Picture of an installed and operating RTH7600D Programmable Thermostat by Honeywell.

Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat Review

The Honeywell RTH7600d touchscreen thermostat works with central heating and cooling system, and costs about $80 at larger house and home stores like Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Amazon. Priced on the high side of fair, this computerized touchscreen furnace / air conditioner controller still clicks as it turns the climate control system on and off (like the Robertshaw 9415 digital thermostat I replaced with the Honeywell programmable) (reviewed here).  However, this sound is neither loud nor distracting as my thermostat is located in the living room, far away from any bedroom or other area where sleep or study would mandate a quieter operation.

Picture of an installed and operating RTH7600D Programmable Thermostat by Honeywell.
Honeywell Touchscreen Thermostat RTH7600D, front view.

The RTH7600D is a programmable thermostat that allows you to set up seven different programs; one for each day of the week. Each program supports up to four temperature periods.  For each period you set the time of day that that period begins and the temperature that you want the room to be during that period, and how you want the system fan to operate during that period.  Each day, including the weekend days, can be programmed independently of the others.  Or, you can program a group of days that you can individually select, in blocks.  Handy if you want to utilize one program for the week days, and another for the weekends.





Warnings and Cautions

This is a low-voltage thermostat device.  So do not try to use it on a line-voltage heating system such as electric baseboard heaters.

Benefits, Features, Advantages, and Pros of the Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat  

Owners Manual Included

Honeywell’s supplied installation instructions with the RTH7600D were easy to follow and straight forward, as was the case with the RLV430A that I installed on my baseboard heaters upstairs.

Quick Hookup

Honeywell thermostat models like this one, have nine screw terminals inside that supply control for multi-stage heating and cooling systems.  The climate control system here requires only six of these.  But hookup was nonetheless a breeze when the installation instructions are followed.

The Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat Easy to Install

Installing the Honeywell RTH7600D touchscreen thermostat took under thirty minutes and required only a Philips screwdriver since I was just replacing an existing thermostat, and NOT installing a new one from scratch.  However, unlike my previous thermostat, the Honeywell RTH7600D has a wall plate that you must fasten to the wall first.  This plate is where you make your wiring connections.  Then, the thermostat unit just snaps onto it.  No ground terminal is provided, as the RTH7600D is packaged in an all-plastic case; including its mounting plate. This simplifies installation.

 Battery Backup of Internal Memory

During power outages, the Honeywell RTH7600D touchscreen thermostat keeps all program data, and even retains correct time if you supply the two AA batteries.





Simple to Program

Even considering that this unit is programmable for each of the seven days of the week (which can make operation rather complex on some models), setting up and operating this thermostat was quite straight forward.

The Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat Offers Touchscreen Control

This unit has no actual buttons.  It instead, employs a touch screen, though which all thermostat functions are accessed.  So, there are no actual switches to wear out, corrode, or become dirty.

Rapid Response to Settings Changes

The unit responds within several seconds when you change the temperature set point, turning on the heater when you raise the temperature, and off when you lower the temperature, until the room temperature reaches the new set point.

Tight Room Temperature Swing

In terms of comfort, we like the tight temperature control of the RTH7600D, as it allows no more than a plus or minus 1 degree temperature swing in the room, before actuating the heater (turning it on or off).  While you cannot set this temperature differential directly, you CAN adjust the number of on-off cycles per hour for your climate control system.  This provides an indirect adjustment of the temperature differential, and experts say that the cycles parameter is a more effective adjustment in terms of comfort control.

Lower Energy Bills

As the Honeywell RTH7600D touchscreen thermostat limits the size of the temperature swings in the room, savings in heating and cooling bills should be significant. This is important when paying for central air conditioning, where much electricity is consumed anyway.

The Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat Comes with a One Year Warranty

This digital thermostat comes with a 1-year warranty and plenty of documentation.

Easy to Read Backlit Digital Display

The bright green back-lit display is quite easy to read in either lighted or very dark settings.





Disadvantages, Problems, Limitations, and Cons of the Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat  

Noisy Relay Switching can Distract

Surprising that a climate controller so advanced as this one still relies on relays for its switching functions instead of the more advanced solid state (and quiet) switching devices.  There’s really no reason that they could not have built the RTH7600D to be completely silent.

Needs Always-On Back Light

It would be helpful if you could program the back-light to stay on at all times instead of having to touch the buttons on the screen each time you need it.  In some of the newer models, like Honeywell’s WiFi Internet Enabled RTH8580WF thermostat, the back light does stay on. It just dims a bit after some seconds of no touchscreen activity.

Entire Screen Should be Touchable on the Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat

Also, the touch screen is only sensitive to touches where the buttons are.  However, when the back-light is not on, and the thermostat is in a darkened room, telling exactly where to touch in order to turn on the back-light can get a bit cumbersome.  Nice it would have been, if the entire screen was touch sensitive, as it is on devices like the Apple iPod Touch and iPhone.

Numbered Parameters Hard to Remember Without the Manual.

The settings use number codes (as in setting 120, setting 150, setting 300, and so on, instead of more intuitive descriptions as in ‘Year Setting’, ‘Heating Fan Control’, ‘Select System Type’, and so on.).  But with the advanced state of today’s touch screen technology, the need for these old-fashioned numeric codes should have long since passed.  The numeric codes mean that you must look up, in the installation and user’s guides, which code you should change for a particular function.  So, if you lost the manual, you might not any longer be able to program this unit completely.  Hopefully in subsequent models of this programmable thermostat device, Honeywell will phase out these numeric style settings codes, and opt instead, for plain-English menus and settings.





Not Blind Accessible

Not accessible to vision impaired users except for possibly through the Total Control website.  As is true with so many consumer electronics devices these days, no audio indication is given on the RTH7600D Honeywell touchscreen thermostat when the UP and DOWN, time setting, and programming buttons are pressed, which can complicate use by blind and vision impaired individuals.  Having and audible indication of all button touches would go far toward making this thermostat blind-accessible.

Our Rating for the Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat

Overall, We’re pleased with the Honeywell RTH7600D touchscreen digital thermostat. The unit works exactly as described in the operation manual, and it provides a plethora of adjustments to please everyone from the most casual user to the most technically advanced homeowners and apartment dwellers.  We would rate this thermostat at 96 out of 100.

Where to Buy the Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat

Look for this digital thermostat in the red and white plastic packaging at your favorite home improvement store, such as Lowe’s.

Related Posts to Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat

  1. How to Change Honeywell Thermostat Temperature Setting
  2. Honeywell WiFi 9000 Color Touchscreen Thermostat Review
  3. How to Calibrate Honeywell Thermostat Temperature
  4. Connect Honeywell Thermostat to Alexa, How To, 2019
  5. Honeywell Programmable Thermostat RTH7600D Manual
  6. Set Temperature Range on Honeywell Thermostat
  7. How to Change Honeywell Thermostat Temperature Setting
  8. Honeywell Thermostat Wiring Color Code
  9. How to Find Honeywell Thermostat Firmware Version
  10. Troubleshooting Honeywell Thermostat WiFi Problems

References for this Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat

  1. Honeywell’s Product Page for the   RH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat
  2. Where to Buy the   RTH7600 D Touchscreen Thermostat
  3. Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen Thermostat Reviews   on Amazon.com

Revision History

  • 2019-05-24: Added key phrase targeting for ‘Honeywell Touchscreen Thermostat RTH7600D’ and also added more tags and links.
  • 2017-02-23: Originally published.