I find it a little odd that people are willing to pay anywhere from $400-1,000 for a gun, but can't afford a decent holster. You can get a good professional quality holster for under $60 at
http://www.donhume.com/
If you want multiple retention features, thenthe price is going to go up. I personally use the H-727 for all of my carry guns and have found them to be adequate for my own needs, with their thumb break retention straps.
http://www.donhume.com/products/ProductsPage.cfm?ProductID=1
If you skimp on a holster and try to get by with something that cost $20, knowledgable people are going to think you are clueless. They might not say anything, but they will be thinking it. Fortunately for me, a police officer was kind enough to tell me to ditch my Uncle Mikes' POS and advised me to get a decent holster. I'm glad I listened to him.
Here's a little piece of information about thumb break straps. If you have to lift the strap UP, it's not a holster designed for carry a pistol for defensive purposes -- you have a hunting holster. A thumb break strap designed for defensive carry will break by wedging your thumb DOWN between the strap and the pistol. The difference between the two is that with the hunting holster you have to make two separate motions to get the pistol out of the holster: lift the strap and grasp the handle. With a defensive carry holster the same motion of grasping the handle will cause the strap to open -- that's a single motion. This is all obvious to those who have a defensive carry holster, but it may be completely unklnown to newbies. I never knew this until a police officer showed it to me.
If you want to see how this works, I'll bring an empty holster with the proper type of thumb break strap to the next meeting. Just let me know.