I’ll admit the hue ecosystem has some neat features with the color adjustments etc. It’s also really easy for the average person to set up and get some nice lighting controls.
But yeah like you I also avoided it for many reasons.
I went for Lutron Casetta Pro light controls and am very happy. It just works from local switches and remotes, and you can integrate into other automation systems if you so desire, response time is near instant as well. Plus there is only one bridge device to connect to your network (wired) and I stuck it into an iot vlan. (Note Lutron stuff is not necesarily DIY depending on local regulations and experience).
