Yeah, I hear you on the pack. When I do make my own, which is less frequently than I used to, I also pack them pretty loose. That's a 100% true thing. And what you're saying is more true about the frozen bubba burgers and their imitators, which are 1/3 of a pound and a little thicker.
I'm looking for frozen, 1/4 pound and thinner, like this:
The packing issue might still be a thing, but it's way mitigated by the thinness. I think that stretching a 1/4 lb to a proper bun size keeps them from being packed super dense. And obviously, they're machine created with perfect consistency and frozen, unlike the ones I make at home, where it's pretty hard to do a loose packed, thin but wide burger and not have it falling apart.
Making a 1/4lb smash burger probably works ok too, but I've really come to appreciate the frozen ones. Maybe it's because I spent pretty much all my teenage years working the grill at hot dog stands, and I made many thousands of these, but they are basically foolproof to me. You can put them directly on a very hot grill, and because they are frozen, you can cook them until they have a little flame-kissed char especially on the edges, and be perfectly cooked on the inside, in a matter of minutes. That's not impossible with a thin fresh burger, but its a lot less foolproof.
I've also come off over the years trying to get a bright pink, medium rare burger. If I want blood, I'll have a steak. Besides the food safety issues, it's just to narrow a target given the gross mouth feel if you pull it a nanosecond too early. I want a juicy burger, but I want it juicy from the grease of it, not the blood. You have to be careful not to dry these out, for sure. But because they're pretty hard to undercook being so thin, and they start frozen, I actually find myself more likely to overcook a fresh 8oz burger, because I'm so concerned about it being too raw in the middle.
The biggest issue is finding these in a decent quality. They're out of fashion now with the elevation of burgers, and if you find frozen 1/4 lbers they can be basically cheap garbage burgers by design, with soy addititives or lots of gristle, or freezer burned. I've found I'm very happy with the Kroger brand 80/20 that are restaurant quality caliber.
I'm not saying a bigger, fresher burger isn't be delicious. I just find that more and more often when I find myself in the mood for a burger, I want to crush a couple of these sweet bastards, and it maybe takes 25 minutes, most of which is waiting for the charcoal to be ready.