I thought it was enormously better because it helped you not to cut yourself with all the dangerous things in a way that git didn't. It also had an excellent GUI (thg).
It was a much less stressful tool to use and git hasn't really got much better since then - I've just converted a repo to git and the team using it have had about 4 unpleasant mistakes in the last week as they adapt.
As for speed.....I cannot say I ever noticed any problem. Waiting around for the version control system has never been an issue for me.......except a git repo with 70,000 commits and we worked out how to merge a lot of those to fix the problem.
The dangerous parts of git exist to make it trivial to undo mistakes. You don’t have to use those for your regular workflows.
With any other system, your only option is usually checking out a fresh copy from a server or backup.
Can any of the downvoters comment on this? My experience with Git is pretty much the same, but maybe Hg also allows you to unfuck a screwed up repo, just as Git does?
The bad states Git "allows you to unfuck" are largely caused by Git's awful UX (confusing and multipurpose commands based on inner workings), so Git gets no credit for "solving" a problem it caused.
If you want to use Git with a sane UI, use Jujutsu. As a Mercurial user, you'll feel a lot more at home.