What's there to recommend?
"I have that monitor, so it's great."
You rarely have people that had other monitors to compare so it's all just a pissing contest of "I bought this so it must be good".
Add a Freesync or Gsync into the matter and you're shorting the list by about 4 panels because that's the whole damn lineup.
If you're looking for a general opinion what should you buy - Hey, I'll recommend a 32 inch BenQ 3840x2160 which I'm having myself. 100% Adobe sRGB, 60Hz refresh rate, great quality, perfect size for the panel of a home office gaming monitor.
But you're not looking for a general opinion on panels, neither for what is reasonable to run based on your preferences and choices in your PC Build. You're looking for peer pressure what should you buy by someone's recommendation.
Don't.
Look the reviews yourself, don't be lazy, select the ones based on their specifications and what you can and will afford. And you complain about someone trying to give you more ideas about widening your spectrum into 4K suggesting - Hey, maybe buy this?
And that's a big problem.
Is it so hard to get an opinion of your own?
My mate's got a 34' Ultrawide (LG), and I have a 32' 4K (BenQ).
We both reached conclusions that from time to time we would swap with each other, because we see benefit in having either option.
I'm having much more vertical space, and the panel in general feels like a huge ass canvas to work with - meanwhile I'm envious of the FOV he has in video games - He sees much more stuff on the horizontal plane, as expected with Ultrawide.
Reddting on Ultrawide would personally annoy me, even though it's not a huge difference.
Both come with issues - Fallout 4 had problems with supporting it, while Battlefield 4 has a ridiculous scaling of GUI in 4K. I personally love the pixel density of a 4K panel, gaming on it is a completely new experience every single time you turn a game on, the screen clarity is mind boggling, the AntiAliasing more of a "bonus" than a necessity.
It really boils down to what you want - and if you are a reasonable customer - you look left, and right - and then make a choice.
And regarding the 'He couldn't let go of the 4K thing' - Some people just can't handle facts, and fanboy about everything. If you keep an open mind, you're going to have an open discussion.
Another thing is, you came for recommendations and he gave you one. It wasn't what you expected, so you rage about it on a completely different forum? That's what boggles my mind.