Root What are the benefits to rooting & various custom ROMs?

[mnwaterbug]

I just ordered a Marquee from Ting. My current phone is an LG Optimus V; it came with Froyo and very little memory for apps. Rooting allowed virtually unlimited storage with Link2SD, and installing a custom Gingerbread ROM made it much prettier, faster/smoother and more customizable.

What are the benefits to rooting the Marquee (other than being able to install a custom ROM)?

What are the benefits to the various custom ROMs? It looks like CTMod and MegaTron are the only two not labeled "beta" or "alpha" ...is there a clear winner in the ROM arena?

Thanks!

 

[sniperruff]

My main reasons are:

1. eliminates bloatware from Sprint
2. free tether (although rooting is not required, it makes it a lot more simple)
3. overclocking via voltage control

And yes the ROM makes the phone a lot more usable/faster. I'd definitely do it.