I’ve been doing a lot of research and reading with the desire to automate my home. On paper, the Vera 2 seems like the most versatile z-wave controller product out there but… reading these forums it doesn’t seem like a very mature product (lots of different issues and problems) and customer service sounds a little iffy (many people have not been getting timely replies). Is that an accurate statement?
This is only my opinion, but i’ve been very very happy. I did have one hiccup with my unit and it reverted to a secondary controller instead of a primary controller. I had to reset, exclude (remove), and the re-include (add) all my units 20+. It took me about an hour to re-do. I looked around for other options before moving to Vera as well, and I’m happy I went with Vera.
Tech support has been timely (replies within 24 hours) for all my issues. I don’t expect immediate replies from ANY tech support (except Apple). I’ve been happy with it. Also, these forums have been paramount to my success and happiness with Vera. Ask how to do something, how to configure something, etc. and someone normally replies within a couple hours. It’s been great.
So the million dollar question of if I would buy Vera 2 again if I could go back in time is YES.
That’s my two cents.
Thanks for your prompt response. Did you ever figure out what caused the hiccup so you can prevent it in the future? An hour to re-do everything is a pain if you have to do it once, not worth it at all if it becomes a repeat problem.
Having owned my Vera for around a year, and having the additional insite of being a Vera beta tester, I can say that this is the most complete Z-Wave solution around (without going crazy with cost).
As for the problems and issues you see on the forum, you must always keep in mind, that people typically post PROBLEMS on forums. They ask questions when something’s not right for them. What you typically don’t hear about are the happy customers. They typically don’t post about all of their success.
I say give Vera a try. You’ll probably really like it once it’s all set up.
I have been a vera 2 user for 6 months now and also a beta tester. I have been pretty happy with my unit. A few hiccups in the beginning, but all in all, I am satisfied. I also wanted to add that many bugs are being fixed as we speak and the stability of the unit will only improve. Hopefully this will be passed on to everyone soon.
The cost of the vera versus other products i.e. homeseer etc have vera in a whole different league. Most other solutions require a computer to be on at all times and the cost of the software are 2x-5x of what vera cost. If you buy from a authorized dealer like Vera themselves, ASI, etc, you can try the product out and if you do not like it you can return it.
- Garrett
I started my home automation project with VERA1 (got tired of X10 technology) and I am know a very happy owner of a VERA2; having said that, owning a VERA unit comes with its own set of headaches.
As you can see on this forum; many of the questions are answered by senior forum members that are always willing to help. Contacting MCV for support is sometimes a challenge, but I have personally been pretty lucky when reaching out to them. As other members of the forum already said, give VERA a try.
Vera is not perfect and requires investment of your time and energy. In return it makes you home closer to the 21st century house, brings more comfort and last but not least, a lot of fun, it’s a great hobby!
It’s getting more stable and mature and I’ve seen major improvements over the last year, but there are still some things that could be improved. There is no doubt a heavy time invesment if you have a large network. My biggest issue has been rebuilding the network due to a Z-Wave issue somewhere in Vera and it shifts to a secondary controller all by itself. This is still a mystery, but again, I’m a beta tester for them and have been using Vera and Z-Wave for a few years now. It’s a fantastic device and has so many wonderful possibilities…
Im using it for door locks, notifications, motion sensors and strobe alarms to keep away stray animals and intruders, watch pipes and crawlspaces for freezing temps and send me alerts and turn on the strobe siren. I also am now using the google weather plugin to watch for snow, turn on the heat tape on the roof automatically, and off 24 hours later on clear conditions. It’s awesome. BUT - Vera does every now and then miss a scene, fail to turn something on or off, and that’s when it hurts.
Go for it!
Good that you are doing research so that you have the right expectations.
I have a fairly minimal implementation; about 8 standard switches and a couple of motion detectors/temp sensors, which I bought for a vacation home. My access is ONLY via remote at this point. There are quite a few ‘bugs’ and the system reliability is only ‘fair’. Although this is to be expected for a fairly new HA product, I am surprised/disappointed that the schedule for system updates is very lean and communication about them is virtually non-existent.
Only move forward with your decision if you understand that you will bear the brunt of being an ‘early adopter’ and the future of the product is unknown. I have considered it an easy entry to the z-wave technology where I could assess it for a fairly low cost. I would definately NOT consider it ready for prime time nor would I depend on it for any mission critical systems such as security or access control.
Confessions of a Vera addict : you will love it, you will hate it (sometimes) in the balance it’s a heck of a lot of capability at a great price, I say go for it (given caveats mentioned in other posts) it’s great fun and even useful most of the time,lol 8)
My 2 cents: MCV and Vera went through some difficult yet important growing pains in 2010 (UI3, UI4, Vera1-to-Vera2 transition) Hopefully they will soon put that in the past, but until they do, it can still be a challenge unless you’re a bit of a techie willing to wrestle with some of the inconsistencies that Vera and UI4 still suffer from.
Personally, I’m hoping 2011 will soon bring a myriad of improvements (both in the technology and in MCV’s communication) that will make us glad we stuck around.
I’m a newbie to Vera 2 and have just recently started using it in anger.
In my view it is a potentially very powerful product. I have elected to install a considerable amount of home grown Luup code for an HVAC Zwave project and it has performed very well.
That said, implementing it in this way makes for a complex solution which will not be of interest to the majority of folks. The trade off is a highly controllable almost totally automatic solution which has the potential for considerable savings in energy costs.
My only significant beef is that the UI is not particularly intuitive nor is it easy to use.
Overall though I made the right decision.
I had vera1 and it worked great.
Switched to vera2 and for the past 3 months, nothing is working.
Tech support contacted me only once. I spent thousands of dollars in my modules. It’s all useless now.
Switching to HomeSeer.