I get this magazine and there was a good article in the January 2008 issue. Here is the article:  http://www.ebmag.com/images/stories/PDFarchive/2008/01january2008.pdf

If you don't have high speed just go to www.ebmag.com and surf till you find it.

The article included comparaison between a high effiency house and regular house with programmable t-stats and typical settings.

Hope it helps.

I've had one for several years now and it took a couple of seasons to fine tune it for comfort. The wife is now "retired" so the daytime temp is not set back like it once was. You will find that you have to follow your circadian rhythm for the most comfortable settings.
I set mine at these four settings:
                       05:00  69F
                       12:00  70F
                       16:00  71F
                       23:00  69F

Here in Minnesota if we open the south window blinds up to capture as much sun as possible we end up with three warm sunny rooms and five frigid rooms since the thermostat gets fooled and no air circulation occurs with forced air heat. I know it's just this floor plan, but forget to shutter up after the sun goes down there is serious chill climbing in with us.

On the long firing times from setback recovery I agree with you. This year we raised the setback point from 62F to 65F and have seen a probable reduction in overall gas usage, maintaining the 65F overnight means overall shorter run time than the daily hour plus run to bring temperatures up suddenly. For the 30 day period ending mid-January the average temperature was 12 degrees lower, gas used was just 13% more than previous January for additional 40-cents daily cost with $141 gas used, for 42 daily average heating degrees versus 30 prior year. We were very surprised - nothing much else had changed in terms of insulation etc..

Assuming the natural gas meter was at zero when it was installed, I use exactly 1/2 as much natural gas as the previous tenants of the house.  We are all away from the house during working/school hours on weekdays, so the thermostat allows the temp to drop.  It also drops overnight, but not during the day on weekends, when we are around.

The issue of thermal mass is a tough nut to crack.  The variation in house temperatures during the day is only 4-5 degrees C (7 to 8 F).  The daily variation in external temperatures, where I live, is about 10-15 C (18-27 F), and in winter it falls in a range far below the house's mean temperature.  At -20C (about 0F) there is a wide gap between the house temperature range and the outside, no matter what time of day it is.

Tweaking the timing of the house's temperature changes according to the sun's schedule, instead of the family's schedule, may lead the "gremlins" to make adjustments of their own.

Unless away on vacation for several days, I wouldn't set the thermostat below 10C, because there are many subtle consequences of reducing the house temperature.  Pipes under the house hover between ambient and house temp, so reducing the house temp too much might allow them to freeze.  Plants, electronics, perhaps other things that don't come to mind right away, might be affected by long periods of cold.

Oh yeah, some houses have humidifying systems.  If the absolute humidity of the house is high, and the temperature drops, then the relative humidity can quickly go to 100%.  If this happens in the winter, ice can form on the insides of the windows.