But does it always need that much time?

Honestly, the wonky bits are what make it special.

Read somewhere that putting a baking steel or even just a thick pan on the rack below can help even out weird oven heat. Might salvage a batch of cookies or something while you wait.

Yeah that's smart, we learned the hard way with a headlamp that was way too bright and scared my nephew.

But are firmware updates really that critical, or just overly cautious?