As you say I think that perception is largely due to lack of experience with statically typed languages in general, and also maybe lack of experience with proje

As you say I think that perception is largely due to lack of experience with statically typed languages in general, and also maybe lack of experience with projects of non-trivial complexity and/or managing production code. Compile-time errors feel like an unnecessary hindrance when you're not familiar with them, but when you understand that they are replacing much more vexing and difficult runtime errors, you never want to go back.