My Pantera has bungees and my Falcon has buckles. Buckles are better hands down.
I'm sure they are not made "as good as they use to be." , Really I have never heard any quality issues with them, when I had them they were great, my biggest issue was the clip catching a line on a rod when retracting. Almost threw a rod overboard a few times doing that.
Bryan McDonough
2023 Nitro Z21 XL
Nitro Team
I’ve never had a problem with my Rod buckles. I don’t let them snap back into the gunnel to lessen wear and tear. Mine latch on the rod locker lid and it allows other rods to be removed. My brother’s boat has bungees, you don’t want that style if you fish barefoot because the deck D-ring is like stepping on a Lego.