On Dec 17, 8:56 am, Joe wrote:
are there any programmable thermostats out there that you can
recommend that do better than just the four time a day settings? I
sometimes leave the house for odd hours at a time and I'd like to be
able to override 2 or 3 settings at a time without having to program
each quarter. I'd like to have one that allows me to override the
custom settings for 5 hours or 8 hours or 2 days if needed.

I like the Honeywell models. Some have a "skip next time
period" (keep it at the current setting) or "go to next time period"
and the hold feature as well. Some do not need battery backups either
unless power is lost for a long time.