Pitfalls in buying new kitchen taps... ???

Now I know I have to replace the old unit, I would like some tips on what NOT to buy.
The style I want is a two hole deck mounted mixer (the sort that is attached to the deck in one piece and has a swivel arm.
I must have seen at least 50.. from £25 to £200.
I am looking for the most reliable and repairable brand and do not want the cheapest or the most expensive. They talk about compression valves, and advanced washer-less valve systems...but I have no idea what that means...and then there is chrome...and chrome..,
I would be grateful for advice about which makes are most reliable/ value for money etc. B&Q for example have various but maddeningly do not provide proper details like the reach of the arm and the height of the spout from the deck (a common fault on most sites).
Please and thankyou!

The most repairable is the good old-fashioned lump of metal with a rubber washer, but it isn't the most reliable. Some modern designs can be more reliable and you'd almost certainly want to remodel before they'd fail, but commonly these will only work at mains pressure, which means they won't work off your standard hot water cylinder. That's probably the main gotcha these days.

For the style you want, as long as you don't go too cheap you should be OK.
Makes like Bristan, Iflow, Deva and many others should give you a choice at the reasonable end of the price range.

Quarter turn taps have ceramic discs in them which have to be replaced as a whole valve every few years, so make sure you know who the manufacturer is, which often means avoiding the DIY shed ones. Multi-turn conventional type ones are all ok to fix.

Flow rate on the hot can be an issue if you have a gravity feed. To test that, if you can stop the hot flow with your thumb, it's gravity. If so, look for Low Pressure taps .