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I have 2 of the second gen nests. There is a plate that installs on the wall(with screws and attaches to the wire), then it kind of snaps into place on the mount. It feels pretty substantial, and I don't worry that it will pop off inadvertently. So while the nest itself is nicely built, I feel like the wall plate is kind of chintzy and doesn't really look "professional".

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The wall plate is only needed if your drywall is already has a large cutout. When I took my old thermostat off the hole was small enough that I just painted around it and was able to mount the Nest without the mounting plate. I agree, it doesn't look quite as good with the mounting plate.

agreed, and my wall did have an unnecessarily large cut out(house was built in 78 and it had some monstrous analog thermostat on it).

It's definitely better without the plate, but if you have a giant hole in your drywall, or it's not painted there, or what-have-you, it's nice to have the option in the interim.

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