When I bought my first 10 cent packs of seeds at the dollar store, I did some digging in my old books and the current lists, as a friend and I had agreed that if we were to have a garden in this valley, it had to be the old varieties, maybe not the heirloom seeds, but at least a type that they saved seeds from and had grown enough years to survive.
I found many of the 10 cent seeds listed as ‘old varieties’, even read on one forum a person’s advice to not buy the old varieties at the dollar store, as there were so many wonderful hybrids out now.....LOL
To me new is not better, except, my bread machine pleases me, LOL, it is 10 years old.
The new thing I have that pleases me is a juicer. Lloyd bought it for us last year and I have greatly enjoyed fresh fruit and vegetable juices from it. It's a pretty frivilous thing to me but I like it.