I got my first ESP this year. Just getting the IDE set up, testing the first demo project and overally getting accustomed to it took me half a day, if not more.

I got my first ESP this year. Just getting the IDE set up, testing the first demo project and overally getting accustomed to it took me half a day, if not more. Saying the design takes 10 min is only true if you already sunk tens of hours into the ecosystem. Sure, if you got the tools and spent time learning it (and dont count it towards the final cost) you can do it cheaply with ESP. For many people going with $50 board thats gonna trully 5 min setup out of the box can actually be cheaper