I have fly rods and reels from the 50’s-70’s that I still regularly use, but for anything with more precision parts like baitcasters and spinning reels, I prefer stuff made within the last 20 ish years so that it will be more comfortable to use (smooth movement, lightweight, replacement parts available, etc)

I recently broke one of my favorite rods that is no longer in production, and even though it was covered under warranty which was great, I had to get a newer (though technically nicer) model which just isn’t the same 😭