Hi, I'm looking for a little advice in this category as well. I've done quite a bit of reading, but still could use a little direction from those more experienced than I.
I have a strong background on WM (and Palm before that), but I'm still a noob on Android. I'm currently running a rooted version (for tether and Titanium Backup) of stock DI18 as the OTA updates haven't worked and I haven't had time to troubleshoot till now. I am assuming that this is because I'm rooted, so I figure if Sprint wants to make it hard on a power business user like me, screw 'em, I'll just go with a fully custom ROM and get rid of all their BS.
So that's where I'm at. I was leaning toward Syndicate Fully loaded after doing some reading, but decided I really am not experienced enough, as I do not have enough time to trial/error a bunch of ROMs nor troubleshoot unstable ones.
In case you are interested, here are my priorities:
1. Battery Life
2. Stable
3. Functional as a Phone first, Email Second (I use Touchdown/Exchange currently)
4. Wireless Tether!
5. Google Voice
6. Camera quality (probably doesn't need to be mentioned, but I noticed some of the ROMs had issues here)
7. Spying, spammy, bloated, crapware gone but still able to install if needed in future
8. Full control (if I wanted to be told what media I can't play or programs I can't install, I'd have upgraded to WM7/iPhone...eek!)
9. Social media (upload photos/videos)
10. Eye candy or impressive high tech wizardry (lowest priority, but I do like to show off now & then

)
So, which ROM do you think I should use and why? Thanks so much, in advance for your help and advice - hope I can return the favor one day!