I have to say that HA might win in the looks department, but after tinkering with HA, I’m happy to have HE any day of the week…
While HA might have some unusual devices that are supported, HE just seems to do everything much simpler and more straightforward. For example, just setting up Xmas light scheduling in HA has been an unnecessary nightmare. I wanted a particular light to come on and off during certain times of a day, let alone the course of a week. Was there anything built-in that could accomplish it easily enough? No. That’s where HE’s Basic Rules (simple automation or RM) readily win.
Adding a new device in HA? You have to go through window after window, or downloaded adding, etc. Another pain in the butt.
Alexa/Echo integration in HA? Not easy without paying for a cloud subscription. I managed to do it independently, but it wasn’t simple. I had to do all kinds of port forwarding and dealing with SSL certificates, addons, some coding, developers accounts, etc. HE on the other hand is just a simple matter of turning on the built-in app.
Anyways, I’m glad I have both up and running but I can’t really complain about HE. No system is perfect, but overall HE has been a solid device.
