Expensive LED bulbs do live up to the expectations. They also cost about $50/each because those kinds of LED bulbs are expensive to make; it's the other electronics and parts that drive the price tags up.
Also fittings - none of my (relatively expensive) installed downlights have failed since I put them in seven years ago, partially because they’re well engineered but also since they’re installed how they’re designed to be. But I have a fitting designed for an incandescent bulb and LED replacement bulbs (even decent ones) tend to fail within six to nine months in it, because they were never designed for the heat to escape properly since the incandescent bulbs didn’t really need it. But I have other of the same bulbs in more open fittings and they last fine.
Yeah, I still have a few of the OG Philips x-prize bulbs going strong well over a decade of use. Plus a half dozen of the follow-ons that look very similar.