Turn off the max fee setting. I'll bet those really well connected nodes have really high routing fees.
Discussion
Doesn't solve it unfortunately, and I know they don't bc I connect to those same nodes w zeus and get much lower fees. Usually 2-3 hops whereas electrum logs indicate its trying six hop routes
Are you using trampoline routing?
Trampoline routing w channel directly to acinq or electrum is the only way I've gotten it to work. Fees are much higher than I see on Zeus, and Zeus is not using trampoline iirc as my channels are mostly w non Zeus parties
Acinq routing fees are extremely high. As much as 10000ppm. Electrum has 100ppm and 1sat base. If you have a channel to acinq, close it.