How does the Hive Mini stack up against its rivals? Here we review this dinky and affordable option and turn up the heat on our honesty for the verdict.
Hive is one of the most popular thermostat brands on the UK market today and one of their standout products is the Hive Thermostat Mini, although you might miss it at first glance.
The Hive Thermostat Mini is considered a relatively affordable option - at around £60 cheaper than the regular Hive.
But what features are you forfeiting by opting for the mini as opposed to the standard model?
In this guide, we’ll be reviewing the Hive Mini thermostat, examining its features, costs and potential limitations.
Let's review...
Hive Mini Review 2024
Some of the key features of the Hive Thermostat Mini include the following:
Temperature range of 5°C to 32°C - ideal for the UK climate.
Daily heating schedules - set a heating schedule that suits your lifestyle.
Geolocation - it will turn off when it detects you are not at home.
Can work together with Hive smart radiator valves (sold separately) to allow multiroom control.
Holiday mode enabled. This doesn’t guarantee holidays.
Frost protection - helps to protect your heating system in sub-zero temperatures.
Smart hub included via internet connection.
A mini design measuring 85 x 22 x 85mm (WDH) (versus the standard models 90 x 37 x 90mm).
In this review, we’ve marked the Hive MINI review 4/5 in several areas, namely:
Reliability
Performance
Design
Guarantee/warranty
Price point
Reliability: 4/5
Based on online customer reviews, most users of the Hive MINI appear to be satisfied with their experience.
In fact, along with an overall score of 4.4/5 on Amazon, the Hive MINI has 73% five-star reviews.
With that said, tech support only receives a score of 3.6/5, which is fairly mediocre. Not quite worth quitting a day job for.
What’s more, Hive as a brand only has a mere 2.3-star score on Trustpilot with many reviewers citing poor customer service. That’s the sort of rating that would inspire Gordon Ramsay to a list of original insults.
Contradicting this, however, HIVE receives a 4.6-star rating on G2.
So, clearly, opinions on Hive are fairly mixed, albeit the Hive MINI in particular seems to have left most customers happy.
Hive offers a one-year guarantee with the Hive MINI which is fairly standard, with most thermostats having a 1-2 year guarantee.
All in all, while the Hive brand has mixed reviews online, the Hive MINI is generally popular among users and comes with a decent guarantee.
Therefore, we’re giving this thermostat a 4-star rating for reliability.
Performance: 3/5
Compared to its big brother i.e. the standard Hive, the Hive MINI comes with relatively limited smart functionality.
Unfortunately, it is not a learning device. And that doesn’t save you anything in tuition, either.
When you tap the centre O button, it shows the current temperature and enables you to increase or decrease the target temperature using the up and down buttons. At least it gets those right.
Additionally, it provides the option to turn the heating on or off and set a schedule, but those are the only available features.
This is the sacrifice made for a smaller "mini" and more sleek design.
The larger Hive Thermostat allows you to create a schedule directly on the device and activate a temporary boost mode by tapping a button located on its top edge.
Contrast this against the Mini, in which you can still perform all these functions but you have to do so via the Hive app on your phone or your tablet. On the bright side, there’s a good chance you’ll be on your phone anyway.
From the Hive app, you can take advantage of a range of additional features not available at the thermostat interface itself, these include the following:
Set and create daily schedules.
Turn the heating on and off.
Zone your home using the compatible Hive smart thermostatic radiator valves (sold separately).
Interface with Alexa, HomeKit and Google Home/Assistant and support for IFTTT.
Please be aware that you can access more features, but this involves subscribing to Hive Heating Plus.
This service enables you to access features including historical heating data and central heating efficiency monitoring.
This service costs £40 a year to subscribe and considering there is a lack of features, it doesn't seem worth it on the face of it. It also doesn’t come with any video, like many other subscriptions these days.
Another great feature of the Hive Mini is how well it works with thermostatic radiator valves, enabling you to create "heating" zones in your home.
Zonal heating is the concept of only heating certain zones e.g., rooms within your home, such as those that are in use e.g. maybe your living room in the evening as opposed to heating the full house. This allows you to leave your least favourite child’s room colder than the others’ (or simply save on your heating bill).
Overall, based on the performance perspective of the Hive Mini, we award it a respectable 3/5 in this area.
Design: 4/5
This battery-powered thermostat comes with a minimalist design and mirror finish along with an LED display. It’s no Rembrandt but doesn’t look all too poor on your wall.
