A full day of using the self-custodial Alby Hub node as my primary Nostr Lightning wallet, and my verdict is in:

It’s great, and I’m going to keep it.

Pros:

Connects to your nostr:npub1getal6ykt05fsz5nqu4uld09nfj3y3qxmv8crys4aeut53unfvlqr80nfm account seamlessly.

NWC-enabled so you can connect it to any app that supports a connection string such as Damus, Amethyst, ZapplePay.

Lightning address is standard with no setup needed and free to use, so there’s no per-payment fee or Fedimint stuff required.

You hold your own keys and get a seed phrase to back it up.

Can be imported into nostr:npub1xnf02f60r9v0e5kty33a404dm79zr7z2eepyrk5gsq3m7pwvsz2sazlpr5 (though you get an alert that it’s a custodial wallet, not sure if this is something that can be fixed on the Zeus side).

Eliminates the need to buy your own node hardware if you can’t afford it just to use self-custodial Lightning.

Cons:

A little tricky to set up with the current UX as it doesn’t provide enough on-screen cues as I would like, and first-time users would probably be confused by it.

Because it functions like any other Lightning node, you can’t receive payments immediately after you open your first LSP channel on-chain until you begin making payments to balance your channel’s liquidity.

If you lose the unchangeable password to the node (different from the seed phrase), your sats are toast. nostr:note100jlujxevzs0gzsewqzap6gzzljzf5fvmytfyyqmd6vedq6zcngs47dnkf