Hive Thermostat (2024): one-minute review
Hive is a trusted name in the heating and smart device market, and the Hive Thermostat is its flagship product. The Hive Thermostat has gone through several iterations over the years, starting as the Hive Active Heating before becoming the Hive Active Heating 2, then simply the Hive Thermostat we now know. But this isn’t the same smart thermostat we reviewed back in 2022 – it’s a newer model with some upgrades.
While the design is largely the same, Hive has done away with the physical buttons of the smart thermostat’s predecessor, opting for touchscreen compatibility instead and making for a more sleek and stylish design. But this thermostat doesn’t just look good – it’s got the goods, too.
The newest Hive Thermostat allows you to easily schedule your heating and Boost it on a whim, but signing up for a Hive Plus subscription is the key to unlocking some of the device’s best (and most efficient) features, including bill insights, saving advice, and the ability to ensure you’re not heating your home when you’re not home. It’s an extra cost that’s worth investing in if you want to have more control over your heating bill.
However, like its predecessors, the Hive Thermostat doesn’t come with native zonal/room control. Hive Radiator Valves must be purchased for room control, which cost £59 a pop (the thermostat and its accessories are only available to buy in the UK). Other extras, like the Hive Hub and installation, can also quickly increase its £119 price tag, but if you’re looking for an easy-to-use and convenient thermostat, you can’t go wrong as it’s one of the best smart thermostats on the market.
Hive Thermostat (2024): price and availability
- £119 (hub and professional installation extra)
- Only available in the UK
- Available from Hive online store
The Hive Thermostat is only available in the UK and costs £119, making it £20 more than its £99.99 predecessor. That price can quickly increase, depending on your required extras – though delivery is free. You need a compatible Hive Hub for the Hive Thermostat to work, which costs an extra £70 if you don’t have one, bringing the total to £189. Likewise, if you want to add on a professional installation from British Gas, this will add another £109 to the cost. Adding the Hive Thermostat, Hive Hub, and professional installation increases the total price to £298.
Other optional extras include a stand for £29 if you don’t want to mount the Hive Thermostat on the wall, and a Hive Plus subscription (£3.99 a month / £39.90 a year). Zonal/room control doesn’t come cheap, either. To heat rooms individually, you need to purchase a Hive Radiator Valve – costing £59 each – for each room you want control over.
For this review, I received the Hive Thermostat, Hive Hub, five Hive Radiator Valves, a professional install, and a year’s worth of Hive Plus – which would typically cost an eye-watering £613.
The price of the Hive Thermostat comes in slightly less than the Honeywell Evohome, with similarly priced extras, but the Hive Thermostat offers more sophisticated features. If you’re on a budget, it’s worth considering the Drayton Wiser, especially if you’re after room control. Like the Hive, the Drayton Wiser is only available in the UK.
Hive Thermostat (2024): design
- Easy-to-use digital display
- Small enough to be inconspicuous
- Professional installation optional
Straight out of the box, you get your Hive Thermostat with its four required AA batteries, a Hive receiver that connects to your boiler, and a Hive Hub (if you ordered one) that plugs into a normal electrical socket and your router via an ethernet cable. The Hive Thermostat comes with a 12-month warranty, but signing up to Hive Plus extends this.
The Hive Thermostat is stylish and inconspicuous, with the option to mount it on your wall or, if you bought a stand, set it on a flat surface. Measuring just 95.9mm x 95.9mm x 46.2mm (including the dial), it is considerably smaller than the 10-year-old Hive thermostat it replaced on my wall, and doesn’t look imposing in my hallway. It’s also much prettier than my old thermostat, with its black display, white surround, and silver dial giving it a contemporary look. There are also two discreet buttons on the top – one for the device’s Boost feature, and one for Hot Water Boost (if you have a separate water heater).
While not in use, the display is blank, but press the dial, and the thermostat springs to life, with its touchscreen display showing a red back button, green tick button, and menu button (indicated by three horizontal lines).
The displayed text is easy to read, with large text showing the actual temperature and the target temperature. Just how toasty your desired temperature will make your home is indicated by the color of the text. For example, 21C appears orange (warm), 7C blue (cold), and over 25 red (hot). I found this very helpful, as it gave me a rough indication of just how hot I was making the house – very, apparently.
While you can install the Hive Thermostat yourself, the Hive Thermostat FAQs say, “You need to be competent in electrical wiring and DIY.” If that’s not you, you need to add on a professional installation when placing your order. The professional installation is done by a British Gas engineer, but you don’t need to be with British Gas for this service or to use the Hive.
As mentioned, I already had an old Hive thermostat installed, but the engineer easily removed it and installed the new one, as well as the Hub and receiver. Alongside this, he installed my extra five Hive Radiator Valves, but this isn’t typically part of the service. You need to install the valves (if you buy them) yourself, but it’s fortunately a pretty straightforward process. My engineer also gave me a rundown on how to use the app to control my new thermostat. Overall, the engineer was at my home for two hours, but a typical installation takes about an hour and can be booked online when you order your Hive Thermostat.
