I understand financial constraints, but I would be worried with providing some Chinese tech basically root access to any of my devices.

The only ones I would consider are much more expensive. PiKVM and TinyPilot Voyager 3.

Alternatively, you might be able to do something with your laptop: https://www.hackster.io/techxartisan/openterface-mini-kvm-turning-laptop-into-a-kvm-console-cf0792