For what it's worth, an umbrel node 'out of the box' with a few private channels works really well. it's easy to open the channels, I almost always find routes and it's trivial to use with a phone. That way you have a lightning node running 24/7 that you can use with the rest of the Lightning ecosystem.

they are private channels they are not for routing but it's good enough for stacker news/nostr/buying a coffee etc