I played with a set of knockoff Ping Eye 2's for the first year or so. I didn't know they were knockoff Pings till later on, I just thought of them as golf clubs. They were fine to me and I loved them. I went from the knockoffs to Adams a2OS which was a super game improvement iron. When I outgrew them, I bought a set of Ping i10's. I told ya that to tell you this.. I hit the old Ping knockoff's now and can definitely tell a difference - no comparison. But when I played the knockoff's, I thought they hit great.
I would go to a demo day and find something you like or go to a store that has demo irons. I mean, you don't necessarily have to buy an OEM iron to find something you like - but I would hit a few irons and not jump into the best deal of the day. If you want to spend a hundred bucks on something now, you can find good irons that are 1/2 inch long that are 2+ years old for right around a hundred bucks all day long.
All I can say is what I would do but ultimately it is your decision. If your options are a component company like Pinemeadow and irons that will hold their value if you want to trade or sell them, I would go with the set that will hold their value. That's just my opinion and for every 10 guys that agree with me, there will be 10 more that would go with the Pinemeadow.. Just depends on what makes you happy.