This matches my experience when I've used midsize models connected to read-only tools.

It does not match my experience using a big model in an environment where it can generate and execute code when given instructions to base its answer on that. That pattern almost always results in a factual answer, and often, but not always a good one. The downside is you need to set up such an environment or pay a provider for one, and it's slow. If you have something else to do while you wait, it may improve your efficiency. If you don't, you might as well do the experiment yourself.