I've had little contact with the third-party stuff myself, but what I can tell you is that at least half the time, quality of the figure isn't an issue and you're only going to end up breaking crap when it's a truly crappy company. I used to own the Fansproject Steel Core and still own their little Targetmaster guys Blesser and Sidearm, while also handling several of their other figures, and I also own the iGear Shafter (their version of Erector, exclusive to TFcon 2012). You can't go wrong with about anything FP. While Shafter was a perfect release itself, I know there are iGear releases that do have their issues, so you'd need to be attentive to individual reviews.
Mastermind Creations, TFC Toys, Dr. Wu, Maketoys - all of their work has been typically of great quality. Impossible Toys (the tetrajet guys) have had some subpar stuff in the past but the tetrajets are probably their best work. Some of their last too, unfortunately, since they're supposed to be closing their doors. Unique Toys (the guys doing Troll) are interesting in that a lot of their earlier releases were underwhelming, or outright sucked. Their not-Predaking, War Lord, was almost laughably bad in comparison to Ares or Feral Rex. Thankfully, the feedback on Mania King (Galvatron) was not so bad, and it has been even more positive for Salmoore (their version of the Go-Bots Cy-Kill). With Troll looking to be even better than those two, you seem to have picked a good third-party toy as your first.