A new era at Tado: the Munic based specialist for smart heating thermostats, air conditioning and heat pump controllers (link) is launching a completely revamped product line. “Tado X” is set to be available in almost all countries served by the manufacturer. As there are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain. The UK to follow in the course of the year. The new series supports the Matter smart home standard for the first time, something that previous Tado products were not granted – and will now remain denied.
“We have looked into this, but due to technical limitations of the hardware, it is not possible to upgrade the previous models to Matter,” the company explains when asked. Co-founder Christian Deilmann reassures existing customers who may have spent several hundred euros on their Tado equipment: “There are no plans to shut down the V3+ generation”. The devices will continue to be maintained and supplied with software updates.
As the previous products are already well integrated into smart home systems such as Apple Home, Google Home or Home Assistant, not much should change for their users. However, they cannot expand their existing products with Tado X either. As both systems and their apps are based on different technical platforms, they run completely separately from each other.
Tado X: a new line-up with 5 products
The most significant difference to the previous generation is the radio protocol: Tado X devices use Thread for control. Previously, the 868 MHz 6LoWPAN protocol was used for this purpose – with a corresponding bridge. There is also a bridge for Tado X (see below), but it can be omitted in the long term if a Thread Border Router performs this task at home. However, due to some imponderables in the Thread protocol (see “Construction sites in the Matter standard”), Tado only allows this route in an “Apple Home” for now. Anyone who owns an Apple Border Router such as the HomePod mini or the 2nd generation HomePod can dispense with the “Bridge X” and control their thermostats directly via them. Other Matter platforms are to follow.
The launch line-up consists of five components which, according to the manufacturer, have been tested by a closed user group over the past few months. With the sales launch in May, Tado hopes to be able to continuously increase the number of users until the autumn, before thousands more join in with the new heating season. Customers can choose from the following devices:
- The Smart Thermostat X replaces a wired room controller on the wall. It supports two types of heating interface: on/off (mechanical) and OpenTherm (digital). In addition to controlling a boiler or zone valve, the device can also be used as a thermostat for rooms with water-based floor heating control. A similar version with a wireless connection is currently in preparation and is due to be launched later this year. This is probably also the reason Tado X will not be launched in the UK until then. According to the manufacturer, wireless controllers are necessary for the heating systems widely used in this country.
- The Smart Radiator Thermostat X is designed for installation on radiators. Unlike the previous Tado models, it has a T-shape, which should save space in narrow radiator niches. A touch display is activated by contact or when the temperature is set on the controller’s rotary ring. A lithium-ion battery provides the power for operation. It is removable and can be charged using a standard USB-C cable. One charge should provide power for around one year of operation.
- The wireless temperature sensor X looks similar to the wall thermostat and can be installed anywhere in the room. It is suitable for the central control of several radiator thermostats or as a supplement to the wired room controller if the latter is located in an unfavorable position for temperature measurement.
- If required, the Bridge X establishes a Thread network for the heating controllers to communicate. It is only necessary if no other device performs this task. However, as only Border Routers from Apple are compatible with Tado X at launch, users of other Matter platforms will still have to buy it. Whoever wants to use the thermostats with Google Home, SmartThings & Co right now needs a Bridge X. At least until the devices also work with their border routers.
Heat pump optimizer X: without Matter
The fifth product in the group is out of competition in terms of the Matter standard. The Heat Pump Optimizer X can be wired to an existing heat pump and allows the desired temperature for heating or hot water to be set via the Tado app. In combination with the smart thermostats, the amount of heat generated is controlled so that all rooms reach their target values at the desired time. If desired, a subscription service called Tado Balance also uses dynamic electricity tariffs by shifting the heat pump’s energy consumption to favorable times of day with a low price per kilowatt-hour.
This type of energy management should also be possible with Matter at some point. But product categories are still missing. With Matter 1.3, energy data has found its way into the standard for the first time. However, it will initially only be used for simple tasks such as consumption metering. So far, charging systems for electric cars are the only device type defined in Matter 1.3 that actively contributes to energy management. Heat pumps, inverters and other components are currently under development. They are expected for future versions of the standard. It is therefore not surprising that Tado X can do just one thing under Matter currently: control the heating.
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