I will admit that using HA has been a good experience with a few horrible (config/update issues) memories. But, even so, it’s a home automation system that I am in control of and can completely customize and has a vast array of supported devices.
When I first started using HA my rather old Z-Wave thermostat (I was an early adopter of Schlage Home Automation which later became Nexia) that was not well supported and required some custom YAML to even just get close to what was native to Nexia. Yet, today, there is not one facet of that ‘old’ Zwave thermostat that is not supported and functional in HA.
Though I got rid of my Zigbee devices primarily because they were not supported at the time in HA, that too has changed and you now have the option of Z-Wave or Zigbee in HA.
Garage Door support and automation were still being talked about with a couple, kind of crude, work around’s to get a makeshift set up. Yet today, it is for the most part fully supported. In fact, I think I have a better set up now with my Forez Mimolite and a tilt sensor than I had with Nexia and the Linear Garage Door Opener
Amcrest cameras are another such device that has made leaps and bounds. It used to be that when I went to the tab with my cameras on it, the image was rather slow to display. Now, it seems nearly instantaneous. Along with the motion, sdcard, PTZ presets now being a part of HA native support.
The process is sometimes incredibly frustrating as an end-user, and while I still wish some time were taken off development to work on bringing the documentation to the same level, overall there is simply no better system out there and to get anything anywhere near as good commercially I think you would have to spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to get. Even so, I doubt you would have the vast component support that HA has.
Good work you guys and gals that all work on this to make it happen.