Be warned https://www.servethehome.com/synology-lost-the-plot-with-hard-drive-locking-move/

I have a 220+. It works well for what it's supposed to be. If you want a set it and forget it nas, this is a good one. However, after a year and a half, I'm ready to move on for the same reason I don't like Apple: too walled garden. It was a great starter nas, but it's too limiting now. But again, of you don't want to think about it and just have it work, it's a good choice.

The 2 bay model. I couldn't tell you off hand which exact one because they release a new model each year, with its model name containing the year. I think is was a 222+, but might have been 223+. The + part is really the only important part.

Not the person you were responding to, but I'm quite happy with my DS220+. It's on 106 days of uptime after a power out. The interface / OS is very friendly. The only downside is the weak processor which makes it inadequate for things like Immich's AI or heavy Jellyfin use - but you get what you pay for.
Re. lemons; are you sure it was the NAS that had issues or could it have been the drives? Mine is loaded with WD Red drives iirc.

I had a 212j for about 10 years before I got a 720+.

The j series are so underpowered the dashboard took literal minutes to load.

The + series is extremely energy efficient, but still powerful. I was running a Plex server along with a Terraria server on it and had no hiccups.

Now they were designed nearly a decade apart, but still. The + series is the way to go, don't get anything else if you go with Synology.

I’ve been using the DS620slim for 4.5 years now without any issues. It’s small (2.5” drives) and produces little noise (with SSDs).

DS223 is a fine little machine. Nothing exceptional, but not bad by any means.