I remember trying out Bear and a lot of other note-taking apps when I was getting started with Note-taking on my iPad. But then Notion came along and I switched to it for all kinds of versatile note-taking. Looks like we are on the same boat when it comes to trying to using Notes - trying it out once a year to see what’s improved.
For me the one reason I can’t leave Apple Notes is Quick Notes. Ability to bring it up so easily, start typing, copy-pasting or adding something to Notes from a webpage on Safari has been my favorite feature so far.