Have to say that I used to use quality tools, but they kept breaking (don't talk to me about Spear & Jackson 25 yr guarantee fork: two weeks, two tines bent, huh.) so I now use the cheapest I can get.

I find that they last just as well as "posh" ones, and it doesn't break my heart if I lose them, or if they break.

Must admit that I am very hard on my tools: I often use the small one in my hand rather than go back to my car for a bigger one (I am paid by the minute, after all!) which can mean death for secateurs.

I actually use, on a daily basis:

Daisy grubber and trowel from B&Q. They last for months.

Secateurs from Robert Dyas £4.99. Current ones have been going for 8 months, I sharpen them with a harsh diamond stick every day or so, really roughly. I never oil them.

Loppers from Robert Dyas about £10, as per secateurs: I fretsaw off the handles until they are only about 15" long, as I find them much handier at that length.

There's a good range of really cheap, bright blue plastic-handled spades/forks, called something like "i-ball", several of my clients have them, and I use them a lot, even in preference to my own tools.

Final comment: right tool for the right job is the way to make them last (said she, holier than thou and chopping great thick branches with her secateurs, he he.), along with scraping the mud off them each day.

Hope this helps.