I have to agree, bridges are good, though I’m no expert.
I’ve been using a 2nd-hand Panasonic DMC FZ70 for many years on auto (macro/normal/huge long zoom) and it does very well, though there are later versions now.
But I bash it around a lot (exposure function now gone, “replaced” with point exposure pointing at the right spot or something put in briefly to get the right level then taken away) and was looking to buy a new one. I did lots of research that hurt my head and some of the camera experts living near me said pop by and they’ll show me their setup which will be much better, and I went round, and my bridge outperformed theirs and they were pretty astonished and said better to use what I had!
One takeaway I did learn from my reading is that small sensors were better for such macro than large, though there’s a light sensitivity loss.
My own main requirement has been for plant closeups and the ability to take masses of photos, so fiddling around lenses is not good, I need to be able to march about and take 1000-1500 photos on a walk in great detail.
I looked at the TG6 and wasn’t convinced it was any improvement for me. I would still love to find a replacement that’s even better (with exposure working!) so am definitely all ears for any suggestions, but in sum my experience has been very positive with bridge format with built in macro and sensor on the smaller side, downside being photos in darker environments/woods etc.
David