Mik3D, golden monkey. Going to try the more freedom kernel again, see if it's better this time around.
Also going to try out the merge ROM.

 

with kernels it is going to very from phone to phone. so what works for me may not work for you. the trick with kernels is to make a nandroid backup and flash the kernel. give it a few days to settle in and make a decision at that point. some kernels may jusy hate your phone. chop suey ( at least the latest one) hates my phone. but the aggressive freedom .9 kernel seems to be working for me.

 

for me the important thing is battery and performance. does my wifi work? do i have any lag? how fast does my battery drop?

also what effects the battery life is what governor you have set in setcpu.

here is a guide on setcpu:
http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all-things-root/210253-setcpu-guide.html

 

haven't bought setcpu have Freedom Kernal .85 i think battery life drains even quicker than the stock did for me. I give everything a week to settle. I am also using Azrael_X_v5.0_by_ricsim78. about to try a virus rom out. Also been thinking about cm7.

 

Check this out to see what CM7 is about.

The Complete Review Of CyanogenMod 7 [Walkthrough & Guide]

 

Freedom universal drained my battery. I was 100% at 10AM and at 2PM I was around 58% with little usage and only 1 5 minute phone call. Im now trying GOLDEN MONKEY although it hasnt been updated since JULY (but I hear lots of positive things about it). In just the few minutes I am running the kernel, my EVO is so much smoother..

 

Did you give it a chance to settle in? Kernels tend to act a little funny right away and settle into your phone after about a day or two. You could also try wiping battery stats

 

Agreed. You should let the kernel settle for 48-72 hours before judging them.

 

The Xperia CM7 build with whichever tiamat sbc kernel that works best for your device.... the kernel bit is actually proprietary for each device, but the xperia CM7 rom IS KILLER!!!!!