I went through two of those workshop sized bottles of Squirt and know it well. Yes it is important to really go out of your way to work it into the chain and let it dry. If done correctly it will run smooth and quiet. But the issue is that it will still produce grey gunk even if you clean off the outside of the chain, it's going to work itself to the surface and attract dust. Unless frequently attended to, it will get into the cassette, between the chain rings, into the jockey wheels, and so on.
Hot wax dries as hard as a candle, not into smeary goo. You can just vacuum hot wax flakes up from the floor, if you try that with Squirt bits that have fallen off, you'll just smear it into the floor. Squirt chains are sticky and it gets on your fingers if you handle the chain, you'll want to wash your hands. None of that with hot wax. That is a very significant difference.
Wiping down a chain externally does nothing for what's going on inside. Using those on-bike chain cleaner tools and so forth doesn't work either. Take your chain off and shake it up in some solvent and see what still comes out. Shiny chains on the outside will still grit away.
Just as immersion is required for proper cleaning, it is required for proper lubrication.
Here's a comparison of common lubes with/without contamination and chain lifespans. What people keep forgetting is that whilst some good lubes perform well (still not as well) upon initial application on a clean chain, the wear rate quickly deteriorates as contamination makes it into the chain, losing you more and more watts whilst eating up your parts. The more power you put in, the more watts, ZFC throws 2-6 Watts at 250W around, and that is just a side benefit not important to all but very important to some. It just keeps accumulating due to the superficial way people clean and relube their chains. Doing it properly would be way too much work, fortunately there is hot waxing where it's not an issue. Compare the chain lifespans. Also, simply google it and you will see that many pro athletes run waxed chains.
This is great ´n all, if you follow the test procedure. Then some lubes come out really bad and others look like they can make a chain last forever. However, have you any idea how this is tested?
let me tell you in brief. A chain that last all 6 blocks are lubricated a total of 30 times or, on average ever 200 simulated km. Sounds reasonable. - Except, that involves removing the chain from the bike 30 times to hot wax it. Thats a lot of work that I have a hard time believing anyone would keep up.
Contrast that to how the test is performed with drip lubes. Chain is initially cleaned and lubed with the test lubricant, but every subsequent lubing is applied on top of the old lube and added sand/contamination. NO cleaning at all. Chain is simply run into the ground, caked in old lube and sand. - Imo, you have to ask yourself if that procedure was designed in good faith or a specific outcome was the objective. I dunno, I was just stunned when i finally came around to read beyond the headline.