Depends: what do you mean by "better"? Better articulated? Better range? Better...better? Just better?
G1. armada was a very small line as far as molds go. most figures were completely designed around gimmicks, too. G1 was a huge line. while some were also designed around gimmicks, the G1 stuff typically did their gimmick integration better. and for most, transformation was the gimmick. Armada was a great line, and so was G1. G1 was bigger, had more variation and less intrusive gimmicks, so it's the better of the two.
Excluding the Unicron toy (since Armada actually has the claim to the first mass-released Unicron figure and G1 Unicron's figure barely exists in prototype form), I say G1 was honestly better. And this is coming from someone who loves his Armada Hot Shot. With G1, there were true gesalt combiners, you had a robot that turned into a handheld gun and a Stereo, and you had to apply the stickers youself (okay, so the last one varries between people, but I find it adds to the fun because you're adding your own personal touch to the figure, making it different from a second version of a toy owned by another kid). With Armada, there were scarcely any combining (just with the leaders and the mini-con weapons), you needed the mini-cons in order to activate most of the gimmickry, and articulation sucked overall in anything under Supreme. Also, did I mention the lack of tripple changers in Armada? (Prime's Super mode, Megatron's super mode, Tidal wave breaking into thirds, and all the combining mini-cons don't count).
G1. Although the last few episodes of the Armada cartoon outstripped anything the G1 cartoon had to offer IMO, the Armada toyline generally pales in comparison with G1. It had a few gems, yes, but G1 had FAR more.
g1 transformer toy line is way better. I mean we never get to see combiners anymore that severl other robots transform into a bigger rbot. we dont see autobot or decepticon cities transform into robots. all we say in just a regular transformer tranaforming from just a jet to a robot or a car to a robot. g1 is way better and way longer with way more toys even thought he best of the g1 line was 1984-1987.