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Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat RTH9580WF Review

Our Honeywell WiFi Smart Thermostat rating:
(4/5)

9/2017 update: It’s still going strong! If you want a no-nonsense smart thermostat from the company known for thermostats, this touch-screen Honeywell is still a good choice. They’ve added support for Alexa (via Alexa-enabled devices, like the Echo) and this model still shows up in best-seller lists.

2/2015 update: We thought Honeywell would give this model the boot after Honeywell released its sexy-but-kinda-dumb Lyric (read our review of the Lyric), but this old thermostat’s got more fight left in it than we thought.  Here we are, months after the Lyric’s launch, and not only is the Honeywell WiFi Smart Thermostat still for sale, it has garnered hundreds of positive Amazon.com reviews. Whereas most new smart thermostats went for a futuristic design, this one’s just a durable workhorse with an easy to use touch screen and a familiar design.

Check the current stock and price on Amazon.com

PROS:

  • Full-featured touch screen with intuitive interface
  • Email alerts feature
  • Learns your system and starts heating/cooling in advance of your scheduled time accordingly
  • Control over your house fan independently of programming (you can run the fan on its own)

CONS:

  • Ease of installation varies by system
  • No data reports
  • Model is nearly 5 years old as of 9/2017
  • Lacks fine-tune control over swing range on already set programs

Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat RTH9580WF Review

Common functions are easily accessed via the Honeywell 9580’s touch screen display.

Honeywell’s been in the thermostat business a long time – and with that longevity comes the expertise needed to hold its own in the hot smart thermostat market. The Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat RTH9580 is a worthy competitor to the Nest, especially for people who hate twisting a dial and would love a mini computer screen to interact with.

The Honeywell RTH9580’s sleek design hugs the wall with less than 1″ protrusion. Its beautiful, responsive touch screen contains a wealth of information: thermostat status, indoor temperature, outdoor temperature and humidity displayed over a user-chosen backdrop color.

The free companion app (iPhone, iPad, Android supported) gives users remote control, and emailed alerts warn owners of system failure or deviation from pre-set temperature ranges.

Let’s take a closer look at the Honeywell Wi-Fi Thermostat (RTH9580WF).

Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat’s Best Features

  • Access thermostat settings remotely with companion app and/or Honeywell website. Warm up the house before you even get out of bed!
  • Smartly designed user interface puts most of the control on the thermostat unit itself
  • Alerts system notifies you of temperatures or disconnects outside your defined range you via email if the temperature exceeds your defined range
  • Narrow temperature swing range: +/- 1 degrees vs. the Nest’s +/- 3 degrees.
  • Outdoor weather conditions included on the display.
  • Customize color scheme from 12 presets or adjust three sliders – color (0 to 359), shade (0 – 100%), and brightness (0 to 100%) for thousands of color possibilities
  • Slim design is half the thickness (0.8″) of competitor thermostat, the Nest
  • Learns how long it takes your HVAC system to reach the desired temp and begins heating/cooling at the appropriate time in advance of your scheduled time
  • Away mode
  • Restrict access with a PIN and/or designated users

honeywell_web_app_downstairs_example

Honeywell Wi-Fi Thermostat Reviews on Amazon.com

Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat’s Competitive Edge

Plenty of on-unit and in-app control gives the Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat an edge over the Nest when it comes to customizing the thermostat’s behavior. The large display is easy to see.

For extra peace of mind, set up e-mail alerts to be notified of disruptions or deviations from the schedule:

  • Temperature or humidity higher/lower than X for Y hours
  • Connection lost with Honeywell’s servers
  • A change command failed to reach your thermostat
  • Notify when conditions return to normal

Well-designed companion app predates the RTH9580 thermostat model, so Honeywell has had plenty of time to perfect the app.  Many users report the companion app is quick to load and easy to use.

honeywell_wifi_thermostats_app_downstairs_example
The Honeywell’s companion app has everything for adjusting temp, holding temp, and it even shows the current outside temperature.

