You are correct on your skepticism of smartrise.

If you want the best reliability, longevity, and completely non proprietary support, I would recommend either the MCE motion 2000 controller or a Virginia controls MH-3000 controller.

I've heard good things about alpha but to me they just got started and its never a guarantee when companies are starting out. VA controls and MCE are the top of the market for high reliability hydro applications and have been around for decades.