Well, brackets from before LEDs were certainly sturdier, because the lights sucked so much power that it wasn't uncommon for them to have a few C cells in there. They weighed 10 times as much.

I haven't gotten a bad bracket from any manufacturer except for the really junk Chinese ones (like the $2.60 PBSF clones from DX). The failed metal bracket I was talking about before was one I made myself out of a reflector bracket. These days I'd 3D print the bracket instead and it'd be much sturdier because I can custom make it to the last detail.

I'll take a PBSF with its bracket from today over the really bad lights with better brackets from 15 years ago. I don't care how good the bracket is if the light stinks.

The brackets for most of the lights I have right now are really quite good. The Serfas rubber mount is great (the clip mount pretty terrible - bad design, slips off, but not due to poor material). The Hotshot mount is pretty good.

The Knog mount, meh, I don't like it. I'll agree there. They seem to be designed to fail and require replacement in a year or so. They really need to step up and make better mounts and more versatile mounts. They have great lights and cruddy mounts. They're nice looking but they only work in exactly one place, and it doesn't work for a lot of people, and it's just not that durable.