After struggling to find a productive AngularJS datepicker, I made the decision to utilize a standalone option that wouldn't interfere with the AngularJS digest cycle. This change has significantly improved the speed of my application. You can check out the one I'm using here: https://github.com/dbushell/Pikaday.
In response to the comments suggesting a wrapper, I believe adding extra code wouldn't necessarily enhance performance (more code could actually slow things down). Additionally, modifying the code of an external component could pose potential risks.
This experience has led me to consider whether some developers simply don't create components efficiently. It also makes me wonder if frustrations like these are common in AngularJS and contribute to the growing popularity of React.