Honeywell Home Smart Thermostats: T5, X-Series and Color Touchscreens

Best for
Color touchscreen matched to room decor

The Honeywell Home RTH9585WF Wi-Fi Smart Color Thermostat is a second generation model built around a customizable color touchscreen. You can change the background color to match your paint or your setup’s lighting theme, and control it from the screen, the free app, or a tablet or computer.

It offers 7-day programming with flexible options that can follow your schedule or your utility’s peak pricing, and it is Alexa ready. Smart alerts remind you to change the air filter and humidifier pad, and monthly energy reports help track heating and cooling use. It is Energy Star certified. Compatibility covers forced air (gas, oil or electric), hot water and steam, and heat pumps with electric backup, but not electric baseboard heat. A C-wire is required. The listing’s specification line gives 120 volts, which conflicts with its own warning against line-voltage systems, so rely on the compatibility notes. It has no remote sensor listed, so it reads temperature only where it is mounted.

Best for
Geofencing and broad voice assistant support

The Honeywell Home T5 Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat is the flexible middle option. The Honeywell Home T5 lets you choose between 7-day scheduling and geofencing, which uses your phone’s location to switch between home and away. That suits a gaming schedule that changes week to week, since the system can react when you actually get home instead of following a fixed plan.

It works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit, the broadest platform list among the older models here, and it has a 4.95 inch display. Honeywell says customers who used scheduling heavily saved between 8 and 16% on heating and cooling bills, though actual results vary. It is Energy Star certified, works with air conditioners, furnaces and heat pumps, and needs a C-wire or C-wire power adapter. It works with most heat and cool oil furnace systems, but not heating-only oil systems without a C-wire. No room sensor is listed.

• Geofencing plus 7-day scheduling
• Auto home and away mode
• Alexa, Google Assistant and HomeKit
• Energy Star certified

Best for
At-a-glance indoor and outdoor conditions

The Honeywell Home RTH9600WF Smart Color Thermostat shares the RTH9585WF’s customizable color screen but adds more information to the home screen. You can see indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity at a glance, plus a daily weather forecast, which is handy for deciding whether to crack a window before a long session.

It works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT and other smart home partners, and offers flexible programming. System compatibility matches the RTH9585WF: forced air, hot water and steam, and heat pumps with electric backup, but not electric baseboard. A C-wire is required. The box includes the thermostat, wall plate, screws, anchors, a quick start guide, a thermostat ID card, wire labels and a user guide. The specifications list it as battery powered, which contradicts the C-wire requirement, so plan on a C-wire.

Best for
Simple, affordable Matter-ready upgrade

The Honeywell Home X2S Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat, model RTH2CWF, is the entry point to the X-Series. The Honeywell X2S is Matter certified, so it can be controlled reliably from different smart home platforms, and it also works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Home through the First Alert app.

Scheduling is flexible, with 5-1-1 day, 5-2 day, 7 day or 1 week programming, plus a non-programmable option and auto-away. You can monitor indoor humidity, get filter change reminders, and set a low-heat setpoint as low as 32F, useful for a garage or cabin. It carries a 2-year warranty and replaces the older RTH6580. The trade-off is system support: it handles up to 2 heat and 2 cool conventional systems or 2 heat and 1 cool heat pumps, and the listing describes push button control rather than a touchscreen. A C-wire is required.

• Matter certified
• 5-1-1, 5-2 and 7-day schedules
• Humidity display, filter reminders
• 2-year warranty

Best for
Game rooms needing a dedicated sensor

The Honeywell Home X8S Premium Smart Programmable Wi-Fi Thermostat with Sensor is the best match for this guide’s angle. It includes a wireless room sensor, so you can prioritize the game room during the evening and the bedrooms at night, instead of letting the hallway thermostat decide. Occupancy and presence detection adjust settings when you are home or away.

The Honeywell X8S has a 5 inch customizable touchscreen, humidity and ventilation control for indoor air quality (some features need extra HVAC equipment), and a video doorbell view and intercom that works with two supported doorbell brands named in the listing, sold separately. That means you can check who is at the door without leaving your chair. It is Matter certified, works with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Home, and is Energy Star certified. It supports up to 3 heat and 2 cool heat pumps with electric backup or 2 heat and 2 cool conventional systems, and needs 2.4 or 5 GHz WiFi. A C-wire is required, and the box includes a voucher for a free Honeywell Home C-wire adapter. For more on the platform, see our Honeywell Home smart thermostat guide.

• Wireless room sensor included
• 5 inch customizable touchscreen
• Humidity and ventilation control
• Free C-wire adapter voucher

Best for
Stylish touchscreen without the sensor

The Honeywell Home X7B Smart Wi-Fi Programmable Thermostat sits between the X2S and the X8S. The Honeywell X7B has a sleek 4.3 inch customizable touchscreen, humidity monitoring, and Matter certification, with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Home support through the First Alert app.

It shares the X8S’s system compatibility, dual-band WiFi requirement and free C-wire adapter voucher, and it is Energy Star certified. What it lacks, according to the listing, is the room sensor, the ventilation control and the doorbell view. The listing also does not detail its scheduling options. Choose it if you want a modern touchscreen and Matter support, and your game room does not run much warmer than the room where the thermostat sits. The description mentions it works alongside other smart home products in the same app, and our smart home devices guide covers building out a wider system.