On engineering alone the Flex would score higher. The secure element certification is about as good as consumer hardware gets, the E Ink touchscreen makes verified signing something people will actually do, and the BIP39-portable recovery means no lock-in. What holds it at 8.0 is the trust ledger: two customer-PII breaches in six years, one of which put home addresses of crypto holders in criminal hands, and a Recover launch that converted the closed-firmware question from theoretical to demonstrated. Ledger handled the fallout each time and no device-held funds were lost, which is why the number stays in the excellent band instead of falling out of it. Buy the Flex for what runs on the chip. Just make the purchase with the company's full record in view, not the spec sheet alone.