General Forum

Topps

Donruss

Fleer

Upper Deck

Star.

Fleer.

Upper Deck.

Hoops.

Topps

Upper Deck 

Donruss

Fleer

Topps

Don Russ - a distant 2nd 

Score .... just because I was into it at the time.

Fleer - I like their stuff I just never went all in.

I loath Upper Deck ...  they ruined it for me in so many ways

This is my favorite post in this thread.

ONLY using those 4 manufacturers...

Pre-89 is easy: Topps, Fleer, Donruss.

1989 and later: UD, Fleer, Topps, Donruss. I move Fleer ahead of Topps due to the "premium" products they made. I liked Ultra more than Stadium Club and Flair more than Finest.

In the 2000's, it was all a wash - basically changing order from one year to the next.

If I were to add companies, I always liked Pacific cards and Press Pass NASCAR cards.

If I go through my collecting years which ended in 93, I would say:

Topps

Donruss

Upper Deck

Fleer

My opinion is based mostly on collecting football and baseball cards, beginning in the late '80s through the mid '90s and back again since 2015. I have collected some basketball and hockey as well some non-sport, but do not have that much collecting experience.

1. Topps: although I don't worship all thing Topps, they have been the most consistent with a quality and collectability throughout the years. I was very disappointed when they no longer produced football cards after 2015. 
2. Upper Deck: its designs and photos were very unique to me as a young collector, especially when they first came out (especially in comparison to Topps). I've probably held on to that admiration too long, but they are sentimental to me. I was also disappointed to see that it didn't renew its license to publish NFL cards in the late 2000s. 
3. Fleer: I place this third because I really don't like its main brand; they never had the allure and consistency as UD and Topps; however, I do like their splinter brands, especially the Ultras and Flairs, better than Topps and UD. (I agree with Spaz on that one.) I really wasn't disappointed to learn that it didn't renew its license with the NFL.
4. Donruss: I only have limited experience with them; my first pack of cards was '88 Donruss baseball. I really liked the Diamond Kings, but didn't get them a lot, so I gravitated toward Topps and UD since most of my friends collected those two. Even today's versions are not impressive--especially the baseball--although I do like the 2015 Donruss football a lot.

***If Score were on the list, I would place it as a tie with Upper Deck. Simply put, in the '80s and '90s, they were really fun to collect with the amount of cards and different subsets in the base set (and they weren't terribly expensive either). 

So in my opinion; Upper Deck raised the bar with their innaugeral set in 1989. It helped that it was a very strong year for rookies. When Topps came out with Stadium club 2 years later the bar was again raised. Since then it has been back and forth until Upper Deck lost their licensing. I feel that when Topps came out with their Finest and Chrome sets they took over. So my ranking would have to be:

#1 Topps(Chrome and Finest)

#2 Upper Deck (Especially the Sp and UD3)

#3 Fleer(Ultra of course)

#4 Donruss

1. O-Pee-Chee

2. Post

3. Topps

4. Bowman

5. Kellogg's

Why restrict it to just the companies that overproduce cards?