It's fun as hobby, but creating your own Jade (Blockstream's hardware wallet) is more practical. Jade also use similar hardware (on price and physical size), but the source code available for free and thoughtfully tested.
Yes, I think they are using exact same device as Jade wallet, but one problem with Jade code is that some people don't like their pin code connected with their server.
You're right, i completely forget about the controversial feature.
Krux would be alternative for that but I would wait few weeks or months for some code audits and reviews.
Assuming someone plan to perform audit (or pay someone to do it), but i doubt it'll happen anytime soon since the repository itself has 0 starts.