n00b question: which rom?

[avatar28]

I've read through a few pages of this forum and haven't found an answer. A friend at work has an Apache device from Sprint. After seeing some of the custom roms I've installed on my Wizard, he is interested in doing the same for his phone. I don't know that he is into it enough to cook his own ROM and I'm not willing to do it myself and risk killing his phone, so I'm going to help him with one of the pre-made ones. That way if he ends up bricking it, it's not on my head. Thing is, I'm not sure which one to go with. There seem to be several and, being new to this forum (found it through XDA), I don't know who makes the best complete ROMs for this device. E.g. I'm currently using Faria's 3.3 ROM on my Wizard, which of the 3.3/3.5 ROMS would be somewhat equivalent to that?

I am looking for a ROM that does not have a lot of trial version software that he will have to remove when it expires. I suppose if it still works but just nags you to purchase, it would be okay. Otherwise I would prefer to stick with full/free apps. He also tethers his device so good data and tethering support is essential. The ROM needs to allow calls to go through even if he is using the data connection instead of going straight to voicemail. I believe that issue is fixed by the newer radio/AKU versions on the Wizard so I would imagine the Apache is the same.

So how bout it? Based on what I've given you, which ROMs would you recommend. Also is there any unlocking that needs to be done like on the Wizard? I did not see any sort of sticky about needing to do so before flashing.