ecobee Total Security and Savings Bundle Review: one ecosystem for comfort, security, and lower bills (if you’re willing to tinker)

I’ve been using the ecobee Total Security and Savings Bundle as my main thermostat and basic security setup for a while now. This bundle is basically three things in one: a Smart Thermostat Premium, a wired smart doorbell camera, and door/window sensors. On paper, it covers comfort, security, and energy savings in one ecosystem, which is exactly what I wanted instead of juggling five different apps and brands.

In practice, it’s a mix of “this is really handy” and “why is this so annoying to set up.” Once everything is installed and configured, the system works pretty smoothly: the thermostat holds temps well, the doorbell camera is clear enough to actually see packages and faces, and the door/window sensors do what they’re supposed to do. The app pulls everything together decently, and I liked that I could check temperature, video, and sensors all from the same place.

Where it gets tricky is installation and the first setup. This is not like slapping a $20 thermostat on the wall and calling it a day. You need proper wiring (24V, C-wire or that little ecobee adapter), a decent Wi‑Fi signal where your doorbell is, and some patience with the app walkthrough. A lot of people can do it themselves, but I honestly think many folks will end up calling an HVAC person or electrician, especially if the existing thermostat is battery-powered or the doorbell wiring is old.

Overall, I’d say the bundle is pretty solid for someone who wants a more connected home and is okay with a bit of setup pain and a subscription angle for the full security features. If you’re expecting plug-and-play with zero reading or wiring, you’re going to be frustrated. If you’re willing to tinker a bit (or pay someone once), it’s a capable combo that actually gets used day to day instead of being just another gadget on the wall.

Price-wise, this bundle isn’t cheap, but you’re getting three categories of product in one shot: a high-end smart thermostat, a wired video doorbell, and multiple sensors. If you bought comparable pieces separately from different brands (Nest thermostat + Ring doorbell + random sensors), you’d probably end up around the same price or more, plus you’d be juggling multiple apps and ecosystems. So from a pure hardware standpoint, the value is pretty solid if you were already planning to smarten up both HVAC and security.

Where the value question gets more nuanced is the subscription side. Ecobee throws in a month of Smart Security, which is nice to test things, but if you want long-term 30‑day video storage and professional monitoring, you’ll be paying monthly. If you treat this as mostly a thermostat upgrade with a bonus doorbell and basic alerts, you can probably skip the subscription and still feel like you got your money’s worth. If you’re buying it specifically as a security system replacement, then you need to factor in that monthly cost and compare it to options like Ring, SimpliSafe, or a traditional alarm company.

In terms of reliability and support, the Amazon rating sits around 4.3/5 with thousands of reviews, which lines up with my experience: good product, not flawless. Support seems hit-and-miss. That blind reviewer had a rough time initially but later got a solid response and better instructions via email, plus an offer to walk through sensor installation. So you might need to push a bit, but they do eventually try to sort things out. If you’re in a region like Australia, compatibility can be an issue, and one reviewer ended up returning it, but at least the seller was reasonable and gave a full refund.

Overall, I’d say value is good if you genuinely use all three parts: thermostat, camera, and sensors, plus at least some of the automation. If you only care about temperature control, you could save money with a cheaper ecobee model or a different brand. If you want a very polished security-first system, something like Ring + a separate thermostat might give you more mature security features. This bundle sits nicely in the middle: one ecosystem, strong thermostat, decent security, fair price for the amount of hardware, with the catch that setup effort and possible subscription fees are part of the deal.

The thermostat design is one of the strong points. It looks modern, black finish, with a bright LCD touch screen that’s easy to read from across the room. Compared to a basic beige box thermostat, it actually looks like it belongs in a 2020s house. The wall plate hides old screw holes decently, though if your old thermostat was huge, you might still see some marks. The interface on the wall is fairly straightforward once you learn it: big temperature number, mode, and access to basic settings. The app is where you do the deeper stuff like schedules, sensors, and security rules.

The doorbell camera is fairly compact and doesn’t scream “giant security gadget” on your front door. It’s wired, so you reuse your existing doorbell wiring. The field of view is wide (175° vertical, 187° diagonal), and in real life that means you can see people from head to toe and packages right on the mat. The video quality is 1080p HDR, which is enough to see faces clearly in decent lighting. Night vision is good enough to see who’s there, not cinema-quality, but it gets the job done. The physical button is obvious enough that visitors know to press it, and the chime through the system works reliably once set up.

The SmartSensors for doors and windows are small, white plastic pieces—nothing fancy. They don’t look premium, but they’re not ugly either. They mount with adhesive or screws, and once in place you forget about them. The real pain with these isn’t the look, it’s pairing and figuring out which exact sensor model you have, especially if you’re not super comfortable with tech or if you have accessibility needs. One of the Amazon reviewers who is blind pointed out that the instructions for the sensors are confusing and don’t match the on-screen menus perfectly, and I can see how that would be annoying even for a sighted user.

Overall, design and usability are good once everything is installed, but the setup experience is too fussy for what’s supposed to be a consumer product. The app tries to guide you step by step, but if you have older wiring, or you’re using accessibility features like VoiceOver, it’s not the smoothest ride. If you’re okay reading instructions carefully and maybe watching a couple of YouTube videos, you’ll be fine. If you hate setup and just want “plug it in and go,” this will probably irritate you at first.

On the thermostat side, performance is where ecobee does well. Temperature control is accurate, and once I dialed in the schedule (Home/Away/Sleep), it kept the house comfortable without me constantly fiddling. The system claims up to 26% annual heating and cooling savings. I can’t verify the exact number, but compared to my old dumb thermostat, the furnace and AC definitely cycle less, and the house doesn’t swing from hot to cold. The extra sensor support really helps; you can prioritize certain rooms (like bedrooms at night) so you’re heating and cooling where people actually are, not just where the thermostat is on the wall.

The security performance

For the doorbell camera, notifications are fairly quick. Video loads fast enough on Wi‑Fi and on mobile data, though like every cloud camera, there can be a few seconds of delay. Two-way talk works and is clear enough to tell a delivery driver where to leave a package. The wide field of view means you don’t miss much, and Smart Focus (auto‑pan on visitors/packages) is useful, not just a gimmick. 1080p HDR is not mind-blowing, but it’s clear enough to identify people and see details like package labels in good light. At night, you can still recognize faces, but don’t expect miracles if your porch is pitch-black.

In day-to-day use, the system feels fairly stable. The app doesn’t crash constantly, and once schedules and rules are in place, you mostly forget about it. The main performance complaints I’d have are around setup friction and occasional pairing headaches, especially with sensors. But once you get past that, it behaves like a mature product: it just runs in the background, and you mostly interact with it when you check the camera feed, tweak the schedule, or get a notification about a door being left open or a temperature drop.