Hive Thermostat (2024): performance
- Convenient smart app compatibility
- More efficient heating
- Linking with Siri can be confusing
The Hive Thermostat is a joy to use and there are plenty of features tucked away in this pint-sized heating device.
A click of the menu button brings up options for Heat, Holiday, and Settings. Under Heat, you can manually alter your current temperature, adjust your heating schedule, or simply turn the heating off. Holiday mode allows you to input when you’ll be away for a long period and when you’ll return, so your heating doesn’t come on while you’re away but your home is heated for your return. Thanks to Frost Protection, the thermostat turns on when your home reaches below 7C as default to prevent your pipes from freezing, while parents will be pleased to see the Child Lock function, which prevents little hands from adjusting the temperature.
The aforementioned Boost button on the top of the device allows you to heat your home to a desired temperature for a set period, so you can give your home a controlled heat burst. The other button, for Hot Water Boost, allows you to turn your hot water on for a set period but doesn’t control the temperature – this button is redundant if you have a combi boiler like me, though.
While the Hive Thermostat is fairly straightforward to use, I found controlling the device via the Hive app much easier. Controlling my thermostat’s schedule was much more straightforward; I could quickly use the Boost feature, and I was able to control my heating from anywhere. There’s nothing like the simple pleasure of coming home from a night out and popping the heating on so the house is warm when you get home. You can also set up Quick Actions so you can activate predefined settings at the click of a button, but I found these a bit complicated and they would be better suited to those who own several Hive smart devices.
Even more convenient are the Away Mode and Geolocation features. Away Mode allows you to tell the Thermostat when you’re out so it doesn’t unnecessarily heat your home while you’re away, while Geolocation gives you a notification when you get a certain distance from your home and have left the heating on.
These features are only available with a Hive Plus subscription, however, which I advise getting if you want assistance with saving on your gas bill and advice on using your heating more efficiently. This subscription includes a Saver Mode which predicts your bill and helps you cut it, a Budget Tracker that can alert you when you’re overspending, and a Schedule Assist feature that advises on the most efficient way to schedule your heating. Unfortunately, these three features don’t work if you have Hive Radiator Valves (as I do).
Fortunately, despite the Hub’s ethernet connection, you can still use your Hive Thermostat manually if you lose internet connection, but you won’t be able to control it via the app.
The Hive Thermostat’s performance isn’t completely flawless, though. While the device is compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, Siri, Philips Hue, and Mixergy, I struggled to connect my thermostat with Siri – and the app’s “Ask Hive” assistant did little to help. When I finally connected it, the voice command didn’t work properly. This would be fine if there were clearer instructions on exactly how this compatibility works.
Another pesky issue is the ‘Actual’ temperature reading. You set a temperature cap for the Hive Thermostat, so it should never heat your home above that temperature. However, the Actual temperature is often wrong. It seems the temperature is measured from the area immediately around the thermostat, which isn’t necessarily a true reflection of the temperature in your home.
For example, my thermostat is in our downstairs hallway, near no radiators, so the Actual temperature appears at the time of writing as 14.8C when it’s actually 16C two feet away, so if I cap my heating at 25C, it could potentially reach 26 or 27C in my house before the thermostat registers it at 25. This is fair enough with the thermostat, which obviously can’t track every room in the house, but it’s worth noting it’s not a true reflection of your home’s temperature. This becomes a more apparent issue if you get the required Hive Radiator Valves for zonal control. I regularly found the temperature of a room to be higher than the Actual estimate of the valve. For example, right now, my small office is 16.6C, but the valve says it’s 15.5C. A degree isn’t much, but if you’re setting a temperature cap, it’s worth doing it a degree lower than you actually want and it’s also worth noting if you’re trying to save on your gas bill.
I also found a significant delay (around 15 to 20 minutes) between my radiators being Boosted and when they actually turn on, despite having Heat On Demand enabled, which should kick the thermostat, and therefore boiler, into action. This resulted in me increasing the Boost time to give the thermostat and boiler time to register the Boost.
A smaller issue I had with the device was its use of lithium batteries. No one likes changing batteries, and while it makes for an easier install, it does mean we need to keep a stock at home for when they run out.
Overall, though, these are only minor things, and the Hive Thermostat has made heating my home much more efficient – especially with the addition of the Hive Radiator Halves. With the press of a couple of buttons or the turn of a dial, I can heat my house, while the extra features ensure I don’t use my heating when I don’t need to – which should ultimately help my gas bill in the long run. It’s made me more aware of how and when I heat my home, so instead of being scared to turn on the thermostat (and remember to turn it off), I happily turn it on, knowing I have greater control of both.
Should you buy the Hive Thermostat (2024)?
| Attribute | Notes | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Value | The thermostat itself is quite affordable, but installation and extras can rapidly increase the price. | 4/5 |
| Design | The thermostat is small, sleek, and looks stylish when installed. It’s easy to use too, and a big upgrade from its predecessor. | 4.5/5 |
| Performance | Controlling your heating with the Hive thermostat is a piece of cake, particularly using the mobile app, and the energy use insights are excellent. | 4.5/5 |
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Hive Thermostat (2024): also consider
If you don’t live in the UK, here are two other smart thermostats to consider:
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