...i have been determined to give Brave a fair run both on macOS ...
The Brave browser is now my main browser for the Macintosh. As time has gone on it has remained perfectly secure (no ads, no adware), but better than that the few instances of incompatibility that I've encountered on a very few web sites has disappeared. I haven't visited a single Web site that has failed to render perfectly in the past few months. Brave is a delight; fast, secure, full of nice features. (However, I don't use Brave on my iPad or my iPhone, so I can't speak to Brave in those environments.)
That said, in the intervening time, Safari has been drastically updated. Safari now has much greater speed, and has also gained more security. Safari still doesn't natively block ads (and using an extension in Safari, or any browser, is still a potential vector for adware or malware), but there is much less reason to abandon Safari if you want to stick with an Apple product for whatever reason.
But...other Web browsers haven't been standing pat either. Especially impressive is:
Vivaldi (free)
It’s a web browser. But fun. It comes with a bunch of clever features built-in. It’s super flexible and does not track you. Get the Vivaldi browser for desktop, mobile, and your car!
vivaldi.com
Vivaldi now natively blocks ads, has gained speed, and it full featured. It's really slick. I was about to switch to using it as my main browser, but then encountered a couple of Web sites that I frequent that it didn't render perfectly. So for now if will remain a browser to watch closely. If you are looking for a new, better browser, Vivaldi is worth checking out.