What is the best track manufacture to buy? I have a life like starter set, should I stay with that brand of track or should I change to something different before I start expanding track lenghts?
looking for highest quality and yet freindly to use.
The best track-on-roadbed out there is Kato Uni-Track. I use the Bachmann nickel silver EZ track myself. It’s what my LHS carries the most of with Atlas running a close second.
Of the three (Bachmann, Life-Like, and Kato Uni-Track) I prefer the Uni-Track. They offer a wide variety, some nice bridges, and even have adjustable length pieces which make it easy to “make it work”. It is relatively simple to use Bachmann and Uni-Track with standard flextrack, say for trestles, etc., but more difficult with LifeLike, although I believe I’ve seen some “adapter” track that would work. Uni-Track is more expensive.
Get Atlas Code 100 Nickel Sliver, you can run anything on it!
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A little shopping online can get you Code 100 Atlas track for around $0.50 / foot
Not to make your head hurt more, but as you’ll find it, Codfe 83 is also out there. The difference is that the rail is shorter in height, for yards and such where it was cheaper to use a short rail. Siome peeps at my LHS swear ir looks much better than C100. I dunno. The catch is that some (increasinfgly fewer) engines don’t like running on the Code 83.
Of the choices given, I use the 100 in my planning and setting up ideas for the future layout and run on the bachmann that I already have. though I’m having problems getting a train to go all the way around the ez track without hitting a deadspot.
the Code 100 flextrack is frequently cheap. You have to physically shape it, but that isn’t really that hard. most of the t-o-r units don’t have that large a radius option. And if you eventually get into ig trains needing a radius curve larger than 24", you’ll have to go with flextrack. And you can cut it to length a little more easily.
Aside from ancient Rivarossi & AHM, care to name them?
No. You just did 
I haven’t heard many new ones. I do remember seeing information on things about whether or not they will.
For sectional track, Atlas is very good and KATO is great but expensive.
If you want to take the leap and be able to make layouts based on “free form” design, not made with cookie cutter sectional track, then Atlas makes great flex track for modest prices. Atlas makes the more bullet proof code 100 which is a little over sized against the prototype, and then for a little higher cost, code 83, which is close to scale for American mainline rail.
After that you have Micro Engineering code 83 for flex track - which looks a little finer. Shinohara also makes code 70 and 100 track and turnouts.
Peco makes code 70, 83 (or there abouts) and code 100 in European and American styles (originally only European). Its expensive but very good.