Hello Derek and fellow listees;  In my 20 something years as a mechanic, I
have broken maybe 25 sockets.  Usually hand tool sockets, but impact
sockets as well.  As far as quality goes, there is a difference in
strength.  Those Taiwanese tools are a waste of money, and a hazard to the
mechanic.  Always buy quality sockets, and consider the consequences if one
should break while you are pulling on it.  If you look at the construction
of the socket, the quality will be obvious.  The place where I work had a
policy that if you broke a tool, they would replace it with any brand you
wanted.  Most mechanics would buy the cheapest socket they could find,
hoping they would break them and replace them with the best available.  The
problem with that is that they might injure themselves when the socket let
go, or get hit with broken pieces when it flew apart.  Then there's the
danger of damaging the fastener your trying to remove with a ill-fitting or
prematurely worn socket.   My advice would be to buy the best tools you can
afford and minimize the chance of injury, don't use a bigger gun if the
smaller one won't do the job.  Mechanics work with fasteners more than
anything else, and develop a feel for it.                  Larry Carter