I totally agree.
+1 this... It's easy to overlook all the little connected devices throughout your house. Everything wants to use wifi nowadays. Start adding smart devices and you can really strain your AP's.
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Many routers designed for home use, even those using the WiFI6 AX protocol, will only handle 50 devices. If you need more than 50 devices, be sure to get a router capable of handling more. I have a Netgear Nighthawk WiFi 6 router that is designed to handle 100 clients.
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I made a relatively ignorant foray into HA, but I feel like the best advice I can give is start small. Try a brand or device or protocol that takes your fancy.... Enjoy the excitement of purchasing the "new shiny thing", but limit yourself initially, then look to ask questions (if not before you make the purchase). Work out what devices and protocols work for you. Then adjust..... If you have to change tack, so be it.... at least you haven't over-invested in an ecosystem before finding out it won't work for you....
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Wrong! Get all the things then find out what to do!
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That's true, we are all spending more time at home.... Spending less on travelling to the office.... Use that money wisely by filling your house with as many networks as you can......That way you can work out which one is right for you 
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It is important. I lot of routers just dump the oldest connection, with a build in software limitation, and that might be a switch. If you buy a router that says 150+ connections it is probably not software limited.
You are correct. I got my ■■■ kicked by setting up a mesh network that only allowed 50 connections and I ran in to problems with only a few WIFI switches. I like using the TP Link Deco mesh routers.....no issues so far with them.
It is good to get feedback because even if you start small; is it scalable to my entire house. You do not want to spend $1000 to find out it is not. Cheaper is not necessarily better.
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Sounds like what I did 
Good comment. This forum is great place to ask questions before you purchase.
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Zigbee has been the most reliable and has more range than Zwave for me. I have several zigbee switches and outlets in a building more than 100 feet from my house (location of hubs) which work reliably. I recently added a C7 Hub and moved all Zwave devices from the C5 to the C7. C5 is now all Zigbee and C7 is all Zwave. The only reason for Zwave is because the First Alert smoke/co detector is Zwave and the only smoke/co detector which I felt has a track record which is trustworthy.
Originally purchased Minoston plug with power monitoring mainly to use as repeaters. My experience indicates that the Minoston plug without power monitoring has significantly greater range as far as Zwave signal reception and are replacing the Minoston plugs with power monitoring. Stronger Zwave network definitely a priority over power monitoring.
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Great feedback on Zigbee and Z-wave
It does make one wonder what the decision tree is like for these companies deciding to go one way vs the other. I would assume this ends up being more financially strategic and/or political than technically rooted.
The one small advantage Z-wave has is its battery usage. That is probably why First Alert went that way.
Does this apply to the v2 of the 4 in 1's? I have 4 of the V2s' that I was using and pulled them after reading about the problems people were having, but I didn't know whether it was V1 or V2 of them.
Didn't seem to make a difference of my random slowdowns... REALLY slow down! Like 15-20 second response times vs. 1-2 second for the same sensors/rules/lights.
I'll let someone else chime in here since I don't have any. I just see people constantly struggling with them.
Are you sure they're the v2 700's? What do they say for firmware?
I have a few. They work well and batteries last a long time.
I need to re-pair them as I removed them to see if they were causing my hub slow down/delays, and I didn't notice any difference.
Still will get that info for you though.
Sure would be nice to be able to track down the slow downs though. Frustrating!
Don't know if it is too many rules/devices/other apps, without removing them, but guess that is the only way to find out!
Just back everything up FIRST then have my way with the Hub!
