will fit the average family, which can be changed to meet your needs.Because of the blue light that comes on when you press any button, I can finally change the temperature setting in the middle of the night without having to turn on the hallway light and waking everyone up in their rooms. The filter reminder was a plus since I always forget when the last time I changed the filter. The filter reminder will alert you whenever your new filter has been used (when the A/C is actually running) for more than 400 hours, which is more accurate than just changing it every 30 days. Also, I installed it myself in less than 30 minutes with the easy to understand instructions, and I'm not an electrician. It has settings for integration with any type of cooling or heat source, which makes it adaptable to most systems, if not all. Also, it has soft touch buttons that will last a long time, unlike the hard button system I had previously. Overall, I think this is a great product compared to many others that were a lot more expensive.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 10 Days

Strengths: Easy to program. Lots of features like how many hours unit ran for the day, week, month etc. Easy override function. Excellent display. Right size to hide previous thermostat place.

Weaknesses: Wiring instruction is fine but color of wires removed from old thermostat may not match. Look marking on tab of old thermostat and mark wire one at a time as you remove from old thermostat.

Summary: Hunter Model 44360 sells on internet for $35 and at Lowes for $49. Lowes customer service matched the price - 10%.Allow yourself an hour to replace old thermostat with this new one. Wiring is easy Red to Red, Green to Green, White to White and Blue (Confusing) goes to remaining 4th tab for 4 wire connection per diagram. I used this strategy and new unit is working fine. Please turn of main power switch to A/C from fuse box. Turning off main power to A/C unit does not turn of fan. Highly recommended to turn of fan switch at furnace. I like the location of the battery, no more cover to remove. Top flip has instruction for future use. Keep instruction booklet handy until you familiarize with the unit. If you like basic programming like TV or VCR, you should have no issue programming this unit. If you don't like programming, ask for help from friend or school kid who will love to help you.Except for wiring color mismatch, this may not be Hunter's fault, home contractor may not have used right wires to start with and contactor had only 2" wire coming out from the wall including stripped copper.For $35, you can't go wrong. I was under impression that only Honeywell makes programmable thermostat but I was surprised to see programmable thermostat from Hunter. Most of the Honeywell programmable thermostat was small and equivalent in price at Lowes but I like to explore products from new company and I am glad I did.