Running it on my home-server via pip (no containers for me, thanks) I do not try the "kind-of-firmware approach, just different zfs volumes, with auto-snapshots and backups for bin (python venv), data and config. Mostly I have had issues upgrading HA but still even with my config at hand, written in org-mode and tangle-ed anyway to be less of a hell and to embed docs/references in the YAML hell, the main issue came from integrations only configurable from the WebUI. In most case it's just a matter of remove the configured part from the running config, add the integration from the WebUI, add back the config, reload etc. But it's still a PAINFUL process. Less hard than configuring via NixOS, but still hard.
As you rightly say HA works well enough and have less issues than OpenHAB, but as long as something less yaml-illish and webui-tied appear I'll switch instantaneously. My setup have probably far less devices than you, bus some have a gazillion of sensors (i.e. my main battery inverter a Victron MultiPlus with ECV charging station have at least 1248 lines of yaml, NOT counting the template code for many sensors usages) while it could be a simple python data structure of 1/5 of the size. My main usage is just monitoring and a bit of automation to maximize self-consumption like piloting hot water heater, running A/C etc, videosurveillance and co are managed separately.
Just as an example (no ads) https://kfx.fr/posts/2024-02-21-shellyfloodandha/ how is possible to demand such amount of line to get a damn flood notification on mobile?
As you rightly say HA works well enough and have less issues than OpenHAB, but as long as something less yaml-illish and webui-tied appear I'll switch instantaneously. My setup have probably far less devices than you, bus some have a gazillion of sensors (i.e. my main battery inverter a Victron MultiPlus with ECV charging station have at least 1248 lines of yaml, NOT counting the template code for many sensors usages) while it could be a simple python data structure of 1/5 of the size. My main usage is just monitoring and a bit of automation to maximize self-consumption like piloting hot water heater, running A/C etc, videosurveillance and co are managed separately.