@array
For me it has always been alright. I've once had a new system that was not yet supported. But right now I'm only using used hardware - nothing new or bleeding at all. So it is less of a concern to me.
But yes, when dealing with newer hardware this can be a challenge... but: there is always backported kernels and one can use testing 😉
It all depends on the hardware in the end.
Fedora is "faster" with it's 6 month release cycle. Debian is more conservative. And Ubuntu is in between