Socket to Me?

[toml_12953]

How do you feel about socketing chips on PC boards? Sockets do make chip replacement a snap and protect chips from the heat of soldering but some socket types suffer from "chip creep", especially if the board is in equipment that will be subject to a lot of vibration. Also, sockets raise the profile of the chip.

I usually solder most common chips in directly, only using sockets for very expensive and/or rare chips or chips that require programming such as EPROMS, FPGAs, CPLDs.

I'd like your opinion on the subject, however.