I have an old Hanson Tap and Die Super Set USA from the late 90's...decent tool set that I still use on a weekly basis with no problems. The tap wrenches are garbage however and have all been replaced with Starretts which makes a HUGE difference regarding accuracy and performance when using hand taps imo. Personally I think at least 50% of tap breakage when hand tapping occurs due to incorrect wrench selection, or bad quality wrenches...so it's tough to blame breakage on the tap when the operator is at fault a lot of the times.
Last August I bought a blue box Metric Irwin Hanson 41 piece carbon steel tap and die set # 26317. I'vbe used it a few times with no issues...hex dies which I don't prefer however...wrenches are junk as usual but with a box full of Starrett, Greenfield and old Yankee wrenches's it's not an issue. fwiw the new metric set is made in the USA...says so on all the taps, dies and literature enclosed
I hand tap a lot of undesirable materials all the time...alot of copper, silicon bronze, ratty A36, 1018 etc., mostly in the 4/40 - 3/8-16 range and I've never really been able to tell that HSS cuts any better than a good quality carbon steel tap. Alot of hand tapping is experience imo, knowing when to back off and clear chips...what kind of oil to use, knowing when to change to a 3 flute vs a 4 flute or a use spiral tap to finish a hole etc. A lot of times if a tap doesn't feel like it's cutting well in a certain material, I'll change out to a different style type tap, not necessarily a different material type tap
I could see wanting HSS for harder stuff like nickels and stainless steels...but...
Nothing wrong with Irwin Hanson USA taps or dies for short run production or general shop use imo...just make sure you have good wrenches, good grease, clear your chips from your tap AND your hole, and take your time. If you do a lot of 10-32 0r 1/4-20 tapping, or a lot of tapping in a specific thread count...get some HSS spiral flute, 3 flute, bottoming in that size to use as a compliment. No one tap can do it all