To clarify: I believe Vera still let you decide whether not to accept an update. So many of their customers who need high reliability just postpone updates until the bugs have been cleared up.
Cloud-based architectures like SmartThings generally push updates whether you want them or not. So it’s quite a different customer experience in that regard.
Which is why I think we’re starting to see a push towards non-cloud HA solutions.Local processing, option to defer updates, events still fire if there’s no internet available (or the cloud mucks up). Also, with non-cloud HA solutions (maybe something that runs on a Raspberry Pi), your scheduling is done with a real cron, and not a virtual timer.
(I’m most salty on the lack of reliable scheduling in my experience as an ST owner (over 14 months so far)). My cron based Python scripts that interact with the ST API are more reliable, however not easy to manage on the fly nor are they wife friendly.
Oh and here’s a shocker, you can actually backup your config and devices and restore it… to a different vera plus… Hmmm… Oh and you can change the zigbee channel. So you can freely try betas, fall back to more stable software, switch hubs and yes, schedules run as long as the device is up (not connected to the internet). Scheduling should just work, the fact that ST never got that concept… I will never know… Scheduling should be local with triggers to the cloud, not the other way around.
Damnit! Now in I’m going to have to buy one and try it out!
Just great!
What is this Vera you speak of? Can it make coffee? Can I write code in it to take my dogs out?
I wonder if any of these concerns have been resolved with the latest firmware they pushed? Reasons to NOT switch to the VeraPlus controller and STAY WITH SMARTTHINGS!
The UI sucks, plain and simple. It’s not user friendly, hell I had to engage support to get the thing up and running. However, as a developer, this thing is 100% hackable. I have full ssh control over the box, including the root password (on the bottom of the device).
But, the UI was never meant to be used, it was meant to automate, triggers, schedules, etc. Things that should “just work”. And with vera plus, they do just work…
Yes, the zigbee implementation is very green, motion sensors just show up as motion, secondary functions like battery level and temp are not exposed in the UI, but they are available for triggers (in scenes)…
The Hue integration is good.
The Sonos integration is 100%. including playlists, grouping of devices, announcements, etc.
Cameras are good, but can be better… Again, with the UI sucking its painful.
Full API, full access, truly open programming language, based on xml and json with html and js ui elements.
Weakspots, notifications, UI, easy setup, slow zigbee improvements.
There is no perfect solution, but if you want a solid UI and a reliable local schedule and offline usage, the combination of a Vera Plus and ST could be pretty close.
As I learn the Vera LUAP architecture, I am sure I will be able to create a way to bring ST and Vera devices back and forth pretty easily.
If the UI sucks, then why Vera over HomeSeer?
HomeSeer’s UI is horrible, but super reliable (I’m running HomeSeer in a 30 day demo right now and like it, but the bad UI is a deal breaker). HomeSeer also has a JSON API, so a custom web UI is doable for someone who wants to develop it
Every system has pluses and minuses. Homeseer has no Zigbee sensor support. Vera plus has some. SmartThings has a lot.
Ok, you convinced me to get one! Wait I already ordered one, two hours ago. lol
Hey @bamarayne check this out
Homeseer has no zigbee support. The vast majority of my devices are zigbee. Vera Plus at least gives me a second option for zigbee support for those devices.
True. I only have 4 Zigbee devices, so I considered it to be low priority. How do you plan to make Vera and ST talk to each other?
Same way I got ST and Control4 talking, create a smartapp to get devices from Vera and create them in ST as virtual devices and then do the same thing in reverse into vera.
Sure, sounds… easy 
I’ve already done it for control4, It’s not easy, but it can be done.
I love that you can write local text files in vera… check this out
http://www.vesternet.com/resources/application-notes/apnt-43#.Vor-7ZTUf0M
this gives you a list of devices by id, in a local text file you can either grab via ssh or call up on a webpage.
Logging is perfect on the vera plus… ST could learn a lot if they would allow us to write out text files
My Vera Plus is sitting in a box again. I have no complaints about the reliability and the integration with LAN/IP devices is fantastic (Hue, Sonos, Weather Underground are rock solid). The UI is just so bad (very slow, it’s hit or miss if the changes to scenes actually save or not, it take multiple attempts to add a device, changing one scene can screw up another scene). It is exactly the same as when I moved from Vera to ST almost 3 years ago. They have made no improvements since then.
I can almost put up with it but my wife refuses to use it. She actually likes ST’s app…
I’ve been reading a lot of this on the web about the slow responses to scenes
So, who’s gonna write the vera version of askAlexa?
@bamarayne , how do you know these two, Vera and Alexa?
