My question is, is there a good reliable breadboard?
YES! I bought some made by CSC when I was a teenager, which makes it about 40 years old. Never had a problem with it.
I use DuPont jumping wires.
Pointless. I used solid core wire with stripped bare ends. Wire taken from telephone cable (that's the business I'm in). Make sure you get proper, copper cable, not CCA (copper coated aluminium) or worse, CCS (copper coated steel).