Grant limited access to additional users, such as your babysitter or visiting mother in law, by entering the user’s email address into your My Total Connect Comfort account.

Related: What you can do from the Honeywell app, website, and on-unit menus

Price: Prices fluctuate, but generally speaking, the Honeywell Wi-Fi is the most inexpensive of the current crop of best smart thermostats.

Honeywell RTH9580 Technical Specs

Size

The Honeywell RTH9580 protrudes just .8″ from the wall – by comparison, the Nest sticks out 1.26″.

  • 4.5″ wide x 3.5″ tall
  • .8″ depth

LCD Display

  • 24-bit color
  • 3.75″ wide x 2.25″ tall

Wireless (Wi-Fi)

  • 802.11b/g/n @ 2.4GHz
  • 802.15.4 @ 2.4GHz
  • WEP_PSK, WPA_TKIP_PSK, WPA2_AES_PSK, WPA2_MIXED_PSK

Nearly all wireless routers meet at least one of these standards.

Power

  • Power is drawn from C-wire
  • No battery required or supplied

Support for English, French, and Spanish. 2 year limited warranty.

Honeywell 9580 System Compatibility

Honeywell’s own website provides a convenient compatibility tool for assessing your system’s compatibility.

Honeywell’s website claims compatibility with most heating and cooling systems as well as heat pumps.

Works with:

  • Heating only
  • Cooling only
  • Warm air furnace
  • Central air conditioning
  • Hot water
  • Steam or gravity systems
  • Single-stage and multi-stage heating and/or cooling
  • Heat pump (with/without auxiliary and with/without EM)

The RTH9580WF does not work with heat pumps with electric baseboard heat (120-240V).

Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat Installation

This 8 minute manufacturer video walks you through the Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat installation process. Note that the Honeywell RTH95890WF requires a C-wire.

Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat Drawbacks

No data reports. Compared with other smart thermostats, the biggest  disadvantage of the Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat is the lack of detailed energy reports.  Unlike the Nest and ecobee, the Honeywell RTH9580WF doesn’t generate a record of data for you to peruse!  If you’re not a data cruncher, you might not miss it – but if you are, consider an ecobee for granular data reports.

Paint touch-ups may be required. Like most smart thermostats, the Honeywell is probably smaller than your previous thermostat.

It’s old. This 4-year old model might be showing its age in a few ways, but we still see plenty of ’em in the wild and Honeywell has kept ’em in stock all this time.

The Bottom Line

The Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat RTH9580WF is a worthy competitor, even now in 2015. Its touch screen may not look as modern as some, but most users will appreciate its ease of use nonetheless. Whether you prefer it over the Nest and the ecobee3 probably just comes down to personal taste.

Shop for Honeywell Wi-Fi smart thermostat on Amazon.com

Note to readers: Some links on SmartThermostatGuide.com are affiliate links. Read our full disclosure policy here.

Summary
Review Date
Reviewed Item
Honeywell RTH9580WF Wi-Fi Thermostat
Author Rating
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46 replies on “Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat RTH9580WF Review”

One of the neatest things about being a homeowner is being able to try a variety of gadgets in your home. Wi-Fi thermostats are perhaps the best solution to gain control of your heating and cooling needs while lowering energy usage in your home. Nowadays, they’re quickly gaining popularity among astute homeowners.

Love my new RTH9580 WIFI thermostat, BUT my AC is cycling too often. Is there a adjustment for temperature swing or CPH to allow better control of the unit start-ups? This will make my system more efficient and reduce wear and tear with less compressor and fan start-ups. Thanks, Tom

Hi Tom!

Try this: when you’re setting the temperature you want for a given time period, you should be forced to choose a range. There will be a low temperature and a high temperature. The thermostat should force a 3° separation between the two you choose, but if you try making the range bigger it should act as a larger temperature swing range. I’m not sure if there’s a way to adjust the swing range after you’ve set your program.

