$365 does seem pretty steep.
But budget options pretty much demand a variety of skills.
DIY boards require soldering, and flashing firmware to the microcontrollers. If a mistake is made when soldering, this can be very difficult to diagnose, and harder to fix. -- Paying someone else to solder is sometimes an option, but can be expensive, too.
Even with cheap boards from e.g. AliExpress, you still might have to be familiar with flashing firmware.
For someone with more time than money, DIY is a good option.
With ZSA, I feel I can at least recommend a reputable brand; I'm not sure I can recommend DIY assembly to most people.
But budget options pretty much demand a variety of skills.
DIY boards require soldering, and flashing firmware to the microcontrollers. If a mistake is made when soldering, this can be very difficult to diagnose, and harder to fix. -- Paying someone else to solder is sometimes an option, but can be expensive, too.
Even with cheap boards from e.g. AliExpress, you still might have to be familiar with flashing firmware.
For someone with more time than money, DIY is a good option.
With ZSA, I feel I can at least recommend a reputable brand; I'm not sure I can recommend DIY assembly to most people.