Feel free to ping me or send a note to support@sharptools.io if you need help with anything!
And nice avatar! Happy Revenge of the Fifth! 
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Thanks @rlithgow1 ! Great tips.
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I've been treading carefully to make sure I'm building a quality mesh. -
Z-wave firmware updated.
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Hue lighting is sitting comfy on the Hue Bridge, with Hubitat sending commands via the "Hue Bridge Integration" app.
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Good to know about the quality of Lifx bulbs. Never would have thought to try them, so thanks for the tip.
This stuff is so much fun and I lurve this community. You guys rock.
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Thank you for the tip, Sensei. It's just so difficult to take baby steps, when all I want to do is FLYYYYYYYY. [Arms stretched out, with my Hubitat hugging my back like Lois Lane.]
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Thanks @Sakman. Yep, I'll be sure to poke around in Basic Rules first, so that I'm not trying to drink from a firehose.
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Look at cocohue integration too..
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I just read all of the great advice that you've received about Hubitat.
I know that you will find the Community to be a source of great ideas, inspiration, and advice.
About the Dashboard, I'd like to make a few recommendations:
- In general, I've found that "the Hubitat approach" is to minimize use of dashboards - as you use the product, yo will find this to be the case, due to many factors (including the outstanding home automation tools in hubitat - basic rules, simple automation rules, motion lighting, rule machine, etc.)
- however, if you really need a dashboard, there are many excellent alternatives:
- the platform agnostic type: Hubitat's own, SharpTools, ActionTiles, HomeRemote, etc.
- only for Android: the Joe Page Android Dashboard (my favorite if your users have android)
- only for IOS: the built-in HomeKit (with the Maker/HomeBridge bridge to it)
May I suggest waiting on a dashboard until you have your mesh and automation done the way that you want them. As you can see, there are many excellent alternatives.
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There is a rabbit hole of fun, frustration and awesomeness awaiting with HE's powerful "Maker API" capability that allows you to connect to "secondary" systems like Homebridge.io, Node-RED, Home Assistant etc..
You have been warned!
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There's plenty of other rabbit holes right here 
Welcome to the incredibly helpful and welcoming Community @derning. I know I've only added a GIF to this conversation, hopefully I can contribute something more meaningful to this conversation.... 
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One of your more innocent posts.... That wasn't an invitation btw...
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Like others hear have mentioned, kudos for posting questions like you have, taking the time to research and better understand the platform.
Like @hydro311, I started on Hue, setting up many of my lighting rules on te Hue bridge, eventually using All4Hue for more fine-grained control, but then other options became too compelling, like contact sensors and modes (who'd have thought such a simple concept was not available on such a big-brand platform like Hue...).
As far as lighting, like others I would suggest looking at Coco-Hue or the Advanced Hue Integration, if you intend to keep your lights on the Hue bridge.
Re Dashboards, there is a lot you can do with the built-in dashboards (another ) , but typically those who want something more will start to look around, including here on the Community. There is a lot you can do if you are prepared to spend some time navigating the rabbit hole.... As much as I might want to promote my own creations, or the efforts of others in CSS styling, if you are not inclined to tinker with dashboards yourself, then other options may be something you pursue....
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Smartly. Drag & drop, appealing look. Free.
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As my previous post stated, in general "The Hubitat Approach" minimizes the need/use of dashboards.
However, I recently finished doing up a system, which requires the use of a dashboard (or other input). So, the following is an excerpt from my user manual for this system where dashboards are required:
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Notifications & Activities:
In general, the system indicates that an alert has been set by notifications: by voice, by sms text message, by email, by flashing lights, by siren (or by some combination of these). As well, the system sets a switch to “on”. The switch is named after the type of alert, so a water alert sets the switch “Alert Water” to “on”. The way in which the user notifies the system that the cause of the alert has been resolved is by turning the particular alert switch to “off". This may be done via using the dashboard, or by voice control input (“Turn Alert Water Off”). This will cause the Alert condition to be cancelled, and regular activities will be resumed.
...
{Any suggestions to improve that last paragraph, is appreciated.}
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I would definitely agree there are ways to install and use a Hubitat that minimizes the need/use of dashboards, but I would also say there are ways to install and use a Hubitat that emphasizes the use of dashboards. I would not consider one or the other to be "The Hubitat Approach".
I think it all boils down to the difference between using a Hubitat to "Home Report" vs. using it to "Home Automate". Dashboards and notifications are nice features when you are interested in "Home Reporting". Some of the things I have my HE report on: Daily, weekly, and monthly water usage / remaining life on: furnace filter, water filter, air filters / weather and inclement weather / battery levels / indoor and outdoor air quality / sewer-line health / etc...
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The "Hubitat Way" is using the stock drivers/apps and compatible devices.
The "Hubitat Community Way" is a widely varied and creatively put together ensemble of random devices of inconsistent quality, hacked drivers and apps, connections to secondary servers and cloud devices all in the glorious pursuit of the perfect "Home Automation", "Home Control" and "Reporting" system.
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Great, thanks for the advice. Bookmarked for further research and tinkering. Cheers to you!
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Also look here
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Good resource. Bookmarked for study time tonight. Thank you!
