Pretty much this. I'm very new to microcontrollers and hobby electronics but I've been doing some projects with addressable LEDs and such over the past year.

Pretty much this. I'm very new to microcontrollers and hobby electronics but I've been doing some projects with addressable LEDs and such over the past year. Adafruit is great for tutorials and forum help and they ship quickly in the US and have some level of protection against defective gear. When I need to order reels and reels of LED strips? Sure, if I have the time I will hit up Aliexpress or something like that because I can get a few 5m spools for the price of half a spool from Ada. But if I need a part that's $5 on eBay/Ali and $10 on Adafruit, I'm just as likely to spend the extra money for fast shipping and support even though the relative markup is high. It's kinda like how I'd still run out to Best Buy or Radio Shack on the rare occasion that I just wanted some small connector or part that day rather than waiting 2-5 days for Amazon to ship it to me for less.