The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.
- It's Amazon Alexa's fourth birthday and Ecobee is celebrating with a one-day $40 discount on its newest smart thermostat.
- The thermostat has a microphone, speaker, and Alexa built in, so you can ask it to adjust the temperature of your home directly instead of through an Echo.
- Because it's a full-blown Echo, it can learn third-party skills and control other smart home accessories in your home.
- The thermostat also comes with a room sensor, so it can take the temperature in two rooms of your home to make sure it's heated or cooled evenly. If you have a big house, you can get more sensors.
It's Alexa's fourth birthday, and Amazon isn't the only company celebrating with great deals.
Today only, you can save $40 on an Ecobee4 Smart Thermostat, which has Alexa built inside and can help reduce your monthly energy bill.
Smart thermostats have gotten pretty popular over the past few years - and I cannot recommend them highly enough - but the Ecobee4 stands out from the competition in two big ways: It has Alexa built into it, and it comes with an external temperature sensor.
Most smart thermostats work with Alexa, which means you can ask an Amazon Echo to communicate with the thermostat to control the temperature in your house. The Ecobee4 has Alexa built inside, which means it's actually a fully blown Echo itself. You can ask the Ecobee4 to adjust the temperature directly, without having to have an Echo in your house; it has a microphone to listen to your questions, and a little speaker to respond so you'll be able to hear whether the it heard you. This feature earned the Ecobee4 a spot in our best smart thermostat's guide.
Because it has Alexa inside, you can also ask it to control other Alexa-enabled devices, or learn third-party skills, so really, you're getting a smart home hub and smart thermostat for the price of one.
The Ecobee4 also works with the Google Assistant and Apple's HomeKit, but you'll need to get a Google Home or use Siri on an Apple device for either to work; they're not built into the thermostat like Alexa is.
Read more: 12 smart home gadgets that practically clean the house for you
One of the shortcomings of installing a smart thermostat is that its sensors can only take the temperature in the room they're in. That's fine if you live in a small place, but is impractical if you live in a multi-floor home. It's annoying for the first floor to be heated or cooled perfectly, while the second floor is too hot or cold.
To fix this, the Ecobee4 comes with a room sensor that you can put in a room that's far away from the thermostat. The sensor will wirelessly send temperature readings to the Ecobee4 to make adjustments so that everybody is comfortable. If your home has more floors, or a room that runs weirdly hot or cold, you can get an additional sensor to keep in that room.
Once it's set up, the Ecobee4 will automatically make adjustments based on whether or not you're home, which Ecobee says can reduce your heating bill by up 23% versus keeping it locked at 72 degrees. That can make a big difference over time.
If you're trying to make your house smarter and more energy efficient, the Ecobee4 is a win-win. I guarantee it'll be easier to understand than a standard digital thermostat, and you may even start saving money this winter instead of worrying about your energy costs.
If you want to take advantage of this deal, it's only going to be around today.
Ecobee4 Smart Thermostat, $209.99 (originally $249.99) [You save $40]
Find the best holiday deals on our Black Friday Deals and Cyber Monday Deals page. Subscribe to our newsletter..
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Picks team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.
Find all the best offers at our Coupons page.