I've had success and misses. Bought a Melbourne which was once a Kickstarter, however when I bought it I had no idea. It's lovely, light and tasteful.
I recently got on the Kickstarter train and purchased three. Two are way behind in production but the one I did get is just not up to par. Like you said, my reps feel better made.
After that I regretted buying either of the others and I haven't even gotten them yet.
Admittedly there is a huge difference between micro brands and Kickstarters. There are some brilliant micros like deep blue,
But they've been at it for a while.
My feeling then is choose wisely because some of them are just going to disappoint, but that's unfair to those which are truly spectacular time pieces.