I wouldn't get caught up in the active hype. Most bands we record are open... no real need for actives. Nice to have but not necessary.
They're not hype. Having a smaller rig to travel with and/or set up has a lot of advantages (especially if you have to clamp in a tight spot).
That's also a slight overgeneralization.
All of the real active setups (that is, made by the manufacturers) other than the Schoeps ones that involve their rather large Schoeps brand preamp do not reduce the size of the rig you carry; in fact, they increase it in some ways. Schoeps MKx>KCx>CMCx is obviously not smaller than simply screwing capsules on CMCs and running normal cables. Ditto Neumann versions. AKG of course doesn't have their own manufacturer branded setup; nor does Gefell.
I like running some of the homebrew or semi-homebrew "active" setups for convenience, but do so with the knowledge that I am almost certainly sacrificing a small measure of sound quality or stability. If you don't stealth, there is not *that* much difference between carrying a cigar case with a couple thin mics in it and carrying capsules around that you screw onto cables. The other area where you save with actives space-wise is using "Kwon" and various other bars, but of course, if you do so, you give up flexibility of setup and, assuming you're using Shure donuts, you sacrifice some stability relative to, say, using Rycotes.
If I didn't stealth and getting the best mic within a fairly fixed budget was my top priority, I think skipping active setups is probably the right move unless you go for one of the homebrew solutions that actually costs less.