Generally I'm one of the last people to defend Apex stuff, but I can offer some insight that might at least make you reconsider a controller in general.
One of the things about Apex is it looks really intimidating to somebody who doesn't have a coding background. If you do, it's honestly really easy. If you don't though it can be downright scary.
The nice thing about stuff like this is all you need to do is create a thread here or possibly even contact APEX themselves and people are always very willing to help. Even I have to admit their CS is pretty good.
So while setting it up is still challenging (thought it has gotten a lot better with the tasks menu) once setup properly you don't have to worry about it anymore. The other great thing for just BASIC setup is there are videos ALL OVER youtube. Reefers here want to see other reefers succeed, so if you do eventually decide to get one, all you have to do is ask and folks will help get you straight.