1. There is no subscription.

2. I paid less than $200 for it.

3. The device lets me control the thermostat remotely. I can turn on the heater when coming home from a trip, or turn it off if I forgot when I left.

4. I can just say "Hey Google, turn up the heat" out loud.

I don't care if Google knows about the temperature of my home. I absolutely would buy the product again.

Nest before Google (Nest Gen 1 and 2) was a small tech startup.

Please don't fulminate on HN. You can make these points without the rage; the guidelines require that if we're going to participate here. They also ask us to avoid generic tangents. This post is about an open-source firmware to run on devices, not people's motivation to buy the devices in the first place.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Where did you get the idea there was a subscription?