My first fly reel was a Rimfly and it now has a dapping line on it and is rarely used.
These days I now use Abel and Sage which are in an altogether different cost zone, and incorporate fantastic modern features.
Looked them up, different class altogether than rimfly. I think if I was fishing some of the chalk streams of England were you paid a lot of money to fish, I would want better gear than the average. The nearest chalk stream fishing I have is on some of the Great Stour but last time I checked it was all taken up by some wealthy northerners. The great shame was that they hardly ever came down to fish it. I was told they had it because it was a status thing, having some exclusive trout chalk stream fishing but not the Itchen or Test but still a status thing.
I used to visit Arlesford quite a lot, my sisters had a bistro there and the bailiff used to come in for a beer, got to know him quite well and he said if I came down in the week and no body was on his stretch I could come and have afternoons fishing, that was on the Itchen but because of work could not make it. But I used to walk it sometimes, beautiful stretch and seeing those big wild browns was something else.
I think that the better gear would catch more fish in the long run, although I don't think fly fishing is half as hard as it is often portrayed, the gear might be more important than other forms of fishing, don't know what you think about that, would you catch more fish?
I do with a bit of chub and the odd small wild trout, still exciting on any gear.