Show & tell: gear recommendations worth the hype? [v3]

Quick context: I am relatively new to this and trying to find my footing.

There is a lot of conflicting advice online and most of it is from 2019. This came up at a meetup recently and the room was split, so curious what the broader community thinks.

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, mods please remove if it is not. Been thinking about this for a while and curious what the community thinks.