Sadly, even Firefox isn't perfect. Look at its new tab page and Pocket in particular. (I do agree that Firefox is way better than Edge or Chrome, though.)

Difference being that in Firefox you can set the preferences to not show those things once and if you get on a new device just sign into Sync and you're off to the races.

Contrast that to Microsofts constant badgering, reset preferences after every update (conveniently), etc etc.

Kinda. Firefox keeps changing things anyways and adds more stuff to turn off or modify. I used to routinely find myself helping out family members with getting their Firefox back to how it used to be, and it really did suck. Worst of all, they're now forcing Firefox Accounts down people's throats. Swapped to Librewolf some time ago and haven't looked back, but it's unfortunate that they soil their name like that.

I think Librewolf is a Firefox alternative that needs more exposure.

GNOME Web is worth considering, if you're using GNOME. It's now a very competent simple browser, similar to Safari on Mac OS a few years ago.

Firefox has been embedding ads in the interface since way before Edge started doing it.