My requirements were less for a programmable thermostat and more for a thermostat for a vacation home which would...

- support a two-stage heat pump environment
- have better accuracy in setting the temperature than the original manual thermostat.
- cover the same wall space as my prior manual thermostat so I didn't have to do some painting.
- have "automatic change-over" from heat to cooling (since this is at a vacation home that I am not at every day.
- be a recognized, reputable brand.

Overall, I was initially pretty disappointed with the unit because it seemed like it wasn't working right. When the temperature called for cooling, it threw the heat on. After debugging what was wrong with a volt meter--measuring exactly what the using was doing--I picked the manual back up and found the problem--configuration settings that affected the operation of thermostat. I felt stupid that I follow the manual precisely, but the manual could have been done better. For example, it has you put the thermostat, connected, on the wall even before you tell the thermostat what kind of system you have.

Net message: Be sure to go through the system settings before you start to debug this. (My specific problem was setting 170 had to be set to 7.)

I was then further annoyed because I had originally purchased the RTH7400, a 5-1-1 programmable thermostat. The less flexible programming on that unit wasn't the problem, but the RTH7400 also did NOT have automatic changeover (i.e. temperature settings for heating and cooling being in force at the same time)...although the manual is written to cover both the RTH7400 and RTH7500 which adds to the confusion about what each supports.

Net message: If you need automatic changeover, get the RTH7500, not the RTH7400.

So I took the RTH7400 back to Lowes and traded up (for $20 more) to the RTH7500. Actually, I bought the RTH7500 before returning the RTH7400 and, fortunately, it used exactly the same mounting/wiring bracket.

Now that I have it working, I've been pretty pleased. The two things I don't care for are:

- My thermostat is not installed at eye-level. I suspect it is installed at about 4' from the floor for handicapped reasons. (This was new construction of a condo building.) As a result, it is a bit difficult to read, and impossible to read if the backlight isn't on.

- Like most digital thermostats, the signals are controlled by relays, and the relays make noticeable clicks.

Recommended: No