I've only been playing for 5 seasons, I did play when I was young but mostly tennis ball road games. I'm now on my 4th bat. My first one lasted a season, I got a century with it but it was a fairly cheap GN bat that wasn't that great. I upgraded to a Warner Kaboom because I liked to give it a thrash and thought that would maximise my hitting, I got a century with that too but it went in the splice so I got a really nice Legend but I felt it was a little too light so now I've now got a Century from my coach which is in between the weights of my two GNs. My first GN got broken when I lent it to a teammate but I wasn't that bothered.
I carry all three in my bag. The Century will be my league bat, I use the Legend for nets and the Kaboom is for T20.
If I could start again I'd go with two Century bats, one for nets and one for games. Maybe a third for when one breaks.