I bought one of the firmware-requiring soldering irons on AliExpress and thought exactly the same. But then the thing is so much better than the usual plug-in-get-hot irons that it's definitely worth it. Disclaimer: my soldering skills are about 3 out of 5, so not too good.
I have the same experience. I've used nothing but "Firestarter" sticks - cheap ones from RadioShack, amazon, wherever and up to nicer branded $50 ones and dont consider myself more than average at soldering. I got a TS-80p because I have a personal push to get everything on USB-C for power that I can. I will say it lives up to the hype around it - heats up super fast, can solder things even my 100W auto soldering iron can (10 gauge wires on to thick metal) without breaking too much of a sweat.
Yes it has firmware, but I haven't had to mess with it yet in the two years of use.
