i started with daz at 1.0. i recently upgraded to 2.1 i also have p5 installed as well. both have their pros and cons . i'm pretty happy with the results i've gotten from them both. what i do like about daz is it's simplicity.i think daz eventually will be equal to poser when the rumored material room and the ability to apply dynamics.there is a material style plugin in the daz forums though as well as new shaders to do sketch work and other effects like those mentioned above as well. in fact they are being posted at a rapid rate of late here,daz and  sharecg. 
 all in all daz continues to suprise me each time i open it to do an image.render times vary for me. i'd say anywhere from 15 mins to a couple hours in both daz and poser. i've learned to expect that each time i begin a project. 
 as a plus for daz. there are tons of content  available for daz and it's characters that poser plain and simple hasn't produced. this i think will be a major  draw for daz in the long haul