I have been using them mostly but also other brands for 30 years and have had zero failures, I think a lot of them are people just throwing them in and hoping for the best. I ALWAYS make sure every single lifter is rotating on the stand turning the engine by hand and if they don't twist as it goes over the lobe you can do a few things to make it happen... for starters I clean the lifter bore with a wire brush (after pressure washing and degreasing the entire block and once it is dry use the wire brush so not even flash rust can be in the bore)in a drill as any tiny burr or rust spec can keep them from turning and I almost never have an issue after this step, next thing to do if there is a stubborn one is switch them from one bore to another, sometimes the combination of the exact lifter crown, lobe taper, bore position don't get one rotating but moving them around will usually get them rotating. Other things I do to theoretically help anyhow is I always make sure everything is super ultra mega clean and use STP on the foot and lobes of the cam and besides that I just use whatever oil I can get cheapest in the weight I want, I also polish both of the tips of the pushrod as shiny as I can possilby get them so they don't have any chance of resisting rotation, always prime the engine before IMMEDIETLY BEFORE not days ahead of time! first start so the sides of the lifter are well lubed and not resisting rotation and it will build back pressure there as soon as it fires as that film between the lifter and bore allows it to rotate easier. If you are running a very fast rate lobe use dychem on the lifter to make sure it is not hitting the edge of the lifter, if it does you need your block bushed or a less aggressive lobe.

I have also used a few used cams and they can be harder to get them to rotate and sometimes switching lifter bore around will get them rotating on the engine stand, the lifter bore in your new engine may not be at the exact same angle as the old block they were installed and broke in on so keeping them on the original lobe don't mean a whole lot and in my opinion it is more important to find a lobe it rotates on than it is to keep it on the original lobe.