You're entering the market at a time when just about everything is changing and up in the air. Smartthings is one of the top options right now. Vera is another. Both have issues, but both are also awesome compared to no automation. Insteon as a standard is old but still functional and kinda expensive, X10 is older still and really only useful as a legacy standard. zwave has been the most popular of the new standards over the last few years, but there are others out there. The main thing is to find a hub or controller that can control the most options, so you maintain flexibility and don't end up throwing everything out in 3-4 years as the new stuff gets released fast. Home Depot and Lowes have similar standards, Nest/Google has one, Amazon's Echo platform is emerging, and of course Apple is set to release something soon. Wink, Raspberry Pi, lots of options, no wonder it's hard to sort them out, eh?

My "network" right now is a mishmash of all sorts of things. zwave home automation using vera and 2gig, security system is linked in, garage controls and secondary door locks in a few places are linked, security cameras are linked in, iphone controls everything, voice activation is a bit spotty with the amazon echo. It works pretty well but I am looking to upgrade my controller. Almost went smartthings, but am waiting probably another 6-12 mo to see what else comes out.

For most people, I'd say buy Smartthings right now, and stick with more open options for switches like zwave, so that you're more or less guaranteed they'll work with something you upgrade too later.

If you're a big Mac guy though and have bought into the "Apple way" then you might hang tight a bit longer and wait to see what all Apple has to offer in the next year or so. It's not personally for me due to their general proprietary-nature, but I'm sure what they do release will be pretty slick.