Vera Control VeraEdge North American One Application Control

Summary:I currently own/use 2 Vera Edge controllers. I've had one for my house for 3 years and more recently purchased a 2nd one for mother-in-laws beach house. The thing I like the most about the system is how it allows you to easily get started with easy to intermediate level functionality right out of the box with pretty intuitive interface, but from there you can get as advanced and complex as you want. I am tech savvy and big DIYer, but not a computer programmer and do not have the drive or time to learn how to write my own LUUP code (code langue used by Vera) and frankly I don't need to for my purposes. By leveraging some of the free apps in the marketplace I have figured out ways to accomplish any type of automation I would like and I have still probably only tapped a small % of the platforms capability.My take on the Alternatives:After using Vera for a while, I also purchased and played around with a SmartThings hub for a few weeks...it seems that there is a larger community of SmartThings users out there and I wanted to see what the hype was all about. My personal experience with SmartThings was that it was more difficult to get some of the more basic stuff done. There was a lot of copy and pasting of code, installing handlers, etc. just to get functionality on certain devices that Vera supported naively. I am not saying SmartThings is bad, and perhaps with more time I would have been converted, but it just was not the right fit for me and I was already getting comfortable with Vera. At this point I do not have plans to try out any other Z-Wave hubs. From my research, most other options appear to be geared toward more advanced users then myself.Back to Vera...:I have read through many reviews mentioning instability or issues with firmware updates and frankly that just has not been my experience. Iv put my 3+ year old unit through several updates with no issues. Again contrary to many reviews, I rarely run into issues pairing devices (never anything that I couldn't resolve quickly) and everything seems to function reliably. I cannot recall a single incident where something didn't respond or was noticeably delayed in responding. For context, my current network includes about 30 devices, including light switches/relays, door locks, thermostats, a water valve, smoke detectors and other sensors.Functionality:The native automation functionality (called Scenes) will provides enough to get some basic stuff done relatively intuitively. I say relatively intuitive because you do have give some thought as to what you are trying to accomplish and how that fits into the options available, but at its core, its a simple as "When X happens, do Y", but you can have multiple X's and multiple Y's. Things like turning on a light based on the time of day or state of motion sensor or even adding multiple conditions (or "Triggers") and multiple device actions are simple scenes to set up. More complex concepts could be accomplished as well with some creative thinking, but you, once you start getting into the free marketplace apps, you can really open up the possibilities. On the basic side, there is one called "Day/Night" which can let you time lighting scenes based on the local sunrise/sunset times to mimic the functionality of dusk to dawn sensor. Getting more advanced, there is VeraAlerts (a very robust way to customize notifications). My new personal favorite is Reactor. Admittedly, this one took me a while to wrap my head around because it is so robust (there is good documentation out there to read through) but it allows you to use some very complex logic without having to know how to code (things like multiple if/and/or type conditions and executing different actions based on different logic outcomes). This has turned into my favorite thing and I now do nearly all of my automation through it, simple or complex.User Interface/Mobile Apps:I generally find the user interface to be intuitive and useful, albeit there are some minor quirks here and there. I use both the Android and iPhone mobile apps - they both work fine, but some lack some of the functionality you get on the web based interface (note: you can load the full web interface from your phones mobile browser). I also use Imperihome which is a 3rd party dashboard compatible with Vera (similar concept to ActionTiles for SmartThings). I find myself using it more for day to day control and only going into the vera interface for setup items. Imperihome is perfect for creating a wall mounted tablet controller for your system. You can run it on an Amazon Fire, or other inexpensive tablet and customize various dashboard screens with system data and control widgets/icons. I do wish Vera had a more customization options for its dashboard, but the Imperihome integration works seamlessly.Device Compatibility:Finally, I just wanted to mention device compatibility. This hub should work any Z-Wave device (if you want Zigbee as well, youll need to look at Vera's other models) and there are 100's out there to choose from and many other internet connected devices. There are also many other devices with free app store plugins (Nest and Ecobee Thermostats, some smart sprinkler systems, burglar alarms among many others) to cover some of the specialties out there that do not come with native Z-Wave support. There are also modules available to connect standard "dumb" sensors and devices to the ZWave network. With a little creativity, you can probably come up with a solution for any use case you may have. Lastly, Vera does work with Amazon Alexa for voice control over most devices. You can also integrate most devices connect to Vera in to Alexa routines through the Alexa App. The initial set-up is a little convoluted, but once you are up and running, adding new devices is relatively simple. once itsConclusion:Long story short, Vera - and most Zwave/Zigbee automation hubs have a learning curve to achieve their full potential. If you are just looking to control a device or two, or just starting out with smart home tech, there are plenty of smart plugs, thermostats etc. out there that are simple to deploy and use their own dedicated app. If you do want to go down the hub/central controller route to have everything under one interface and working together - I am a big proponent for Vera.

I've been using my Vera 2 system since 2011 and upgraded to this new Vera Edge. I bought it in early Feb and added a few devices. I ran both Veras concurrently and waited for the firmware version 7.0.5 that came out early March to do the full upgrade to try to avoid issues. Upgrade went fine. Looks like they fixed a lot of things in the release notes. My device count has built up thru the years. I've got at least 15+ z-wave devices, 5 Dimmer and light switches (ge, schlage, leviton), 2 Trane Thermostats, 2 first alerts smoke detectors, 2 GE outdoor modules [great for x-mas lights], Aeon & Everspring water sensors, 2 Schlage door sensors, 1 siren, a few panasonic webcams connected via IP. Some brands work great, others I returned.I did my research on deciding which new z-wave controller to buy and don't see a clear leader but a lot of promise. So I decided to go with this controller. Its a good upgrade from my old vera 2 system and it seems like they're still putting resources into enhancing it and fixing its issues. Hopefully they don't stop since it has a lot of promise. I'm still getting use to the UI7 gui. It seems simpler compared to old UI5 interface (good thing). The adding device wizard is nice, it tells you how to pair the devices so you don't have to dig up the old instruction manual. Alerting works fine, I have a attic humidifer and when the line freezes, it leaks so that's saved me a few times with alerts to the app and a txt message.It doesn't come with an instruction book so you'll need to hit their website on how to do some stuff if you're new to this. I don't have a problem with this, this is not a mechanical device like a lawn mower. Most electronics don't come with paper instructions nowadays plus things are always changing with each firmware upgrade. My apple stuff didn't come with documentation on how to use it.Pros:-Can work without internet or if its down. I don't want to be dependent on cloud providers. What happens when the internet or provider goes down? It does need to connect to the internet to sync its internal clock on reboot.-Upgrade from Vera 2 went pretty well. I had to wakeup or re-pair some of the battery powered devices. I ran the Repair/Heal a few times.-Supports Z-wave Plus for the newer devices-3 weeks after full upgrade, still working, i haven't had to do any reboots or re-pair. <crossing my fingers>Cons:-No wifi client, you'll need to drag a ethernet cable around to pair. I wonder if the range to pair has increased? The wifi is currently a wifi access point (not a client). Hopefully a firmware release will change this.-iOS app needs work. Can't change thermostat settings thru app and it doesn't always get the latest update. I would turn a light on and the app thinks its still off. I change temperatures, it says it changed it but the thermostat still has the old number. My workaround is to just hit the Vera device's IP address directly.-Annoying device not responding messages. I have to figure out how to get rid of these or change the polling frequency.