tado Smart Thermostat X (2nd gen) Starter Kit - £170

Last updated: 21 September 2026

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What the tado Smart Thermostat X starter kit is, and what it replaces

Two devices come in the box. The Wireless Temperature Sensor X (2nd gen) is the round-cornered square you put on a wall or a shelf. It reads the room. The Programmer X goes near the boiler and wires into it, then does the switching over OpenTherm or a relay.

Because the two talk to each other wirelessly, the sensor need not live where the old thermostat lived. That matters more than it sounds. The classic UK position is a draughty hallway by the front door. It is the coldest spot in the house, so it is the worst place to measure from.

The Programmer X is also the Thread border router, so it is what puts the kit on your network. There is no separate bridge to plug into the router. Where there is a hot water cylinder, the same box runs a hot water schedule too.

This is the second generation, and tado lists four changes:

• the sensor is slimmer, at 17.8mm
• the finish is matte white
• the battery is rechargeable rather than disposable
• the display is an LED matrix with a light ring, showing temperature and humidity together

What is in the box, and what is not

tado's own box list runs:

• Programmer X, with Hot Water Control and OpenTherm
• Wireless Temperature Sensor X (2nd gen)
• four wall screws and four wall plugs
• three sticky pads
• wiring accessories and an installation cable

The USB-C charging cable is not included. tado says so on its own product page. The sensor takes a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, charged at 5V and 0.5A. tado reckons once a year is enough. You supply the cable, though most households have a spare in a drawer, so it is an annoyance rather than a cost.

There is a second gap, and it is the reason the Amazon listing is worth a look. Amazon sells the same kit at the same £169.99, titled "Starter Kit with Programmer and Stand". Its component list includes a tado stand. tado's own box list does not. On tado's shop that stand is a separate £24.99 accessory. Same money, one more thing in the box, so check both listings before you pick a shop.

Will the tado Smart Thermostat X work with your heating?

tado puts the figure at 95% of heating systems, and names gas boilers, heat pumps and water-based underfloor heating. The kit replaces a wireless room thermostat, and it also works with boilers that never had one. Where there is a hot water cylinder, it schedules that too.

It is not compatible with tado V3+ or anything older. This is the line to read twice if you already own tado kit. The 2nd gen works with every tado X product, first generation included. Older V3+ radiator valves and bridges will not join it. Amazon puts "not Compatible with tado V3+" straight into the product title of the Smart Radiator Thermostat X, which tells you how often people get caught.

Rather than guess, run your boiler through tado's own compatibility checker before you order. It asks what you have on the wall now and what the boiler is.

One more cost to plan for in a bigger house. tado recommends one additional Bridge X per 100 square metres, to keep the Thread mesh reliable. A three-storey Victorian terrace is likely to need one.

Wired or wireless, and how to tell which you need

This is the question most buyers get wrong, and it is simpler than the product names suggest. Look at your current thermostat. Do wires run into the back of it? Then it is wired, and the Wired Smart Thermostat X (2nd gen) replaces it on the same wires for £159.99.

Is it a battery unit you could lift straight off the wall? Then it is wireless, and this kit is the one you want. The Programmer X takes over at the boiler, and the sensor goes wherever the room needs measuring.

The wired version is cheaper because it needs no receiver at the boiler. It also ties the sensor to the old position. Paying £10 more to put the sensor in the room you actually sit in is usually the better trade.

What the free app does, and what costs £3.99 a month

The free tado app is not a stub. It gives you remote control of every room from anywhere. Schedules are per room and take two taps to build. Quick Actions kill everything at once or boost the heat. Control Mode tells the system what it is driving, whether that is a fast gas boiler, a slow underfloor loop or a heat pump that prefers to run steadily. The schedule lives on the device, so it keeps running when the internet drops.

The features tado markets hardest are not in that list. These all sit behind tado AI Assist, at £3.99 per month:

• Adaptive Heating, and pre-heating before you arrive
• geofencing, so an empty house is not heated
• Energy IQ and its consumption reports
• Advanced Open Window Detection
• air-quality advice and Care and Protect fault detection
• Holiday Mode, and switching between more than one home

So the real number to budget is £169.99 for the hardware plus £47.88 a year if you want the automation. Over three years that is £313.63, which changes the comparison against a Nest Learning Thermostat or a Hive thermostat considerably. Whether that suits you depends on whether you want the heating to think for itself or you are happy setting a schedule once and leaving it.

The savings claims, and what tado's own small print says

tado publishes four savings figures on the product page, and it footnotes every one of them. Quoting the claim without the footnote would be doing you a disservice, so here is both.

"Save 22% in heating costs on average." tado backs this with its Energy Savings Promise, which is a money-back offer rather than a measurement. tado's published terms set three conditions. The kit must be a tado X heating product bought on or after 2 September 2026. You have 12 months from purchase to return it. It must have been in active use for at least six months. You do not have to produce bills or proof of consumption, and tado refunds the purchase price once it has the kit back.

"Save up to 55% more energy." The footnote says this is internal modelling comparing AI Assist against the free tado app. It is not a comparison with having no smart thermostat at all.

