As luck would have it, I'd just ordered the same kit that Old Printer referenced at the start of this thread. It arrived a few days ago and I've now had a chance to look at it. This is the review I sent to Amazon:
These are about what you would expect for the price: Lots and lots of resistors of very questionable quality.
Pluses:
1. Many values covered.
2. Markings are fairly easy to read. Brown and red can be difficult but conveniently, every resistor has a brown tolerance band for reference.
3. Values also printed on paper strips which hold groups of resistors.
Minuses:
1. Very thin leads, despite implications to the contrary. I measured a sampling and they're around 0.354mm which is just under 27AWG. By comparison, some higher-quality resistors measured about .65mm or 22AWG. Big difference. Works in my breadboard, but not confidence inspiring.
2. Low-quality leads. They are visibly rougher and less consistent in color than other components.
3. Not 1% tolerance. Many are. Some more fit into 2% tolerance. Some outliers barely fit into 5%. Will this make a difference for most purchasers? Hell no, but it's an outright falsehood.
Have not yet decided whether to return. On the one hand, they're useful for plenty of things. On the other hand, they scream "poor quality" and that's always a turnoff.
I'd be willing to pay several times this amount for a higher quality assortment. The only ones I've seen for through-hole at a reasonable price are the Multicomps discussed above. Might give those a try next. Otherwise, is there something from Vishay, etc? All I've seen are SMD kits.
Allen