i think they shouldn't have split the anime like they did since a lot of the good moments of DB are unknown by a ton of DBZ only viewers.
also, i liked how the stakes in DB felt pretty real. when Krillin died after the 22nd tournament, it actually felt like he died for real and more so once Piccolo Daimao destroyed the Dragon Balls since, at that point, they had been used to revive someone just once and it wasn't even a member of the regular cast.
it's not like nowadays where dying is as inconvenient as running out of stamina. you just have get out of jail cards stored in various spots (the latest Super arc puts many of them off limits but they still have some obvious get out of jail cards)
edit: also, filler was better executed back then. you couldn't really tell it was filler since the quality was up there with the manga material.
also, i liked how the stakes in DB felt pretty real. when Krillin died after the 22nd tournament, it actually felt like he died for real and more so once Piccolo Daimao destroyed the Dragon Balls since, at that point, they had been used to revive someone just once and it wasn't even a member of the regular cast.
it's not like nowadays where dying is as inconvenient as running out of stamina. you just have get out of jail cards stored in various spots (the latest Super arc puts many of them off limits but they still have some obvious get out of jail cards)
the best experience is definitely watching them in order. i'm glad my country aired DB before Z. the flow felt pretty smooth overall since DB becoming like Z flows right into Z and you wonder why they even split it up.
edit: also, filler was better executed back then. you couldn't really tell it was filler since the quality was up there with the manga material.