Clad steel is a nice middle ground, either with aluminum or copper. More even heat distribution, long lasting without the care regimen of cast iron. They arent expensive either.
Huh, TIL. I had assumed the thickness of the iron would have lead to better heating, but it looks like both aluminum and steel heat much more evenly.
I still argue that the care regimen is overblown, you can scrub with soap and a sponge and as long as you're not just grinding at the surface it will be fine. You can soak it, it's fine. We treat our cast iron like any other pan and it's really not a big deal - we just add appropriate oil if we took off too much of the bonded oil the last time we cooked.
Clad steel is a nice middle ground, either with aluminum or copper. More even heat distribution, long lasting without the care regimen of cast iron. They arent expensive either.