I’ve been contemplating ‘upgrading’ my standard digital thermostat to something based on an esp8266. Browsing around, it seems most folks that have done an esp8266 thermostat spend most of their effort on the display.
What makes the display important to you? Is it the eye candy appeal, like putting a weather forecast on there, or some rgb leds? Is it to appeal to non technical members of the household? Is it to emulate the device that is being replaced?
Specifically for the weather report thermostats, how does knowing the future weather help the thermostat? I don’t have air conditioning, just simple forced air heat. When the house is cold, the heat turns on, when it warms, the heat turns off. Knowing that it will be cold again tomorrow is kind of a given, and I do not understand how that benefits the operation of the thermostat?