I haven't seen a lot of places that actually accept Liquid. A few wallets support Liquid, including Coinos, and Aqua Wallet, but I can't remember the last time I ran into a merchant that accepted it. I think Lightning is more practical, and better supported. And if you're running a wallet that demands running your own node, I think the fees are reasonable.

I think the whole deal with maintaining lightning channels is an unnecessary pain in the ass. Wallets like Breez manage the channels for you in the background, and with no intervention necessary. I think a solution like that is better than running your own node, such as it is with Zeus. I'd rather just have the wallet deal with that in the background.

I suppose it does depend on how much you're transacting, but for facilitating zaps and making a few payments each month, I just don't see the value in getting involved with opening and closing, and rebalancing channels. I think Breez is much more efficient and user-friendly option. Or even a custodial option like LifPay, or a pseudo-custodial option like Minibits. The only issue with Breez is that it doesn't support NWC, or provide a lightning address. That means it's worthless for use with Nostr. You'd have to run a separate wallet like Minibits, Coinos.io, or LifPay for Nostr compatibility.