Real World Experience with Voice/Microphone

Given the tech giants listening in and even Apple caught listening to more than they should have, I am making the transition to using Home Assistant Voice to voice control my house. I have a good Speaker system outside of Google Home/Amazon Alexa/Apple Home Kit. (Yes, I have one of each because I was trying to figure out who was less evil.)

I wanted so desperately to use the Voice Preview Edition, but every YouTube video says it isn't ready for prime time. I have watched some videos with Pi 2 Zero Ws, Seed Studio, and other janky solutions that take a lot more coding know how to get up and running.

I wanted to get input on what people are actually successfully using as their voice assistant. I only want to control my lights, timers, and play music. Nothing too fancy. I have a LLM running locally that will be my brains, so I am trying to really cut everything off. What has been easy to set up and quick to implement?