Controllers. What to buy?

Yes. Eventually, I hope to get the 5V stuff separated to one receiver. I bought a Genius receiver until I can get the Falcon Differential expansion card and receivers that I want. My yard is so spread out, that I’ll probably use 2 Differential expansion cards and 8 receivers, but Mega Trees and a lot of other props will have to wait for another year.
 
...to build a power supply box that I'll piggy back on the main box, so I can switch between 5V and 12V, depending on how I design my light show. I did...
You might consider configuring the Falcon for external power and give it its own supply. It wouldn't need to be a very large one. The advantage is that if you are switching between 5 and 12 volt systems there would be less worry feeding 12 volts to the Falcon if/when set up for 5 Volt. The V1 and V2 connectors on the Falcon can run at different voltages; only the V- is common between them. Logistically, little to no reconfiguration of the controller enclosure when changing to a different voltage.
 
Thanks for all of the input. I decided to go with a Falcon16V3 controller. I plan to build a power supply box that I'll piggy back on the main box, so I can switch between 5V and 12V, depending on how I design my light show. I did order a Genius receiver, just so I can play with more of the features of the Falcon controller. Reading only gets me so far, and I want to get more hands on experience. Expansion boards are in short supply, so I got what I could.

I found the 5' LED trees from Walmart, that were regularly priced at $150 for $37 each, so I bought 4 of them after Christmas. They are the reason I was looking at 5VDC options. DrZzs on Youtube has a good video where he connected the same trees to his DigiUno using wLED.
after using both the falcons and the genius controllers which one did you like using best overall?
 
after using both the falcons and the genius controllers which one did you like using best overall?
Genius is easy to setup, but fewer configuration options. I like the Kulp’s and Genius’ better than the Falcon. I’ve got a Falcon V4, 5 Geniuses and 5 Kulps—plus assorted ESP32 based controllers. Honestly, they’re all about the same.
 
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