[sdiy] IC socket reliability/0.100 headers?

[Dave Kendall]

Many thanks to all for their replies.

Seems I'm on the right track, as in the builds of the last year, 
turned-pin sockets have been used only for rare/expensive ICs, or on 
perfboard prototypes. The rest have been soldered in, which seems to be 
the consensus of advice here.

I guess it's fair to say that MTA-type 0.100 style connectors can 
suffer from many of the disadvantages of IC sockets? They do make life 
easy and neat, but I guess a soldered connection to a PCB pin with 
heastshrink for added mechanical strength is possibly the most 
reliable.

Any comments on that, or long-term 0.100 fail stories?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm keen to find the most reliable 
methods, and then stick to them.
I'm not building commercially, so have time to make things as robust as 
they can be.

Thanks again to all.

cheers,
Dave