I hope that helps! Please let me know if it doesn’t, and I’ll see what else I can find for you. The RTH manual is not being very helpful on this, and I don’t have access to an RTH this holiday weekend to try it myself!

Tom, if you still have this thermostat, turn off its predictive temp setting. I too disliked how it was cycling my AC, that feature is now off (it’s in the system menu I think, have to change it at the unit, the app you cannot change this setting).

One of the reasons I’m considering this t’stat is because of its predictive abilities. Not so much for A/C but for heat. I tend to get overshoot with a gas fired hot water system feeding cast iron radiators. It would be nice if the t’stat slowed things down as it got closer to the desired temp. This could be done by cycling the furnace rather than just letting it run on. Obviously it would also be nice if the t’stat started kicking on the furnace to keep things warm as the temp lowers close to the on point.

Has anyone experienced this behavior or noticed a problem with a similar setup?

My 9580 has horrible temperature control. This is a steam heating system. overshoot when going to higher set temp can be as much as 5 degrees; the swing during a steady state setting is over a 6 degree window; it”s only cycling once every two hours; the predictive feature sometimes gets to temperature 90 minutes too early (that’s insane!). I have installed a monitor to validate all this and have data to back it up. I have emailed with honeywell and their response was “turn off the smart response and live with it (i.e. no refund)” My old “dumb” prog stat did a much better job, so I’ll prob. end up reverting and writing off the smart stat as a $200 life lesson

Hi M.B. —

I have the same concern as Tom. I have the AC set at 74 … on alot of thermostats, when it reaches 75 it will click on….or reaches 73 will click off. The 9580 stays constant at the set temp.

My question is … I understand if you set the system for HIGH EFFICIENCY, it should do 3 CPH, STANDARD 5 CPH … would it hurt the system if you set it on HIGH if you have standard?

Hi Howard –

Thank you for your question, but I’m afraid I can’t tell you with any certainty what will happen if you set your standard system to high efficiency. My guess is it would try to approximate the desired “high efficiency” settings with the equipment you have, and therefore shouldn’t hurt it (after all, Honeywell has a vested interest in their thermostats working with a wide variety of systems).

You would be in much better hands asking Honeywell themselves, or a local HVAC company.

If you do get an answer, I’d be very curious to hear what it is.

In your response to Tom you said it should force a 3 degree difference ……. if you can find where, I would love to know

Thanks

Howard, if you still have this thermostat, same answer as what I just posted for Tom:
Turn off its predictive temp setting. I too disliked how it was cycling my AC, that feature is now off (it’s in the system menu I think, have to change it at the unit, the app you cannot change this setting).

Although it initially worked well and the Internet feature was nice, after a few months it would not turn off the air conditioning when the target temp was reached. The device would not send a “call” to the HVAC control board. My electric bills sky rocketed. I went to WalMart and bought a $20 thermostat to test it to ensure it was not the HVAC control board. Works better than the $220 Honeywell. Thumbs down.

Model RTH9580 WIFI. Although it initially worked well and the Internet feature was nice, after a few months it would not turn off the air conditioning when the target temp was reached. The device would not send a “call” to the HVAC control board. My electric bills sky rocketed. I went to WalMart and bought a $20 thermostat to test it to ensure it was not the HVAC control board. Works better than the $220 Honeywell. Thumbs down.

Hey Sara, I’m a bit late to the party here, no this thermostat cannot. Honeywell has a pro model that can (bought at an HVAC store), I prefer the humidistat in the return air ducting as it’s more accurate!

Is there a max temperature limit on what the thermostat will show? Curious because we had to have our house treated for bugs and both thermostats (I have 2 in a 4-level split level) both showed 114 degrees however, the company said they push the temp above 130. I can’t find anything online or in the manual to address this…which makes me concerned for obvious reasons. Thanks.

