The first VCR I ever had was a Panasonic-built GE top-loader. Bought it new in 1984 for $400. Lasted six years, then the heads wore out. It was replaced in 1990 by an Emerson machine with electronic tuning that worked very well; don't know what finally caused me to get rid of it, but in the mid-'90s I bought a Magnavox (Philips?) VCR with full auto setup, automatic tracking, very automatic for a '90s VCR selling for about half or less of what I paid for the GE. The Magnavox machine worked very well for me until about 2000 or so, when the heads wore out or something went wrong with the transport -- I'm not sure anymore why I had to trash that one.
I replaced it with a new Panasonic VCR which had VCR Plus+ and honestly, that one worked so well I'd probably still have it today, if it hadn't eaten a cassette after about two years. The tape I lost was a movie I had just taped from cable about two hours earlier -- I never even had a chance to see the film.
That machine was replaced very shortly thereafter by a Panasonic PV-4022, which I still have and which still works amazingly well for being eight years old. To give an idea of how much the prices on these machines had come down by the time I bought this one, I only paid something on the order of $120 for the PV-4022 (2002) compared to $400 for my GE (1984). I haven't had one bit of trouble with my PV-4022 to date, and it gets used quite a bit since I still have a large number of VHS cassettes, mostly 1960s-'80s TV series, travelogues, and movies.
The only thing I don't like about my present VCR is that it makes a loud screeching noise in fast forward and rewind, but it doesn't seem to affect the overall performance of the machine so I just ignore the noise. I think it makes so much noise because there are probably few if any belts in it; I read somewhere that the last VCRs made had done away for the most part with belts (except perhaps for one very thick, toothed belt between the motor and the head drum), now using almost full gear drive. I don't know, however, what the current crop of VHS/DVD combo players use in this position, although if I had to guess, I'd have to say they too have done away with drive belts and now are 99.9-percent gear-driven.