There is not much difference between Firefox and Google Chrome, its mostly just the users preference. Google Chrome loads up faster than Firefox since it uses up more CPU/RAM, but Firefox is more extension-supported. However the more addons you add, the more bogged down it gets
I tried setting up "speed dial" like Chrome has, but when I started FF, nothing showed and everything opened as a tab
I think you have speed dial when you open a "blank tab" in Firefox.... To startup with the blank tab in Firefox you must go to "Option" setting in your firefox tab. Under "General" tab put "about:newtab" (take out quotes) in the "Home Page" box...Press CTRL+b (for bookmarks) or CTRL+h (for history) for any webpage and that will manually set your history/bookmark... To change back to your homepage just enter the url of the website... If you can't set it up in Firefox there is probably an add-on for speed dial. (check in Mozilla Firefox add-ons)
There were ads on the pages, too, which should have been blocked. What's up with that?
I don't think Google Chrome (at least to my user knowledge of it) has any ad-blocker pre-installed.. Not sure what extensions you have in your Google Chrome browser... Anyways if you want to block ads on any webpage, you must download an ad-blocker for it (this goes for Google, Firefox and another web browsers)
If I were you, if you are happy and comfortable with a browser.... Stick with it... Only switch browsers if you are absolutely frustrated with it