Some stuff are not found, like filter()

Well, I would suggest you to use what you’re more comfortable with. I just had the impression that you might want to try TypeScript, therefore the additional information about it. About the advantages - it’s very subjective - some of its advantages are disadvantages in the eyes of others, but you could find some thoughts in the following topic or to search for more comprehensive comparison in Google.

I think that you should know what type of data to expect - it’s either a single object (in which case it’s the correct type) or a collection of objects (in such case your code is not handling it properly - check how to convert it to array in my answer above).

Have you started a new project or updated an old project. This sounds like a zone-related issue. On a side note, I would suggest you to upgrade your Node.js to the latest of the v4 or v5 releases (but not to v6).

Well, it’s up to you - you can either learn how to do the things in Ionic 2 or to keep using Ionic 1.

If you have just started a new Ionic 2 project it might be easier to restart it as a TypeScript one and move the app files and then to rename them appropriately. You might also need to install some additional typing definitions (typings) and make some updates to the JS code. But as I wrote above, it’s not necessary to use TypeScript if you’re more comfortable with JavaScript.