Vera Control VeraPlus-US Smart Home Controller Hub, 7.71" x 5.0" x 1.33", Black

I have used their controllers for about 5 years now, and have installed 3 separate systems. My personal system has around 90 individual nodes from multiple manufactures and about 98% of the time the controller works as promised. Updates usually do come out with added third party equipment that is able to run on their system, and once every few months I power cycle the unit to keep it's memory clear and it keeps working well. Their service is hands down some of the best I've dealt with. I had a problem after a firmware upgrade and had to call their service line. Turns out, I needed a specialist for my situation. Within an hour or so a tech called me and after some typical "restart the unit" conversations it was clear that something more was going on with the unit because he was unable to access it remotely from his station in their offices. Nor was I able to do anything from my personal computer using the regular GUI I had become so accustomed with. I allowed the tech to remotely access my computer at home where he was able to log into the unit, determine the problem and fix it all while I watched. Turns out, since I had upgraded from an older unit to a new one, and then updated the firmware a number of times that somewhere in there whole blocks and sections of code that controlled the unit had gone missing. It probably happened when I lost power during a firmware upgrade... Nevertheless, I was on the phone with the tech and watched him upgrade, repair and manually type in lines of code into my unit for about 90 minutes and all the while he was friendly and helpful, and explained what he was doing and why while I watched. It turned into a little education session and it was clear the tech knew more than just the standard GUI user interface. The unit works great now, and after 5 years of experience I would recommend their products to friends and family, and commend their customer service.

I bought this controller to replace a Vera 2 unit that had been in service since 2011. There were numerous opportunities to upgrade with trade ins, but this unit was rock solid for me, and after it was upgraded to UI5 it rarely would give trouble. For years I was able to control via PC or my Android phone, but this past December my Android phone died, but the Vera 2 unit kept going. I was given a hand me down IPhone to which I had an adjustment period to deal with. One of the problems was that the apps for Vera 2 on IOS did not function correctly as they did on Android. I felt that I should upgrade so I can use the home automation with the slightly used phone I was given. I went out and bought a Wink hub 2, which set up great but did not have the functionality of the Vera 2, but I lived with the quirks until I noticed the nodes started to fall off the network. I would in-pair and then re-pair at least several times a week which got old quick. I knew I had made a mistake going to the Wink, so I unpaired everything from it and put the Vera 2 back in service. I used it with my PC for a few weeks, and then decided to purchase the newest Vera which IOS had an app that worked with it. I bought the Vera plus, knowing it had the latest user interface UI7, and being Vera it had to be similar to the Vera 2 unit. After I received my new unit I plugged it in and set up all the nodes, next I set up scenes like I had on my Vera 2 unit and to my surprise it was a snap. Having worked with Vera before it was very familiar to me, and I was used to where and when things needed to be tweeked. All my existing nodes paired, including a Remotec repeater that I could not ever get to work correctly, except after it paired with the new unit. As other reviewers have commented, this unit is for people who take home automation as a hobby, and want to expand and learn it, but if you want something simple and just want basic security for locking and unlocking doors, turning on and off lights, then try Samsung Smart things or the Wink hub 2. I can honestly say that I know I will have many years of performance with this unit, since it is built off the older units platform. One drawback to Vera is that their documentation is not the greatest, but they were only a phonecall away for some tech assistance.