Interesting that open source stuff (like tasmota for sonoff devices is not mentioned - a number of OEMs offer pre flashed devices. Athom, Kauf, cloudfree, and Martin Jerry just to name a few. These are wonderful to use with home assistant.

Similarly, I've had real trouble with some reolink products - they're very cheap, but have codec issues. Were I buying cameras again I'd go with amcrest, which are mostly white label dahua.