I don't think Gero's Earthling technology was or should be so advanced his creations could prevail over some of the Multiverse's Top Tier fighters, I can somehow see how he managed to highly surpass Frieza and King Cold since the story needed to get a move on towards a bigger threat than these two that this time was situated on Earth, but this was propostorous.
I think it's important to note that as an android, 17 doesn't tire and doesn't require food, only hydration. Not only was this useful in the ToP (other fighters gradually tired as the fight went on, giving 17 the edge), but it also means that he can train for longer than the likes of Goku or Vegeta, who have to stop to rest and eat.
And in fact they said that Vegeta not relaxing is why he can't get as strong as Goku who takes the time to let his body recover. 17 has the best of both worlds
I think I've heard before that 17 and 18 can't sense ki, I think it has something to do with their artificial ki. We all know organics can't sense Android Ki, so I guess it works both ways.
ROF final form Frieza was in the same class as ROF Base Goku.
a common misconception. frieza fought saiyan beyond god goku, not base goku. in saiyan beyond god, a saiyan possesses power similar to that of a super saiyan god, and in that form, their super saiyan naturally acends to ssb, and the saiyan is unable to use lower forms like regular super saiyan (but i'm not sure about giant ape). since ROF frieza=<sbg goku (i think goku was winnig in the anime, but i'm not sure)=ssg, ROF base frieza was actually god tier. also, goku never used SBG again, as he was able to use the regular super saiyan. we all know that piccolo is nowhere near super saiyan god, which is around frieza's level, hence we can conclude that frieza is the one who will kill piccolo with his pinkie.
anyway, back on topic. i wasn't annoyed disappointed with 17's sudden power-up, i was annoyed infuriated with it and the TOP's terrible power scaling in general. goku's power variations were still somewhat acceptable, as he is an idiot who loves a good fight almost as much as he loves food, hence it is possible that he wouldn't hold back so that he would one-hit K.O. his opponents, but Jiren? NO. one moment he's dominating SSBKK*20 goku, and literally 10 minutes later ssb vegeta is landing hits on him. fast forward another 10 minutes, and we see he has so much hidden power that he can gain an advantage over MASTERED ultra instinct. then goku hits him with one kamhameha, and suddenly he's struggling against base goku, final form frieza and android 17, all three severly damaged. this is just unacceptable.