Hey Cory, I checked mine and its maximum is 32C or 89.6F. I think you might be hard pressed to find a thermostat that goes that high. I suspect the company that did the work for you has a way they are able to do that.

there is no C wire and if I introduce a external 24 volt where do I introduce the two wires one to C and one to ? I have both Heat and AC?

Hey Marianne, if you have 3 conductors, and you require the “C” wire, and I’m understanding you correctly (it took me 10 days to get an email from this website that you had responded to the thread; and, I’m just a user like you, not paid by this website, or, a moderator for that matter), you have 3 options:
1. get a Honeywell wireless thermostat/receiver combo kit (not to be confused with wi-fi)
2. get a contractor to wire in an “add-a-wire” device
3. get a contractor to run a new 5, 6, or 8 conductor wire for you (6, or 8 please, believe me, you’ll eventually use these)

My new RTH 9580 WF won’t work properly on a long wire run (60ft.) I am using new 18/5 wire. The new wire works fine with old battery powered thermostat. Furnace starts up (heat mode) and then loses power when gas value is turned on. Works ok if I test with a 10ft. wire.

The furnace heating sequence stops after the gas valve opens. The thermostat reboots at that time. I metered the 24vac across R to C and I can see a momentary drop in voltage at the time the gas valve is energized.

Wow, new one for me. If the new thermostat doesn’t work, and the old one does, sounds like the thermostat is faulty. Make sure when you get a replacement and you’re disconnecting and reconnecting thermostats that the furnace power is turned off. Even the most careful technicians can still accidentally touch two wires together causing a short which can damage equipment.

I have two identical furnaces and 2 thermostats. One furnace is working and it works with either thermostat. The furnace with the problem will actually work if I use a really short wire (10ft), it also works with the old thermostat. Is it possible the gas valve is drawing too much current on startup? Not sure how I would check that except to replace it.
Jack

I am on vacation for New Year 2017 and put more Honeywell RTH9580WIFI thermostat I. The Holiday Mode. Now, I am not able to control my thermostat via the Internet. I cannot believe that Honeywell designed a sophisticated price of equipment like the RTH9570WIFI so that putting it together in the Holiday mode would disable the remote control functionality if this thermostat. In my mind, being able to remotely control the thermostat while on vacation “Holiday” would be one of the most desirable and important functions exoected andwanted. JUST CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!!!!

Is there any way that this can switch between Heat and Cool based on the temperature of the house like the Nest does? Its either HEAT or COOL, but was curious if it’ll change on its own based on temp setting

There is an Auto Setting under Advanced Preferences which allow the unit to go from Heating to Cooling provided there is a 3 degree F difference between heat demand and cool demand.

FYI, nice thermostat but Honeywell does not support any warranty unless professionally installed. I bought a unit that was defective, they would not replace. Install and check both heat and cold settings immediately after buying so seller can replace if defective.

I am experiencing the same issue, there is no cycle time adjustment. You to change to high efficiency mode and see if it helps a little.

I recently installed two RTH9585WF thermostats in my home. For the most part they work okay. Configuring the run schedule from the app as well as adjusting the temperature from Alexa is a great feature. After installation I realized that there was NO way to adjust the thermostat temperature DEADBAND or CYCLE TIME! Both my units constantly cycle on and off creating other issues. I understand there can be other factors such as unit sizing for the area as well as amount of insulation in my home. These thermostats attempt to keep the conditioned area from what I see within a 1/2 degree or so. I’d rather see the temperature swing a little more so my units ran less often with a longer cycle. I’ve reached out to Honeywell directly and apparently there is not a configurable setting other than a High or standard efficiently unit. If I would have know this I probably would not have purchased!

I have one of these newer touch screen as well as three of the older, button driven and in general I’m pretty happy with them. I have a need to put a sensor in another location, just for “view” with the app, not actually controlling the furnace/ac … can I do that if I power with C wire and Ground ? I would then add the additional unit to the app so that I can view the status in that area of the house. Thanks ! Dave.

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