GX7 - I still enjoy using mine

Going through my Alaska photos from last week, I was mostly focusing on the images taken with my new lenses and my G85 but when I selected the ones I wanted to print, I was gratified to see that my GX7 was still producing images that I liked.  Obviously, that shouldn't come as a surprise since it was a very capable camera when it was released and it's still able to turn out great photos.  But it's easy to dismiss a 5 year-old camera merely because it is 5 years old.  In fact, I almost junked it when it had gotten some dust directly on the sensor, under its filter stack.  Fortunately, I was able to have it repaired for a reasonable price and it's still a steadfast travel and street companion.

I've a GX7 and a GX8. I just grab either whichever is nearest or fully charged batteries. The GX7 is fine. The only reason I would 'upgrade' would be for the better stabilisation in later models, but that won't happen until one of these cameras stops working.

In my world, the GX7 is a recent camera, so it seems strange to be saying I "still use it". But OK, I use it, it's probably the most used of my three cameras.

It's very versatile, does everything I need, so there is no thought of a successor in my mind.

There are things that I find frustrating about my GX7 -- e.g. the near useless C-AF and extremely primitive auto-ISO implementation -- but it still gets a lot of use.

Aside from noise in long exposures, there's only a modest improvement in image quality between the old 16mp sensor and the 20mp sensor in the GX9. I doubt most people could tell the difference without some serious pixel peeping.

To me the GX7 still has the best grip and ergonomics of any camera of its size. It has a faster flash sync speed than the newer GX models too.

A five year old camera is doing pretty well if it still has some advantages over its most up-to-date successors.

In fact after I upgraded to GX85, my wife loves it so much that I was left with GX7 as my main camera until now.

It is still a very capable camera, when OIS lenses be used, and limit myself to ISO1600. Also no 4K fun. SOOC jpg output is not as sharp as GX85, but still has very acceptable IQ. I love the tiltable evf that is absent in GX85.

IMHO GX9 is not good enough for my next move.  Likely the one after GX9 ... and until then GX7 will be downgraded as my backup camera and keep on serving me for a few more years.