I've been given about 7 Aqara sensors and I've removed the other 3 from my system about 8 months ago as they didn't play well.
I've been out of the loop for a while and wondered if they will ever or now play nicely with the hub
Probably not.
In my experience, these problematic Zigbee sensors need to have supported repeaters close by (they need a very strong mesh) and be on a hub that has no other types of zigbee devices.
Ah well I'll probably stick them on eBay then
Interesting, for what it worth, I have a number of Aqara sensors and have had no issues either with my C4 or my not C7.
I have:
3 Temp pressure & humidity
1 Xiaomi Lux sensor
1 Sengled Classic bulb
3 Aqara water sensors
1 IRIS motion sensor.
When I started I had no Zigbee repeaters, but now I have 3. All based on the cc2530 device.
That's my take, too. Sounds like you (OP) have done some reading, and to my knowledge nothing has changed--and is unlikely to since, as you probably read, the consensus is that they are non-standard and picky about repeaters, with little the coordinator (hub) can do about that part. That being said, many people have been able to make them work well if they are careful about repeaters (or keep them on a separate network where they are careful, or use some other solution for integration).
The only thing I know of that has changed: the introduction of the "T1" devices that might be standard Zigbee 3.0. However, I don't know how widely available these are yet (hard to tell if you're buying online) or if anyone has verified their behavior. And, of course, it does nothing to help with your existing devices.
FWIW, Zigbee is the same on all generations of hub aside from the need for an external stick on the C-3/C-4. That is unlikely to matter (aside from ways in which antenna placement might affect signal strength and whatnot).
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Out of curiosity, what hub version are you using? I have a C4, was using aqara with smartthings and transferred some over, added many more since. They're actually my goto things. Other than a slightly temperamental contact sensor (MIJIA rather than aqara) I've had consistently positive experiences.
On a side note seeing as it looks like you're UK based, I have found the Lidl 3 gang/USB zigbee extension leads to be fantastic for reinforcing the mesh here. I was mainly using tradfri outlets prior to that, the range on the Lidl bars is incredible though. There's a mixture of smartthings, aqara and MIJIA stuff on hubitat with a hue hub running bulbs (3 hue and a lot of tradfri) on another mesh. We don't talk about the random other bits on HA. Not that my setup needs rationalising, no. Not at all.
Yeah I think it's a luck thing and the right repeaters.
I do have some Lidl stuff, I really like the Sonoff stuff as well. Lidl seem to be on their game. I think they have contact sensors as well but not in UK
I've got a couple of sonoff bridges, both flashed to work locally under HA. Using the RF bridge for some legacy homeeasy light switches and the zigbee bridge for a few bits in my study (trialling home assistant with the aim of pivoting away from hubitat).
I've not put looked hard at the sonoff sensors, while I've got a few Basic switches controlling fans, a fountain and a couple of cheap IKEA led runs the sensors always looked a little clunky in pictures so I didn't pick them up.
It's funny because the motion sensors i have are hit and miss, they usually require a re-pair every few weeks but the temp sensor, button and tilt sensor ( which is in my letterbox ) are great. I've never had to re-pair them at all.
I'm planning to replace all of my ZWave stuff with Zigbee because everything just works better. Unfortunately I can't eliminate ALL Z-wave, but thankfully all the ZWave stuff is in the garage.
However, I am really stoked for Inovelli Blue switches. Inovelli is aware people want these Aqara devices to work, so I have hopes the firmware will allow them to work properly. Right now, it's just my Iris stuff that kills my Aqara stuff. Once those are gone, everything works fine.
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I had no issues with the aqara water leak sensors even when mixed with other zb devices and using both sonoff plugs and even Peanut plugs as repeaters. I didn't try other Aqara devices.
Others had issues with the aqara temp sensors especially when mixed with Peanuts.
You can use the ZigBee stuff direct with the hub
I coincide.
Mine (motion, luminance and door) have been fully reliable for two years with no issues. They run my lighting.
Yes, I do have a strong bulb and plug provided Zigbee network which has mostly substituted my unpredictable Z-wave attempts.
I guess it's just as cheap to buy the Sonoff ones and in the UK they are also doing Zigbee 3.0 LIDL ones and Aqara is starting to roll out 3.0 also. I don't know if I want the hassle
I have some aqara stuff and no problems...
5 temp and humid sensors
20 or so contact sensors
8 motion sensors
2 shock sensors
I don't know if it helps or not but in the start of my smart home I had a lot of aqara devices dropping out. But it seems like when I got some Ikea repeaters the problem stopped.
Now I have...
motion sensors from hue and aqara
temp sensor from aqara, broadlink, hue
smart plugs from ikea, lidl and tp link (wifi)
lights from ikea, hue, yeelights, gledopto
You can tell I have a Zigbee house 
no z-wave over here 
not for any special reason... I only was thinking better have 1 solid 'network'...
Another happy camper. Admittedly I have a simple setup as all my Aqara sensors (temp, contact, light, vibration) are connected directly to my hub. Some were a pain to connect (particularly the light sensors) but they have never dropped since then.
Another who gave up on Aqara...really like the form-factor of their contact sensor, but completely unreliable for me. Their Z 3.0 stuff might play better, as @bertabcd1234 notes, but availability has been an issue (though I haven't checked in some weeks).
