tado° Smart Thermostat X Starter Kit (Wired)
The best-engineered smart thermostat for a European boiler, and the one to pick if you want Matter and OpenTherm rather than another proprietary cloud. Price the subscription in before you buy, because the money-saving features are behind it.
Our editorial rating, not aggregated user reviews
The hardware is the most modern thing in European smart heating. It runs Matter over Thread, so it joins Alexa, Google Home or Apple Home without a vendor cloud in the middle, it talks to a boiler over OpenTherm rather than just switching it on and off, and reviewers at T3 and Trusted Reviews agree that installation is a genuinely approachable DIY job and that response times are better than the older tado kit. It sits in the 7s because of one decision that rules it out for a whole group of buyers: geofencing, open-window detection, adaptive pre-heating and the energy reports are all locked behind the AI Assist subscription, and those are precisely the features that make a smart thermostat save money rather than merely be remote-controlled. Without it you have a well-built schedulable thermostat. There are two further catches: the X range is not compatible with tado's own V3+ devices, so existing owners replace everything, and there is a steady trickle of connectivity complaints in owner reviews. Buy it knowing you will likely pay monthly.
Pros
- Matter over Thread, so it works with Alexa, Google Home and Apple Home directly rather than through a vendor cloud
- Talks to the boiler over OpenTherm where the boiler supports it, so it can modulate the flame instead of cycling the boiler on and off
- Bridge X in the box acts as the Thread border router. No hub subscription, no extra purchase
- tado publishes a compatibility checker and the wiring guides are clear enough that a competent DIY install is realistic
- Room-by-room control if you add Smart Radiator Thermostat X valves later, and the X valves are rechargeable
Cons
- Geofencing, open-window detection, adaptive heating and energy reports need the AI Assist subscription. Free use gets you scheduling and remote control
- This wired kit has no hot water control. If your boiler heats a cylinder, you need the wireless kit with the Programmer X instead
- The X range does not work with tado V3+ thermostats or valves, so an existing tado owner starts again
- Owner reviews report connectivity and pairing failures often enough that it is worth noting, though reviewers on test did not hit them
- The black display is a deliberate look and it is a stark one against a pale wall
Specifications
- In the box
- Smart Thermostat X (wired), Bridge X (Thread border router), AAA batteries, mounting hardware
- Connectivity
- Matter over Thread
- Boiler interface
- Relay (on/off) or OpenTherm
- Heating types
- Boilers, heat pumps and water-based underfloor heating, per tado's compatibility checker
- Hot water
- Not in this kit. Requires the wireless kit with Programmer X
- Subscription
- Optional AI Assist. Scheduling and remote control are free
- Voice control
- Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple Home/Siri via Matter
- Region
- UK, Ireland and Europe