Been doing simple lighting automation for years but recently moved to new home and ready to upgrade to a dedicated controller and expand a bit. Seem like Vera is a good place to start and I like avoiding subscription services. So would you recommend Vera3 or should I start with the Edge which seems to be future direction? Any advice is greatly appreciated. I am a software developer by trade so any tips for coders also appreciated.
I would start with the EDGE. It’s half the price and has more features. The 3 is discontinued anyways.
If you can find a deal on a 3, that is how I would go. You can roll-back to UI5 until UI7 is fully baked.
I had to make the same decision a few months back as my VeraLite just didn’t have enough memory. I went with the Vera3 - but I found a real deal on one from a known supplier… I think it will be hard to find a Vera3 new at this point…
One thing to consider is that future ZWave devices will likely use the extended feature set which is supported in the Edge but nothing prior (Vera 1-3, Vera lite). That said I have two Vera 3 units running so I’m going to have to move up eventually as new sensors/devices are introduced but right now UI7 appears to be more trouble than it’s worth 
Problem tho is if you roll back to old software (which is no longer being worked on) then you’ll never want to move up and when you do you’ll complain of the change. For a new comer I recommend to just get started on whats current ui7. Getting used to what your gonna be working with is alot better then training on a device that’s already outdated and stopped production then having to jump into the new stuff.
For us that have been around and already were running ui5 and have a stable system up and running its a different story.
I swapped out 2 vera Lites for edges now and I couldn’t be more happy. Some of my devices that didn’t work before (z-combo smokes don’t work with ui5) work now. Plus everything I had before works and I have double the RAM (don’t get a LITE).
Your just starting you don’t have alot of devices and it’s gonna be a learing phase to begin with either way. Why learn the old ui5 system then have to relearn ui7 later. Just start with the current and it will all fall in place. Most of the people that are unhappy were happy ui5 users that now have things different, changed, missing, missplaced in ui7. If you start with that you won’t know what it was before so you won’t have those same complaints.
Hope this makes sense.
I have to agree with @integlikewhoa on this. A newcomer has no prior expectations and will be best suited by starting with the newest hardware and software.
Older Veras and UIs make sense for prior Vera UI5 users or newcomers with very specific needs that UI7 is unable to meet. Those are going to be few and hopefully UI7 will be able to deliver on those needs by time it becomes a requirement or desire.
UI5 is essentially dead. It will go no further than it was at the release of 1.5.622 which was very nearly two years ago, at this point.
I have to say that UI7 is a lot better than it used to be, at least enough for me to migrate and I don’t see anything hugely problematic with it anymore so I would second Z-waver and Integlikewhoa. The edge is the more future proof choice, in addition, to working reasonably well already.
Also, more and more Z-Wave plus devices are showing up and they are working better with the Edge and UI7 in my experience. Have not tried them all of course, but for the once I did they just worked.
With the VeraLite and UI5 it can be painful to get the plus devices to work out of the box.
Cheers Rene