Drayton miGenie Smart Thermostat (Heating & Hot Water)

I was up and running in ten minutes and it's just great. Can't stop fiddling with the temperature just for the fun of it

I waited a while before writing this review, because on other web sites users reported issues with the Drayton remote server used to service the internet access functionality of this product.I chose this product after looking at Hive, Nest, and Drayton. I wanted a product that operated and looked like a normal thermostat as my wife is very non techy and our parents who sometimes stay with us are likewise. Also i have found Drayton products to be reliable in the past (even if you do pay a bit more up front)Installation was a simple affair apart from having to ring the help line to get assistance with disconnecting an already wired in thermostat, call answered very promptly by a real person who talked me through the removal of the existing wired thermostat. Although i had a modern timer installed the New Drayton unit did not fit on it but it was a simple job to swap over the base plates.Set up was simple as was the installation of the app and the setting up of your account on the Drayton serverI have only had one issue with the Drayton remote server 2 weekends back when i couldn't connect, Drayton did send out an email acknowledging the problem which was quickly fixed.Overall i have no hesitation in giving it 5 stars, it does what it says on the tin, and to date has done it reliably. The use requires no extra knowledge over and above changing the setting on the thermostat, and setting up the timer. The App has a very simple interface which is well designed and works well. My only comment would be that the temp settings are in a very narrow type face which could do with being in bold to help those of us with poor eye sight.(who can never find their glasses when they need them !)

It's OK but I was rather disappointed to discover that the Internet functions are dependent on a Drayton server. When I first installed the unit the server availability was hit and miss for a few days. Presumably there is no guarantee that this server will always be available. I also found the technical support is not readily available. I have attempted to get answers to queries about some of its features on 2 occasions (once via the miGenie website and once via email) but didn't receive a reply on either occasion.

Drayton have now ditched the miGenie 'smart' thermostat for a system called Wiser. This is redundant technology that will have limited support into the future.Although this is easy to use if you're not very savvy, it is severely limited. The app is awful (and frequently servers are down so remote control is impossible), the battery life of the stat is ridiculous (~4-6 months using decent batteries), there is no way to power the stat using 230v, the control unit makes a loud humming noise, the stat will often overshoot and is generally inaccurate.

I bought this to replace a Drayton LP522 controller. Switching the controllers was straight-forward as it's a direct replacement and I connected up the thermostat and the wifi adaptor. All very easy and I was really looking forward to using the system.I installed the app onto a Marshmallow Android phone and although it worked, I wasn't that impressed. It was slow and crashed a few times in the 30 minutes I used it. Switching on and off the boiler using the app worked some of the time but it didn't fill me with confidence.I realised there was a repeatable problem .... I couldn't turn on the heating without first turning on the hot water. Very strange and I tried reinstalling the app and reseating the controller on the backplate but still the boiler didn't turn on unless the hot water was on first. I decided to take a look at the old controller and discovered there's a setting on the back labelled P/G. Further research told me this was for pumped or gravity-fed systems. I know mine is a gravity-fed system and this was confirmed by the switch being set to G. All I had to do was find the equivalent switch on the new controller.The new controller didn't have this switch and I couldn't find a setting in the menus either. I gave up, put the old one back and phoned Drayton the following day and they instantly told me that this controller doesn't work with gravity-fed systems. I checked on their website and I checked on Amazon .... nowhere does it say that it's not suitable for gravity-fed systems. On the phone I asked them to point out a reference where it says it's not suitable for gravity-fed systems and they couldn't which seems to be an oversight. All of their previous controllers had the option to work on gravity-fed systems so the natural assumption is this would too.As there is no fix to make it work, the only thing I could do is return it which Amazon have agreed to do. Very disappointing. Taking away the gravity-fed system issue, I still have concerns over the app. Maybe it's only on Android, and possibly only on Marshmallow, but I found it unituitive, slow and unreliable. Other than that, the controller, thermostat and wifi adaptor all seemed to be the usual Drayton quality and worked as expected.

I chose this one because I wanted a device that would work even if we have guests who want to change the temperature or boost the hot water and are not connected to the app.I can confirm this device satisfied my needs, although the unit makes a high pitch wine constantly that I can hear across the room, doesn't matter as it is in the airing cupboard though.