I started basic woodworking(strictly a hobby) about ten years ago and bought mostly Jet stuff. In the last couple of years I have bought some older used equipment and enjoyed getting it up to speed and using it. I was looking for opinions about which you prefer and why. It seems to me some older tools are clearly better while certain newer tools are technological leaps forward.
These are the old tools that I think are better than new ones.
Planers- Older Powematics, Deltas, Olivers seem to me to be better than the typical Taiwan/China machine today
Bandsaws- Tannewitz and Moaks
Air Compressors- Quincy's, Curtis, Saylor Beale
Items I an not sure about
Jointers- Old Olivers and Northfields are great but they still cost an arm and a leg. Think maybe a newer Grizzly may work just as well and cost far less
Tablesaws- No idea but the newest saws with riving knives or a sawstop seem like a huge safety leap
Drill Presses- hmmm
Newer is better
Lathes- I am not a turner but seems like the newer machines are well liked
Router/Router tables- the newer lifts seems hard to beat
Dust Collectors- You can argue Oneida vs. Grizzly vs. ClearVue all day, but they are all clearly better than anything from 20+ years ago
I am interested in everyones opinions as I am looking at upgrading many machines in the next few years and would love some help on where to focus my search.