On Sep 8, 9:06*am, Lee wrote:
Never had one before, so I have no idea what to look for. Usually I just
keep the house coldish in the winter and warmish in the summer rather
than running a bill up, but I may now be ready to move forward G. I
spend most of my free time in one room watching tv etc, using a Delonghi
type radiator, so it's not like I'm stoic.

I work M-F so I think it might be nice to wake up to a warm house for a
change, and one day a week I have to get up several hr early for a
meeting, so some flexibility would be nice, but not mandatory, for that
day. Ease of use is not mandatory, although it would be nice. I can
generally figure out dvr's, vcr's etc w/o instructions.

I'll be having someone else install it since I don't "do" electric! I'd
like to spend in the $50-70 range, but like I said I don't know anything
about them, so if there is a compelling reason to pay more for a
particular model, I'd be interested in that recommendation as well. Any
particular features I should look for, or are they all pretty much the
same? This will be replacing a Honeywell digital (but not programmable)
unit if that makes any difference. Oh, and it's for an oil furnace,
forced hot air. Also have A/C.

If all you want is set back, you should be able to find a few in that
price range that break the day into 4 segments,
wake, day, evening and sleep. Past that it is down to ease of
programing & a display that doesn't require reading glasses.
One feature to hold out for is; "copy previous day". that lets you set
one day to your liking, the copy it across the week.
I'm holding out for dehumidify, so far only available on higher end
models, it won't save any money, but it sure feels good.
I have it on my main unit, but have yet to get it on my zoned ones.
That feature pretty much doubles your top figure.
Since you are planning to have the work done, I hope you were quoting
the $50-70 for the unit.