How you will use them is the big thing with stands. You have 4 basic criteria:
1) Speedlights or studio strobes?
Studio lights are bigger/heavier, so right off the bat, you need a heavier duty stand.
2) Indoor/outdoor?
For obvious reasons, if you plan on location shooting, you're going to need a heavier duty stand.
3) Modifiers?
Umbrellas don't weigh much, but large softboxes can be heavy...so can barn doors and other "hard" modifiers.
4) Triggers and Power?
Again, like everything else above, it all comes down to weight.
If you're just setting up a simple home studio, you don't need commercial grade steel bar stands w/ 5" castors on them. Some of that stuff is built for Hollywood lighting, and is beyond overkill. That being said, if I had invested a few grand in some Profoto lights, I don't think I'd try to chimp on the stands holding them up.
Avoid anything plastic, they're just not worth it. A decent aluminum stand doesn't cost that much.
Spend the few extra bucks and buy the air cushioned version. When the day comes when you forget to tighten down an adjustment knob (and it will), and your light comes crashing down, you'll wish you had it.
All that said,
this is my favorite stand. It's the Strobist-approved stand from LumoPro. No frills, hard as nails, guaranteed or your money back, simple light stand. I have two of them, and they are rock solid.