"Save up to £244 a year." That is 22% of an average UK household gas heating bill of £1,109 for 2024. The £1,109 comes from tado's own user base, citing Ofgem's Energy Consumer Archetypes Update 2024 and DESNZ statistics.

"Save up to 500kg of CO2 a year." That assumes about 13,600 kWh a year, at roughly 0.17 kg of CO2 per kWh.

A percentage of a 2024 bill does not automatically hold today. Bills have moved since, so read the £244 as tado's arithmetic on a two-year-old baseline rather than a forecast for your house. Our energy price cap coverage has the current figure, and Ofgem explains how the cap is set.

Installing it yourself

tado designs the kit for DIY fitting, and the app walks you through it. It tailors the steps to your boiler. The sensor needs no wiring at all: stick it up, screw it up or stand it on a shelf. The Programmer X is the part that meets mains wiring. To make that tidier, the box includes lever connectors and a pre-made cable.

If your system is more complicated, or if boiler wiring is not something you want to touch, tado will point you at a professional installer instead. Installation is not covered by the price above.

Specifications

Dimensions: Programmer X 96 x 156 x 27mm. Wireless Temperature Sensor X (2nd gen) 110 x 110 x 17.8mm.

Display: a 42 x 18mm LED matrix and an LED ring. It shows temperature and humidity at the same time.

Power: the sensor runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery charged over USB-C at 5V and 0.5A. The wireless receiver runs on 230 VAC.

Materials: polycarbonate and ABS, matte white.

Smart home: Matter and Thread. It works with Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant, so it fits alongside whichever smart speaker you already own.

Requirements: iOS 16.4 or Android 9.0 as a minimum. The app, instructions and software are in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch.

Warranty: two years, tado's Premium Direct-Service Warranty.

Accuracy: tado states that each room reaches its target temperature within 0.5°C.

What it costs, and where to buy the tado Smart Thermostat X

Both routes were £169.99 on 21 September 2026. tado ships free over £150, so shipping costs nothing at this price and £4.99 below it. Delivery is quoted at two to three working days, with 30 days of free returns. Amazon listed the kit as available to ship in one to two days.

Kit	What it does	Price
Wireless Smart Thermostat X (2nd gen) starter kit, with hot water control	The kit on this page. Sensor plus Programmer X at the boiler.	£169.99
Wired Smart Thermostat X (2nd gen) starter kit, with Bridge X	Replaces a wired thermostat on the same wires.	£159.99
Wireless Temperature Sensor X (2nd gen), on its own	An extra sensor for a second room.	£89.99
Smart Radiator Thermostat X	Per-radiator control, so each room can call for heat.	£74.99
Wireless Smart Thermostat X, first generation, with Bridge X	The older kit. AAA batteries, not rechargeable.	£159.99

One trap on Amazon. The colour swatch on the 2nd gen listing offers White and Black, and the black option is not a black 2nd gen. It is the first-generation kit, with a Bridge X and AAA batteries instead of the rechargeable sensor. Check the title says "2nd gen" before you order.

If £169.99 is more than you want to spend on a first smart-home purchase, a Tapo P110M smart plug costs a fraction of it and shows you where the electricity goes. It will not touch your heating, though.

Buy direct from tado, £169.99 Buy on Amazon, £169.99

tado Smart Thermostat X FAQs

Is the tado Smart Thermostat X worth it?

That depends on whether you will pay for AI Assist. Without it, £169.99 buys a well-made thermostat with remote control and per-room schedules. That is broadly Nest and Hive money. With it, you also get the geofencing and pre-heating the savings claims rest on, at £47.88 a year. Work out which of those two products you are buying before you order.

Does it work with my existing tado kit?

It works with every tado X product, including the first generation. It does not work with tado V3+ or anything older. A house already fitted with V3+ radiator valves would need those replaced too.

Do I need a subscription to use it at all?

No. The free app covers remote control, per-room scheduling, Quick Actions and Control Mode for your system type. The schedule sits on the device, so it survives an internet outage. AI Assist adds automation rather than basic function.

Is the USB-C cable included?

No. tado states plainly that the charging cable is not in the box. The battery is rechargeable and tado suggests charging it once a year. Any USB-C cable you already own will do.

What is the difference between the wired and wireless versions?

The wired model replaces a wired thermostat on the same wires, at £159.99. The wireless model is this one. It pairs with a receiver at the boiler, so the sensor can sit anywhere in the room.

How many customer reviews does it have?

None on tado's own shop, which still shows "be the first to write a review". It is a new product, so there is no independent owner feedback to weigh yet. That is worth knowing before you buy on the strength of the specification alone.

Will one kit control every radiator?

No. The starter kit controls the boiler and, where there is a cylinder, the hot water. Per-room control needs a Smart Radiator Thermostat X on each radiator, at £74.99 each. In a larger home tado also suggests an extra Bridge X per 100 square metres.

This page is a factual reference rather than a review. Nobody at CoolCuration has installed this thermostat, so there are no hands-on findings here. Prices, specifications and terms change, so check the retailer's own page before buying.

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