I'm really pleased to see how level-headed the vast majority of replies in this thread seem to be. It's easy to comment only on the price, but there's a lot more to it than that.
My primary set-up right now is an M10 Monochrom and 50 Summicron APO Black Chrome. A digital monochrom + that specific lens has been my grail for years and years, and I finally took the plunge in 2020. It's an absolute dream, and one of the few "grail purchases" that lives up to - and exceeds - expectations after such a lengthy dose of hype.
I've been shooting for 16 years now, or about half my life. Longer if you count my fascination with disposal cameras or the GameBoy Camera as a child. After graduating from high school and having developed hundreds of rolls of film, I bought my first interchangeable lens system - a Canon 40D and a nifty fifty - back in, I dunno, 2008? Since then I've shot with Sony's nicest equipment, top in 1DX cameras from Canon - I've shot with Red and with BlackMagic for video - and I've got a personal kit of a Fuji X-H1 and X-T3 along with all of their best primes that I've been using for about five or so years now.
The Leica rangefinder just hits different. No joke, you hold it and it really does feel supremely premium. Thing is built like an absolute tank. It's simple. It's distilled. It's not a computer that takes pictures or a maze of buttons and menus. I have a physical control for ISO, shutter speed, and aperture - and a simple rangefinder. No EVF that feels like looking at a screen. No simulating the shot. No delayed refresh rate. I'm not blocked out from seeing what's just outside my frame. It's photography and its absolute most basic - and for a hobbyist or professional - that's actually an incredible feeling. No worrying about auto-focus or face detect vs. eye detect vs. running vs spot vs random. No worry about PD vs CD. No worry about how many stops of IBS you're getting. No worries about 4K recording limits. It's just you... taking pictures.
And you might ask, "why would I spend so much more for less?" Same reason a Rolex that only tells the date is dozens of times more expensive than a G-shock or hundreds of times more than a Casio. Reason why in 2020 sometimes you have to spend more money for the manual transmission. Same reason someone might buy an expensive pen when we live in an age of computers. Same reason vinyl saw its highest sales ever recently. Same reason a Michelin experience is a good deal more expensive than grabbing some fast food.
In my opinion, the M-series of rangefinders happen to fill a supremely small niche - but they do it so well, and with so much history, that it's difficult to complain. It doesn't hurt that they're built by hand in Germany (and the company itself worked around the Nazi establishment, fun fact), and work with some of the best glass in the world. The 50 APO I own is arguably one of the nicest lenses money can buy. Alongside my Monochrom, with its lack of color filter, it's hyper sharp, insanely detailed, with beautiful gradiant and low-light capability - with microcontrast for days. Every.single.good.shot I have looks like a dreamscape. It just... hits different. As close to film as I've ever seen.
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All that said, it's a camera. And at the end of the day, it's a luxury and I no doubt would produce worse pictures than a better photographer handling a camera a third of the price. Any modern ILC these days more than ~a grand is going to produce superlative shots in the right hands. Sony and Fuji film pursue two different goals, IMO (crazy tech vs. chasing nostalgia), but either are going to give you so much creative freedom. And of course, both offer insanely competitive lenses - Sony's GM lenses are world-class, and Fuji's f2 primes have better price/performance than anything out there, IMO.
Canon with the new RF is going to only get better and better. Nikon isn't up my alley, but no doubt you can go get something a couple years old and have a blast learning.
You do not need a Leica. And you are paying for brand and bragging rights and luxury, no doubt about it. But I do think that if photography is a passion, and you have the means and long for the days of film or that nostalgic range-finder style street photography, a modern Leica absolutely will not disappoint. My setup is probably my favorite thing I own.
