is it just me or is the slider a lot harder than it needs to be when defining a strict set of values allowed? Like I'm trying to only allow numbers 1 - 60 with increment of 1 but the existing implementation makes that not so straightforward to setup. I'm getting decimals somehow as a result of the confusion

I think you need to define your own slider for that, like https://github.com/a-frank/labeled-range-slider (I haven't looked into the code, just found it via search)

It’s not just you. I’ve opened several issues on Slider usability (none seem to have gotten any traction). This one may be closest to what you’re talking about: https://issuetracker.google.com/u/1/issues/237634010 . Perhaps something in the comments there can help with a workaround.