Finally gave up googling and decided to ask people with real experience.
What bothers me most is how hard it is to find real, unfiltered opinions. Forums like this are honestly more useful than any best-of list I've found.
The main problem I keep running into is not knowing who to trust or where to start. There's a ton of conflicting advice out there and half of it feels like it's from people who want to sell you something.
Appreciate advice from people with actual firsthand experience.