Coming from SmartThings, and having played with VeraPlus for a couple days now, I thought I’d post my initial impressions. (I should point out that I’m a software engineer, and that certainly influences how I see things.) Perhaps this will assist someone else considering the same move… (This post is copied/edited/pasted from a similar post I made on the smartthings forum.)
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My first “Vera support” experience was many times better than ST. I called, someone answered, and not only did they seem interested in my problem, but they ALSO had a clue. Oh, and vera has a switch so they can remote into the local system and see/fix what’s going on. One phone call, and both issues (nest not authorizing and fibaro motion sensor not showing battery) were resolved within 20 minutes. (My average “report to fix” time with ST is > 2 days, and I still have open tickets over a year old today.)
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The UI isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. I suspect most people feel that the vera UI sucks because they think of the UI as a “remote control” thing, when it really should be a “set it up and don’t mess with it anymore” type thing. When used like that, it’s not so bad. (ST is still prettier, but it also crashes more often.) A HUGE difference is that the ST “UI” is purely a mobile app (with dev tools via a web browser.) On vera, the primary is via a web browser (and the mobile app seems like a poor afterthought.)
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For setup/configuration ease of use, ST is better. It’s just easier to use. Thankfully, I shouldn’t have to set things up more than once with the Vera. (Unlike ST, Vera seems to offer migration tools when they sell new hardware.) This goes back to the last point with the UI, but with the same conclusion: once I’ve set things up, I shouldn’t have to use the UI much. (Even for remote control on my mobile device, I prefer using android widgets via “sharptools” for ST and “autovera” for vera.)
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For raw power and flexibility (from a developer point of view), it can be a toss up. I’m already familiar with ST, so Vera is going to be more difficult to get going with. However, assuming I don’t run into major limitations, I expect that Vera will end up beating ST hands down. Not only is everything run locally, but I’m not reading reports on Vera forums of firmware updates constantly breaking API’s, etc. (It’s fairly common for ST updates, both firmware and server-side, to break API’s.)
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Migrating does require a mental shift. In particular, SmartThings “smartapps” don’t exist, but there are Vera “scenes” (that are NOT the same as generic z-wave scenes.) Vera scenes, depending on if you’re using the base firmware or something like “PLEG” that extends them, range from simple to very complex ITTT type rules along with lists of actions, conditionals, and triggers. If all else fails, you can always write custom code (that also runs locally.)
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The Vera community forum is a bit more difficult to navigate. My initial impression is that the primary reason is that vera is a much older product line than ST, so when you’re searching for something, you often hit threads that are very old (and out of date.) With the ST forums, the product line is only a few years old, and … well… nothing much has changed from a user point of view (and even from a dev point of view, most of the stuff that was broken 3 years ago is still broken.) I’m also running into snags with Vera’s forum where I’ve posted questions on this forum, and those posts sit for > 24 hours (so far) in a “hidden while waiting for moderator to approve” state.
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So far, the biggest negative in regards to Vera Plus: I can’t use my minimote as a secondary controller to include z-wave devices. That makes including/pairing low power devices (such as window/door sensors) that are a fair distance from the controller annoying.
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Another Vera “oddity”: The vera plus has a 802.11ac radio. I have no clue why. As far as I can tell, it has no purpose. Thankfully, it’s easily disabled. (I read somewhere that the wifi radio is useful when setting up without internet service/ethernet, but I read somewhere else that the wifi radio doesn’t for that. There’s lots of conflicting info out there…)
Take care
Gary