The Heritage has been around a long time and for a vast majority of people is a perfectly fine cheap revolver. For people who want to shoot 5k rounds a year in their revolver you'd be better off with a Wrangler or a Single Six or other choice that is made with better materials.
I don't have a fondness for single actions revolvers with fixed sights, nor revolvers that are capable of holding 8 or 9 rounds, but only hold 6. Heritage makes a 9 shot revolver with adj sights and I bought it and have been pretty happy with it thus far.
The disdain for cheap guns on internet forums and among certain people who believe that their money should only be spent on the absolute best because it will last 150 years is largely based on ego and hubris. Everyone likes feeling like they're smarter/better than someone else and I'm not saying that the cheapest guns are the only ones people should buy, there's a time and a place for more expensive guns, but to say the Heritage is not worthy of owning because it's the only revolver out there with a very visible safety and that takes away from the aesthetics is silly or because it can't last 150 years due to the soft steel barrel and cylinder and zamak frame.
Even if you did want to shoot many thousands of rounds from your Heritage until something fails it's not like it's going to cost an arm and a leg to replace it.
That said, if Ruger did make a Wrangler that had a longer barrel, a 9 shot cylinder, and adj sights and didn't cost considerably more than what I paid for the Heritage, I would have bought the Ruger. Things being what they are now, I wouldn't buy a fixed sight Heritage or Wrangler and I refuse to pay $600 for a Single Ten.