Some really good points there.
I’m generally an dev tools always open tester when it comes to web applications, though it does on occasion change behavior just by having it open.
I still find there is always something new of value I can learn from using it, so many features to help with testing.
The simple access to copy as curl and import into postman is one I also often use alongside lighthouse.
As an FYI I have also often used it as a hiring filter, really hard to get my head around how some web testers can not be using it at all. The course Technical testing 101 I found invaluable to introductory usage real examples, if you are new to dev tools I highly recommend that course though I’m not sure when it was last updated.