Do you have tips on a good tape deck model, or manufacturer that consistently made high quality decks? A friend gave me his old Sony TC-W365 which worked admirably, until recent mechanical failures.
/r/cassetteculture is a decent resource for info.
In my opinion, the "god-tier" would be Revox B215 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revox_B215) and the Nakamichi Dragon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakamichi_Dragon).
I've personally used the Revox in the late 80's and early 90's as a DJ in a college radio station. It was super durable (it had to be, in a punk environment). I don't have any experience with the Dragon but it looks cool and I see it has good performance.
I think anyone who adopts a tape deck these days had better be ready for getting it serviced. Aside from the mechanical stuff that just wears out, the electronics are likely to need work after 30+ years. Capacitors, mainly.
The belts disintegrate over time and must be replaced. I successfully repaired mine from a belt kit I was able to get on Amazon. It's not terribly easy to replace the belts but I did manage to do it.
Despite the domain name they carry a large variety of belts for things well beyond turntables, and more importantly have a searchable resource to match belts to product models and OEM service manual numbers: https://www.turntableneedles.com/find10.asp
If they don't stock the belt, you can often find the same-sized belt elsewhere. But it helps immensely to know what you're looking for. They also stock tools designed for belt replacements. This helped me replace the belts in my old Realistic/Radio Shack boombox's deck.
Here is a generic repair of a very unusual tape deck
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185721049456
those Sony(s) do need maintenance more than some decks but they are very available.