Your comment makes me smile. I've been experimenting with my morning coffee since the percolator was considered state of the art. I've probably got enough different coffee making paraphanalia in the attic to start my own museum.

And what I've finally settled on are locally roasted beans (generic Columbian), a good grinder and an aeropress.

Aeropress is a cool product, but the couple of times I tried it (I borrowed a friend's) I just found it too messy and quite fiddly. So I prefer pour-over now with a V60 now when I'm not making espresso because you can pick the whole filter up by the top (touching only paper) and drop it in the bin. Then the V60 usually only needs a rinse with boiling water if you do it immediately (and don't let it dry).

There's a knack but one of the things I love about the Aeropress is it's completely mess free: unscrew, plunge out into compost bin and tap, rinse under tap, done!

Is there an appreciable difference in quality between a french press and an aeropress?

The difference I appreciate the most is the filter of the aeropress that filters all the fine particles that easily make their way through/past a frech press filter.