Good morning Jeff
I think you nailed it with “convenience”… for me at the moment everything is “lab” based, learning and experimenting… when I am comfortable with that then I’m sure reverting to the ESP01 will be a doddle for project applications as you describe… if I can just plug it onto a breadboard, hook up the USB cable, run it with Arduino IDE then I’m laughing… you can’t just do that with the ESP01 as it has turned out. The C3 looks like a good start…
Jeff, again thanks for your help it is very much appreciated