[yerp]

if i had a verizon gimp pro, i would probably do the same thing....i'm not taking shots...just calling a spade a spade. the main issue is, most of these custom ROMs are not cooked with the verizon hardware in mind and the few that are are still running builds of windows from newer devices with beefier specs (ram mainly)....the verizon ROM was customized with only your hardware in mind. the carriers and htc tailor WM, the drivers, and many of the included apps to the different devices and it seems that the carrier(s)(i can only speak for sprint) are getting better at this.

i was very supprised at how well my TP ran out of the box with the stock sprint ROM. my previous WM phone, the sprint mogul(also a low ram device), was shipped with the ROM that sprint launched with....it ran like a DOG....horrible battery life, laggy as hell...a horrible intro to WM. i went to the sprint store that day to return it, and was informed by an employee that an update had been released a few days ago and i should update it and give it a try......boy am i glad i listened to him. it seems with each official Sprint ROM release, they get more out of the devices and then it is the custom community playing catchup....once the chefs extract the newer device drivers and settings, they're on an even playing field again.

personally, i think that the only reason to flash a custom ROM is to take advantage of something that you can't just install onto a stock ROM. for instance, in the mogul(WM6) days, it was getting WM6.1 which offered superior memory managenemt, speed and battery life. Or better yet, for a while custom and/or leaked sprint beta ROMs were the only way to have working GPS on the mogul until sprint officially released it.
right now, on my TP, i am flashing customs for WM6.5 which is a real step up from 6.1 in useability....better layout, scrolling, and battery life is twice that of 6.1....and titanium allows me to dump the bloated glitter that is TF3D.

anyway, i've ranted and reminised enough....the point is, the grass is not always greener and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.....custom != always better....play around and use what you find to work the best for you...