What is it?

A smart home system designed to revolutionise your energy usage by allowing remote access to control your central heating and hot water.

The key components comprise a boiler receiver, wall-mounted wireless thermostat and internet router connected hub.

Good points?

Convenience in any smart home appliance is vital to its success and Hive promises this in abundance. Having the means to either schedule or turn on your heating system from your phone anywhere is a practical technological innovation.

Setting a baseline temperature is a fantastic way to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of your home energy usage. You can leave the house safe in the knowledge that your heating/boiler will automatically kick-in if the temperature drops below the set limit.

The Hive smartphone app is easy to use and allows you to control and monitor all the functionality of the system as if you were inside your home.

Bad points?

The system requires professional installation rather than being a simple DIY job.

A quick straw poll of user grumbles on internet forums deduced that intermittent connection between the three elements is a frequent issue.

Communication failures between the Hive devices were a daily occurrence on the system I tested and resulted in multiple calls to the Hive technical support team.

Best for ...

Those seeking flexibility and convenience when remotely controlling their smart home devices. It's ideal for getting things cosy at home before leaving the pub or bingo. The promise of energy savings is also an attractive proposition.

Avoid if ...

You require stability from your smart-home centre as this has proved largely elusive in the system tested.

Score: 6/10.

Hive Active Heating, £249 (hivehome.com)