Reccomend me a good quality and value tap and die set

My hodgepodge of swap meet tap and dies ain't cutting it anymore. My wife and daughter want to get me a metric and standard set for my birthday in a couple of weeks. I rarely need them but I'd like a comprehensive set that'll last me a long long time. What would you all suggest, locally sourced would be best. Amazon Lowe's Home Depot Harbor Freight I'll count as locally sourced

You can get the best taps in the world and in a year probably 20% will be broken.  Dies on the other hand seem to last forever.  I've not seen a difference in brands to be honest.

As a "threading enthusiast" with an almost entire toolbox dedicated to the art......

Are you looking to cut new threads or clean dirty and damaged threads?

My answers are different for those use cases. Yes the Irwin "carbon steel" taps can cut new threads and yes a superr sharp Widia tap can clean out a damaged thread but I don't recommend that. 

I use Irwin taps from the local hardware for everything small. 

Taps over 1/4" I have a Harbor Freight set that works very well. It was not their cheap set. IIRC it was well over $150 15 years ago. And it looks like they don't sell it anymore. 

I have thread chasers for cleaning up threads this would be more for cutting new threads or trying to save really buggered ones that the thread Chasers don't work in. My dad has a set of Craftsman tap and die that he's had for at least 40 years cuz it's the same set that he's had since I've been alive but they don't exist anymore either that I've been able to find, toyman

I have a Tekton set of metric dies that have been good to me.  We used the same set for making a lot of aluminum and steel prototype parts when I was designing lawn mowers a couple years ago. Link NLA on amazon per that link but should give you something to go off of.

No real recommendation from me - my cheap harbor freight set has done me well...

however, if I were to make a real investment I would probably get the gear wrench ratcheting tap and die set...because 9/10 times I use pliers to turn the tap/die because the space is too small.

also - you could always just rent a set from the local parts store. I did that with thread chasers and it was fantastic

I have a craftsman set that is probably 15-20 years old.  None broken yet.  After Sears sold them off I'm not sure I would still recommend them though. 

Mastercraft, from Canadian Tire.....while you're up there you can see Niagara Falls, have some Timbits, and take in a curling game.

In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :

My tap and die set is also Mastercraft :) Which means I've had it for 25 years.

I'm also on the Irwin bandwagon, as they work well, and I consider them to be disposable items. I have found that hosing them down with LPS1 before putting them back in the case helps since I live in a humid area where rust likes to grow.

Mastercraft metric/sae tap and die set here too, doesn't help you down there in the US but overall they've held up pretty well to garage use.

i just added this set of Metric only to my collection as I find the metric/sae set misses a bunch of sizes and thread pitches that I've run across on my cars (BMW specifically). Full set of dies along with matching plug and taper taps, I wouldn't try making threads in stainless with them but for steel and cleaning stuff up they'll be fine. I wish I could find a kit of thread chasers that was as comprehensive.

For taps I often find myself grabbing my 1/4" drive sae 12 point sockets to get into tight spaces with them where a tap handle will not fit. 

I'd like to hear about informed choices for thread chasing.

I have one of the large eBay SAE/metric sets and also a couple of specific ARP ones (wheel studs).  But I'd like better quality w/o costing a limb or wo.