My 2 cents, the old radio may work fine, but you just don't know if there is any internal corrosion, potentiometers on the gimbals may just fail at some point, or they may last forever. Same thing with the servo pots.

So if you want to go back into the hobby, I'd use this after extensive testing and only fly planes I can afford to loose. Planes with a larger price tag would get a better radio.

Newer radios are so much safer to use, interference and frequency monitoring is a thing of the past. And even entry level radios have a lot of functions, imo they are well worth their money.

Which brand and model to choose, is up to you. You'll get a lot of different opinions when you ask which one is best. If you need help with programming, you better off buying something people at your local club use, so they can help you out.