We've had a 7 day programmable Honeywell thermostat in our home for the past 15 years, but when we started to have issues with our home maintaining a constant temperature (and we verified it was not our furnace), we changed out our thermostat.

The Lenox dealer only had two programmable thermostats from which to choose, the Honeywell PRO 4000 and the Honeywell PRO 8000.  The 4000 retailed for only $50 while the 8000 was $200.  The technician explained that the more expensive model was actually very hard to program and we didn't want to spend $200 anyway, so we opted for the PRO 4000. 

This model is slightly smaller than our old Honeywell so had a bit of paint touch up to do on our wall.  Luckily we just had our walls painted this past summer and I had some leftover paint so this wasn't an issue.  (I hadn't even thought about this, but the size of your potential thermostat is definitely something to consider). 

The PRO 4000 is able to be programmed for days Monday through Friday, and then there are separate settings for Saturday and Sunday.  This unit is rectangular in shape, white in color, and has a very clean and uncomplicated look.  It measures 5 1/4" wide by 3 3/4" high and 1" deep.

Features & Settings
 
* Fan switch offers auto or on
* System switch offers cool, off, heat, and emergency heat
* Set/Hold/Run Buttons
* Up and Down arrows to raise or lower heat
* Low battery warning
* Current day and time
* Inside temperature
* Low battery warning
* Temperature setting

Easy To Set

Setting the time and day is easy to do, and there is a handy card that you can stick inside the top of the thermostat for quick guidance.  To do so you press "set", then press the up or down arrow to set your time.  Press "set" again and the up and down arrow to select the day.  Last you press "run" to save and exit.

Setting the schedule is easy as well.  First press the "system" switch to heat or cool.  Press "set" until set schedule is displayed, then press the up or down arrows to set Mon-Fri wake time.  Press set again and the arrows to set wake temperature.  You repeat these steps to set your leave, return, and sleep time periods.  You need to repeat the steps again for the weekend time periods then press "run" to save and exit. 

If for some reason the temperature in your home isn't warm or cool enough you can overide the controls by pressing the up or down arrows until you get the temperature you desire, then press the hold button.  You will need to press the "run" button to cancel any changes and return to your schedule.
 
Performance

Our thermostat is placed in the center of our home (a hallway), and in order to keep our living room at a comfortable temperature I find I need to set the thermostat one or two degrees higher (our living room is slightly cooler than the hallway). 

I always had a hard time programming our old Honeywell thermostat and so did my husband.  I can program this new one without any help and it's very easy to figure out.  The handy cheat card is nice to have for the first few times, but after that it's pretty self explanatory.

The fan can be set to run all the time, and doing so keeps the air flow in the home from becoming stagnant.  However, we have found that this also blows cool air through the vents when the heat has shut off.  We have started to use the "auto" setting so that the fan runs only when the heat is on. 

Here in Alaska we don't have the need for air conditioning, but on hot days we do have the ability to run the "cool" option, which simply blows cool air through all of the vents.  Our old model had this feature and it worked extremely well on hot days.

There are four options for programming: wake, leave, return, and sleep.  It is pre-programmed to use Energy Star settings of 70 degrees during the wake and return periods and 62 degrees during the leave and sleep periods.  When these are maintained the homeowner is supposed to see a reduction of up to 33% in their heating expenses.     

My Thoughts
 
For $50 I am very happy with this thermostat.  I love the fact that we can save energy by turning the heat down during the night time hours when we are asleep, and that the unit will have our home nice and warm at our awake time.   I don't work outside the home, but if I did I could also set the unit to turn down at my "leave" time and back up at my "return" time.
 
Our old Honeywell Thermostat didn't have a low battery warning, and I really like the fact that this one does.  The warning actually flashes two months before the batteries are depleted!  If the batteries are put in place within one minute, the time and day won't have to be reset.  The other settings are permanently stored in the memory and will never have to be reset.  It takes two AA batteries, which are easy to install.

The product comes with a five year warranty, which seems very reasonable, especially these days when high end appliances come with only a one year warranty.

Our old Honeywell was much more expensive than this PRO 4000 model, and I was skeptical when I was told the new model was only $50, but we have been very pleased with its performance.  If we have undesirable results next summer with our "cool" feature, I will be sure to update my review. 

~~Thank you Dawn for adding this for me!~~

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