Smart radiator valves are becoming more common and a few years ago I bought Netatmo smart radiator valve, because my existing radiator valves were getting bad.
Something I discovered very quickly was that they shut down very much and often which made me check the setting on my heat pump and could with the help of the history of the radiator valves lower the flow temperature on the heat pump gradually. Which was very positive because then the heat pump does not have to work as hard. Another function to get a good indoor temperature was true temperature, which gives the possibility to adjust the temperature on the valves so everyone shows the same and also check them against another thermostat.
The open window function is also a very good function if you need to ventilate a room, then you do not have to think about turning off the heat in that room. It will so it for you.
The regulation of the indoor temperature was actually very good as long as the eTRVs had free access to the rooms. Having them behind, for example, a sofa works a little worse, which is not so strange. Which comes to the next point that Netatmo does not have a solution for external room sensors for such occasions. A bit of a shame because it should be a “Smart Radiator Valve” and Netatmo actually has extra indoor sensors for its weather station that could have been used for this.
I use both the Homekit app and the Google mini speakers at home, and the synchronization of these worked very painlessly. One thing I thought was bad was when I changed the temperature with one of these (homekit or google mini), was that the thermostat is set in manual mode and manual mode is only activated for a maximum of 12 hours
Which comes down to another downside to these valves. They are completely schedule based where you have to go through the whole week, day by day and set what temperatures you want. Which may be an advantage for some but will be overkill if you just want one setting by default.
One last thing. It is that you can hear the valves when they regulate, which I discovered very quickly in the bedroom. So there I have other thermostats today, but for some this may not bother.
Conclution:
PROS:
- Nice Design
- Works with both android and ios
- Good History overview
- Regulates the temperature well
CONS:
- Has no external sensor
- Rely only on schedules
- Manual mode max 12 h
The Talking Lynx 