{tech}.Ben Buckman.net

I've been using the DroidMod ROM on my rooted Droid for a few months now. I got it because I was tired of waiting for Motorola to release 2.1, and DroidMod has several 2.1 features, plus wireless tethering and some other stuff. Since then the official 2.1 came out, but DroidMod is still technically 2.01, so apps like Google Earth don't work. And DroidMod is buggy: it force-closes apps too often (although wiping the cache partition helped).

A few weeks ago, I installed ROM Manager, a more general app than DroidMod's DM Updater. I thought about ditching DroidMod, but switching ROMs requires an app/settings wipe, which takes some time to restore. Yesterday I decided to do it anyway, and installed CyanogenMod 5.0.6.2. It installed with no problems, and I like it better than DroidMod so far: it's real 2.1, I haven't had any force-closes yet, and it adds some nice UI effects. I still haven't restored all my icons, but needing to reinstall my apps let me pass on ones I don't really use.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend using a custom ROM (it voids your warranty, for one thing), but if you do, I'd recommend avoiding DroidMod. I haven't tried the others - Bugless Beast, Smoked Glass, Ultimate Droid, etc - but CyanogenMod seems pretty good so far.