I prefer distros if available, but in some cases the version in the distros can suck. A solid example, and this could 100% be user error, but I used aur to get Picard on my tablet, but there was no app menu bar. Like at all, no window settings in the world made a difference, and the global menu didn’t show anything either. So I couldn’t change settings at all. I removed the aur package and installed the flatpak, everything worked no problem.

Flatpaks are okay, but due to laziness, I’m not proficient with making them interact well with each other.

App images can be great, but also annoying depending on how your system handles them. On a Debian based machine it would “install” the app image as if it were a normal app, and in some cases even check for updates. In garuda I have to manually go to the file and execute it each time. I’m no Linux master, so I could probably do something in garuda to make it work similar to Debian, but I only have one app there that I care about and I’m lazy…

I don’t like snaps, they seem finicky to me.

If the Dev has their own recommended source, package, or whatever I try to stick to that. I.e. if they say their focus is on an app image, but aur has it, and there’s a flatpak, and x y z options, I’ll try the app image, and if that does what I need it to, I stick with it. If they recommend snap I try to find another app or another option to install.