I for one still have plenty of esp8266 based nodemcu/wemos around the house, they still do just fine for most hobbyist purposes and the RTOS SDK is just as plea

I for one still have plenty of esp8266 based nodemcu/wemos around the house, they still do just fine for most hobbyist purposes and the RTOS SDK is just as pleasant to use as ESP-IDF. Most of the API is the same and they have example code for almost everything. I also have several smart plugs from different vendors, smart bulbs, one thermostat, a camera, all still using esp8266 and doing just fine.