Yes it’s worth it. Even the worst, most overworked public defender has spent years of their life in school, deals with a system you’ve likely never interacted with on a daily basis, and usually has some level of altruism. The reason you hear about people who win by representing themselves is because it’s very rare for them to not get trampled by the system

At the bare minimum, with a bad lawyer, you have a chance to appeal on a mistrial. Representing yourself, you don’t even have that.

Having your own lawyer is better than legal aid.

Having legal aid is better than having nobody/defending yourself. but you should verify whats said before you commit to any deals.

Legal aid isnt inherently bad, but the system definitely seeks to undermine the defense they can provide you by grossly under funding the legal aid system for the workload it has, that can result in situations where legal aid workers carry inhumanly large case loads and just arent able to give your case the time or attention it should receive.