I have looked at TCO hooks and they didn't look good to me so I passed. There is something about the color and line of a cheap hook that makes me wary. But it is odd that both hooks broke near the eye. I wonder if there might have been something about the pattern (bead placement maybe?) that could have created a stress point. It seems unlikely, but since the original poster stated that both hooks broke in the same place and it was the same pattern I figured it was worth mentioning.
I used TMC for a long time, but I go through enough hooks that the price became annoying. I agree with Darryl that you don't want to save money at the cost of quality, but there are some fairly good options that are less expensive. Saber are cheap but soft. I never found anything as bad as Delta_Dog's examples, but I pretty much wrote off saber after trying a few packs. The J. Stockard hooks are good quality. After using hundreds of J. Stockard hooks I only have found one with a minor cosmetic defect. They are not as sharp as TMC out of the pack, but I sharpen them during use anyway, so that is not a big problem. Lately I have been using a lot of Allen hooks. Their standard nymph hooks are fine, comparable to J. Stockard, and I just recently tried their premium dry fly hooks and really like them. Both J. Stockard and Allen offer reasonably priced quality hooks and great customer service.