When you’re not using the Hive MINI, it will present as a small mirror with only its arrows and centre circle toward the bottom of the unit on display.
It presents as a small square with rounded edges.
Along with being compact and minimalist, its touchscreen capabilities move it beyond the older generations of push-button thermostats.
This may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we think a touchscreen minimalist design is handier and more aesthetically pleasing. Of course, with the mirror function, it depends on you just how aesthetically pleasing it is.
Upon activating the Hive MINI, the display illuminates.
It will provide you with access to all the essential features (e.g. turning the heating temperature up or down or turning the schedule feature on or off).
Overall, we think the design deserves a score of four out of five.
More on the Hive MINI’s Key Features:
So, what else does the Hive MINI have to offer?
First and foremost, it is compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, an Android app and an iOS app.
As touched on, this thermostat works with a temperature range of 5°C to 32°C.
Notably, the Hive MINI is suitable for a combi, system and heat-only boilers alike, making it a viable choice for the vast majority of households.
This intelligent thermostat features a neat, modern design and is touchscreen-only. Its display doubles as an emergency mirror, but it’s not convenient for shaving or make-up needs.
This intelligent thermostat also comes with geolocation and holiday mode.
As for the former, this allows the Hive MINI to detect (via your smartphone, assuming you connect it) that you have left the home.
Check out the video tutorial below where we go over the instructions on how to use the Hive Mini:
This way, you can be notified if you accidentally left the heating on (but you’ll get notified if you did it on purpose, too).
Moreover, the Hive MINI can inform you that your heating is below an ideal level before you arrive home, meaning that you could turn your heating on while on the way home.
This means you could return to a warm, cosy property!
Holiday mode lets you decide what temperature your heating should come on when you’re away.
Related thermostat reading:
Beyond that, you could use this mode to tell your Hive MINI when you’ll be arriving back home and what temperature you want your home to be when you come back.
Other notable features include:
2-wire receiver
Daily heating schedules
Ready via pre-heating
Smart hub included through an internet connection
Frost protection
Guarantee: 4/5
As discussed, the Hive MINI offers a one-year guarantee.
Since most smart thermostats feature a guarantee of one or two years (many of which are costlier and more advanced), this is, in our view, a decent and reasonable length.
While it’s true that smart thermostat warranties generally last a relatively small fraction of the expected lifespan of the product, we’re satisfied with this guarantee and believe the Hive MINI should earn a 4/5 score on this front.
Price Point: 4/5
One of the best aspects of the Hive MINI is its fairly low cost.
With a price tag of £119, the Hive MINI is one of the more affordable smart thermostats on the market. It must have gotten a great deal on its education.
Of course, unsurprisingly, with a lower cost, the Hive MINI is not as advanced as most smart thermostats out there nor does it have as comprehensive a list of features as the competition tends to. It’s also not smart enough to do your taxes for you.
Nonetheless, we think this fairly low cost should earn it a score of 4/5 in terms of value for money.
The primary and larger Hive Thermostat costs £179, making the MINI about 33% cheaper.
As for the total cost of installation, between the price of the Hive MINI and the cost of labour, you’d probably end up spending somewhere in the region of £150 to £240.
For reference, the average smart thermostat installation price range is closer to £230 to £270.
Our Verdict on the Hive MINI: 4/5
While the Hive MINI may not be as advanced as many larger smart thermostats out there, for almost £120, it is a fairly reliable product with all the essential features you’d expect from a Wi-Fi-enabled thermostat. It also gives you another excuse to be on your phone.
It also has potential for those who want a more sophisticated smart heating system since it allows you to expand and benefit from zonal heating/room control with thermostatic radiator valves.
The Hive Mini, of course, falls short in some areas, including the fact that you must connect to the app to enable all features and that, ultimately, it does not have as many features as the average smart thermostat.
All in all, though, we think it offers pretty good value for money.
Also, its minimalist design is an added bonus as is its decent guarantee.
Overall, we think the Hive Thermostat Mini deserves an overall rating of four stars out of five. No gold stars or stickers this time.
If you’d like something more advanced, the larger Hive Thermostat may appeal to you.
However, the Mini is great for those who want to get in on the smart thermostat game, but are looking for a more affordable option.
Of course, paying more money will generally mean better quality and more durability, but the Hive MINI may be completely sufficient for many would-be buyers.
