Hameg have a decent reputation, but not in the same league as Tektronix (and later HP/Agilent). Which is why they're now the budget brand for R&S. As for old top-of-the-line versus new lower end, that depends on the exact models involved. Tek made some of the best scopes in the world, but the older models like the 465 are likely to have more problems with dried out caps and dirty switches.
One advantage of the lower performance of Hameg scopes is that they usually use less custom parts (not sure about the current models). This makes them easier to repair, although documentation is not to the same level as HP and Tek. Hameg is usually quite good about providing documentation for older equipment.