The only problem I have with using the django ORM is that it relies on the django project structure. While there are ways to use the ORM independently, they are full of hacks and trade-offs.
Granted, this problem goes away if you are building a web app or a REST API, but if I just want an ORM for a command line application, I am using django's management command functionality which is OK, but it doesn't really scale easily.
Yuck indeed. The way it dictates the order of imports, forcing you to import settings before any models can be imported, is reason enough not to use it. This problem spreads to any of your other files, leaving you in the end with everything depending on being launched in a full Django context. Shame, given it’s otherwise very user friendly.
Granted, this problem goes away if you are building a web app or a REST API, but if I just want an ORM for a command line application, I am using django's management command functionality which is OK, but it doesn't really scale easily.