Lux WIN100 Programmable 5-2 Day Thermostat; Plug-in Line Voltage; Batteries Included

It's a thermostat that you plug into the wall and then plug an electric space heater into. And it has a programmable schedule so you can heat to different temperatures based on weekday/weekend and morning/day/evening/night. On the surface that sounds pretty unexciting, but here's why you need this product: 1) It's well-designed; it's produced by a name brand. The whole thing feels really solid and has been totally reliable through this winter's heating season in Chicago. 2) When installed, you will have two thermostats: the one on your heater and the one on this device, most likely plugged into the wall. (To make use of this, you just turn the thermostat on your heater up all the way and rely on this thermostat to shut off the power to your heater at the right time.) Having the thermostat that is sensing your room's temperature be AWAY from your heater means that your room will be heated more accurately to the desired temperature. 3) This thermostat has what is easily the easiest way to program desired temperatures that I've ever used. It's far nicer than the much more expensive "smart thermostat" that manages the rest of the house's HVAC. 4) If your electric room heater doesn't have a digital thermostat, this effectively adds that feature without buying a whole new heater. Also, if your heater's thermostat stops functioning reliably, this solves that problem without requiring an entire new heater. There's one very minor negative this thermostat has: its LCD display isn't backlit. I always have to use a flashlight (usually my phone's flashlight function) to see it clearly. If I could deduct 1/4 point I would because if they fixed this, it would be a perfect product for my purposes. Alas, they have room to grow. I hope they do. But in balance if this product fails I fully intend to replace it with whatever similar thing I hope Lux is selling at that time.

This does the job exactly as advertised. I bought this because the thermostat built into my electric heater is horrendously inaccurate because it would pick up lots of residual heat being conducted from the heater coils to the control housing. Before, I was always too hot or too cold. This programmable outlet thermostat fixed that problem completely. Yes, it's made of plastic, I wasn't too thrilled about that either, but it is amazingly sturdy and rigid. It doesn't feel flimsy in any way, i.e. it never feels like it is about to fall apart in my hands. The programmable module is powered by a couple of coin batteries (similar to wall-mounted thermostats) so that the clock & the program continue to run when you disconnect it from the outlet. Very nice feature, except perhaps that the coin batteries will have to be replaced about every year or two, but that's no different from wall-mounted thermostats. All the programming buttons are located underneath a door covering the upper half of the front face. There is a window in the door to let you still see the display when the door is closed. Programming is quite easy. You can only make a program for weekdays (M-F), and another program for weekends (Sat-Sun). You cannot program each individual day. Each program has the usual "morn-day-eve-nite" periods each for which you can set the start time and the temperature. You can have separate programs for heat and cool modes, and switching to one of those modes does not erase the program from the other mode. It does not switch automatically between the two modes, but it wouldn't need to because you would have to manually unplug your heater and plug in your air conditioner (and vice versa) anyways. If you want to temporarily change the temperature, select the temperature with the up/down buttons, and it will hold that temperature until the next program period. If you want to hold that temperature permanently, press the "hold" button. To revert back to the program, press the "hold" button again. There is an on-off switch on the right face that allows you to turn off the outlet permanently. (The "on" position makes the outlet run on the program). As specified by the manual, you have to keep that switch in the "off" position until you have connected both the appliance and the wall outlet, otherwise the appliance won't turn on. I don't know why they require this. It might be some kind of safety feature. The temperature probe is located on the top edge of the back face (i.e. the face that would be facing the wall), and it looks like a thermocouple probe to me. If you know anything about thermocouples, you could modify this to have the temperature sensor mounted remotely.

Works as well as any good thermostat, and is rare in that it is a plug in unit which controls 110vac. I use it to control the fan of a fan-coil unit (the heated or chilled antifreeze circulates from the building's main system, but the fan determines if my apartment air will pass the coils and be warmed or cooled.). I've had it for a year and it's proved reliable. It has day and night settings on a clock which can be programmed separately for weekdays and weekends, and can be set to heat or to cool. It did not get five stars from me for two related reasons: First, the temperature sensor extends an inch from the unit, so the unit has to be situated wherever the room temperature is best measured (unless you splice some zip cord onto it to extend it, I suppose). Second, it cannot be mounted on a wall (the pins to plug it in to an electrical outlet or extension cord are on the rear of the unit), so you can't easily mount it where it would be most convenient. UPDATE 12/2018: I've had this for two years now, and it continues to operate as designed, which is to say well. While this next comment is not an evaluation of the product itself, having a thermostat to control what had been a manually operated air conditioning and heating system is a substantial quality-of-life improvement. Although I noted above that being able to situate the temperature sensor away from the unit would be beneficial, mine is around 30 inches from my window and that seems sufficient spacing to keep the temperature even. It is not perfect, but I'm tempted to up it to five stars anyway.

Product arrived quickly and works exactly as advertised. Extremely versatile and programmable in a multitude of ways, including a nifty "temp offset" feature which allows you to compensate for slight differences in temp readings between this thermostat and another in your home that you may want to match up to. We are using this product to control a 1-yr old Danby Premiere 13000 BTU portable air conditioner whose built-in thermostat stopped functioning. Amazing way to keep a $500, slightly broken, just out of warranty air conditioner working like new! One word of caution: this device cuts the power completely to the device that's plugged into it, once the set cut-off temperature is reached. Some AC units may NOT come back on once this thermostat restores power. If you have any doubts, set your AC (or whatever device you want to use this with) to on, then pull the power cord from the wall. Wait about 3 mins, then plug it back in. If it comes back on and retains whatever settings you had programmed in, then you're in the clear - this product will work for you.

Un muy buen equipo

This little device works great. The external temperature sensor is pretty accurate and can sense the temperature of the room very well....give or take a degrees. It has cut down the cost of my heating bill a lot. It's easy to program if you follow the instructions, and once you set it, you can just forget it and just let it do its job. You can switch the display from Celsius to Fahrenheit easily. A great buy considering the fact that you will save a lot of money in the long run.

Llego en tiempo, muy bien

I built a free-standing 'studio' that I insulated, so needed to keep it above freezing in winter to prevent mold. I chose to use a very efficient wall mounted panel convection heater for that purpose, like the one I purchased at a home show about 12 years ago (which I use in a long unheated hallway, but formerly used in a bedroom). The one from the home show came with this Lux thermostat and it's been great, so I wanted one for the panel in the studio. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that the lowest temperature setting is 45 degrees fahrenheit. I would like to be able to set it a bit lower than that when I'm not using the space. Possibly 45 degrees is in fact the lowest setting to prevent mold though?? I do love the thermostat though. It's nice to be able to program it while not plugged in, and it's very easy to raise and lower the temperature or put it on hold with the touch of one button. A great little unit!