Honeywell thermostats have a worldwide reputation for both reliability and ease of use; and Honeywell THX9321R5030 Prestige 2.0 HD Thermostat is not an exception. This programmable thermostat is a great tool for easily controlling home heating and cooling. The Prestige thermostat is a 7 Day programmable, high definition color touch screen thermostat that practically programs itself by asking you intuitive questions instead of a manual programming interface. This thermostat’s enhanced thermostat features and extended warranty (5 years of warranty) puts this one into a different position in this game; and this can be defined as one of the best programmable thermostats in the market.
There is a known fact : many of the programmable thermostats are never being programmed. they keep running on the pre-set configuration! The Honeywell Prestige 2.0 has “Interview-Based Programming wizard” to easily and confidently schedule thermostat temperatures and times. I am sure, the customers who has this thermostat at home, indeed program their thermostats 🙂
Let’s look into the overall features of The Honeywell Prestige 2.0:
Date First Available May 7, 2012 (being 1,5 years in the market and having 4.4/5 stars rating is a big “plus” for me)
Hazmat# UN3091 Lithium metal batteries packed in / comes with the equipment (battery-powered thermostat)
Configurable for residential and light commercial applications
wifi capable (but you have to purchase the Redlink internet gateway – which connects to your router). Then you can set temperatures from anywhere by computer/phone/tablet app.
Controls humidification, dehumidification, or ventilation (works with RedLINK™ accessories including the RedLINK™ Internet Gateway)
Portable Comfort Control, Wireless Outdoor Sensor and Wireless Indoor Sensor (they don’t come with the product, needs to be purchased separately)
Flexible enough for many different setups; meaning Honeywell Prestige 2.0 HD Thermostat can control just about any combination of HVAC and IAQ equipment that you might have :
Up to 3H/2C Heat Pump & 2H/2C Conventional
Up to 4 Cool Conventional using the universal outputs [commercial only].
Up to 3 Heat Conventional using the universal outputs.
Up to 4 heat/2 Cool Heat Pump using the universal outputs.
Up to 2 stages of Geothermal Radiant Heat using the universal outputs.
Alerts and User Interactions Log – Keeps a searchable history
USB port for transferring Installer Setup, Customizable Reminders
Precise temperature control (± 1 F) for reliable and consistent temperature
Honeywell Prestige 2.0 HD Thermostat Installation and Setup
You do not need to be an expert to install Honeywell Prestige 2.0 Thermostat, especially if you already have a C power wire. Which means you need a C wire for the installation. With basic knowledge of wiring, you can do it yourself with a little bit of research. But as I usually say; better to be on the safe side : If you are not really comfortable with the installation, please hire someone for this work. Yes, hiring someone will cost you some money; but spending some money is much better than to end up with a furnace problem or -even worse- with a fire…
If you have all the required wires (including the C wire), installation is pretty easy and isn’t any harder than any other thermostat. If needed, the installation manual is available on line if you search for it (not putting the link here, cause I believe still you are looking for a thermostat to buy – not ready for the installation 🙂 ).
Features:
Honeywell Prestige 2.0 Thermostat comes with many features. All these small and well thought features shows us that this is a well designed programmable thermostat. Here is the features of Honeywell Prestige 2.0 Thermostat:
Large, easy-to-read backlit full color display shows current indoor temperature and humidity, temperature setting, date and time on the home screen. Also displays outdoor temperature and humidity on home screen (if wireless outdoor sensor is installed)
7 day programmable, configurable for residential and light commercial (meets commercial code and is title 24 compliant.), up to 3 heat / 2 cool heat pump and up to 2 heat / 2 cool conventional
Schedule holidays and custom events, remote setback, economizer and time of day.
USB Port;
allows downloading of installer settings to quickly
allows the dealer logo to be uploaded to the thermostat and the contact information to be shown on thermostat screen (this comes very handy in case of a heating/cooling problem)
Customizable service reminders on screen : These reminders allow dealers to remind their customers when its time to call for service, when their warranty is expiring and to provide customized alerts.
2 Assignable outputs to control humidification, dehumidification, ventilation and a stage of heating or cooling.
Tri-lingual – English, French and Spanish display options.
Real-Time Clock keeps time during power failure; automatically updates for daylight saving time
Precise temperature control (± 1 F) for reliable and consistent temperature.
Multiple configurable staging options to provide comfort or energy savings
Multiple HOLD options allows modification of schedule as needed and easily.
Special Features
I have had hard time to decide which features to list in this Special Features part of the review 
Some of the features might be special for me, but not special for you. Please think these 2 sections (Features and Special Features) as a whole…
- Honeywell Prestige 2.0 Thermostat is RedLINK™ enabled to work with compatible wireless accessories including; RedLINK Internet Gateway / Total Connect, Portable Comfort Control, Wireless Outdoor Air Sensor, Wireless Indoor Air Sensor, TrueSTEAM and TrueZONE Panels
- Displays outdoor temperature and humidity when paired with an outdoor sensor
- If you have 2 Honeywell Prestige 2.0 HD Thermostats at home (2 zone heating / cooling system), you can buy 1 outdoor sensor and link it with both thermostats. You don’t need to buy sensors for each thermostat.
- Wireless sensors make it valuable in changing room configurations: You can have a remote unit and program the thermostat to sense the temperature from the thermostat itself or from the remote unit. This gives you a great deal of flexibility.
- Security: You do not need an additional web account that records your usage of the heating / cooling and your daily schedule (at home / not at home etc.). You might take this a positive feature from the security point of view.
- Honeywell Prestige 2.0 HD Thermostat
can be set to circulate the air (without starting the compressor) so that the temperature in the 2nd and 1st floor are more even.
- It can be setup to reduce humidity in the house even if the temperature is right.
- User Interaction Log provides a searchable history of setting changes (this feature helps to determine if there is a system malfunction or if the issue was caused by user error. Saves time in troubleshooting and points the technician in the right direction.)
Cons
For me, the only disadvantage is this (a big one): Honeywell THX9321R5030 Prestige 2.0 HD Thermostat uses Red Link instead of true WiFi, so you need to purchase the Red Link gateway to connect to the Internet. The competitors of the thermostat has built in real wifi functionality (like Nest, or ecobee). I believe, for the wireless functionality, we shouldn’t need to spend another $85. The thermostat is already on the high end of the price range for programmable thermostats, I don’t like the idea of spending some more money for this functionality. This is a deal breaker for me and I prefer to go ahead with other options.
Conclusion
The Honeywell Prestige 2.0 Touchscreen Thermostat
Even though this is an expensive thermostat, it is worth the price and Honeywell Prestige 2.0 Touchscreen Thermostat will easily save you time and money in the long run.