Customer Reviews
Ours stopped working after 8 years 
2008-10-06
This worked fine for us for a number of years, although I've never liked the weekday/weekend programming. If you're ever home sick or for a holiday, or anything outside your normal schedule, it's a pain to tell it that you're home and yes it really should heat the house.
But now that it's about eight years old, it just decided to stop turning on our furnace. The display registers the correct actual and target temperatures, but even if they are several degrees apart, the furnace will not turn on. If we remove it from the wall and replace it (as if to change the batteries), then the furnace finally kicks on. Today, even that stopped helping - I've replaced it on the wall to no avail - no heat! I'm freezing here while waiting for my new Honeywell thermostat to arrive.
Love it. Buy this model. 
2008-08-30
This thermostat is great. Simple to use. Works well. Great price. Recommended by Consumer Reports.
Glad I replaced my old thermostat with this one. I even installed it myself, and with little difficulty.
Good buy.
Very disappointed 2008-08-11
With all the hype about saving energy - we replaced our regular mechancial (mercury) thermostat with an automatic electronic one last year.
But from time to time, this supposedly money-saving thing 'sticks'. It will be set for a particular temp and continue running and running far beyond the desired temp. No matter how much I fiddle with it I can rarely coax it into producing that audible click that indicates that it had registered the change in temperature and will turn the air off, shortly.
Sometimes just thumping the thing will do the trick though.
For example - I went to bed last night and noted that the thermostat was correctly set for 74. Several times during the night I awoke to realize that I was cold and heard the air running, but thought, "It should turn off soon".
It wasn't until my alarm clock woke me fully this morning that I realized how frigid the house was. The air had evidently gotten "stuck" on and it was reading 60 degrees even though it was still set for 74 !!
I couldn't get the thing to recognize the current temp and switch itself off - except to turn the blasted thing off altogether.
It's a horrifying thought to think what might happen if this were to reoccur when we're away for the weekend. I'd come home to dead fish, sick/unhappy cats and huge utility bill!
I never had this type of trouble with my old mercury contact thermostat.
This problem occurs as often as once a day, although never before to the extreme that it did last night.
Did I just get stuck with a bum piece of equipment or does anyone else's thermostat do this from time to time?
Some money saver - NOT! - there is no way I've yet saved the equivalent amount of money on my utility bill, that I paid for this thing and now I have to replace it!
Works fine 
2008-06-30
Does a steady job of controlling temperature. Simple to use. Recommended by a consumer group.
Pleased as punch 2008-06-22
I've just installed the TX500 and it was a snap to install. It was easy to program and it works great.
Terrible Quality 2008-05-04
Program thermostat ahead of time to turn on periodically throughout the day. Great for while you are away on vacation or at work. This works for heat- only or cool-only settings to keep the temperature comfortable when you arrive home.
excellent in all aspects 2008-01-28
Smart Temp Programmable Thermostat #TX500 ordered and received within 5 days(installed January 11, 2008); outstanding service from Amazon. Very easy to install, replaced two old style mercury switch type Lennox thermostats.
The screw holes in the wall even lined up for replacement-took about ten minutes each to replace with the new thermostats. The most startling thing we instantly noticed was how even the temperature began to stay in the house. I did not realize the old thermostats had been programmed to activate with 1/4 degree temperature difference which caused the blower fans to switch on and off frequently. The Lux tx 500's came programmed with 1 degree activation difference, it can be increased if desired. The settings were very easy to program. There is no doubt in my mind we are saving energy , not only with the set back feature, but also with the blower fans not coming on and off frequently. We had the original Lennox thermostats in service since the house was constructed 4 years ago. We have electrical strip heating, no heat pump. This thermostat takes the guess work out of setting the temperature. I am very interested in future heating and cooling bills to see how these two thermostat changes are affecting the KWH used and total electrical $. Have kept a record of KWH and $ since moving in.
Wonderful engineering, design, and function 2008-01-14
This is a remarkably user friendly product that went from box to completed installation and programming in 30 minutes. The most difficult part of installation was removing it from the clamshell container. Simple and easy to use. Appears well made and has 3 year warranty. Can be easily removed from its base for programming. Accurate, reproducible temperature control. A bargain.
both units break down after 6 years 
2007-12-18
I own 2 of those. One for upstairs bedrooms, and one for the first floor living room. They have been working fine for the past 6 years, and kept the family warm in the winter and cool during the summer. However, I am disappointed to its life span. Both units break down recently. First the one downstairs, the heater stops kicking in even when the room temperature was 5 degrees below. To make sure that it is not wiring issue or furnace issue, I switched the control from the bedroom to living room. Now it functions in the living room but not the bedroom. So I thought hmm maybe it is just bad luck, I had one unit that is a bit short of expected life span (15 years). Replaced it with Hunter 44550 that has a backlight. Bingo! The second unit broke down after two months. Same pattern. Heater won't kick in during the program but manually up/down the temperature will ticker it. Call that a "Programmable" thermostat! You have to constantly get up in the night to start the thermostat!
Overall, this product is of low quality. It works but expect it to break down after 6 years. And there are no warnings when it break down. So if you buy this thermostat, better keep a spare unit, otherwise when it breaks down, you will have a very hot or cold night!
As advertised 2007-12-18
The TX500 works as advertised and is the perfect, inexpensive programmable thermostat for those who need only weekday and weekend programming. It was easy to install and has already begun saving money on our heating bills.
