I need to choose a Ripple Gateway trustworthy enough to hold $10's of USD for me while I test out Ripple. I have no experience with any existing BTC exchanges/counter parties.
So my open question is? Who do you trust? Tell me your GOOD experiences? No flame wars please.
Bitstamp is very good and Ripple is fast and I will admit I like it.
HOWEVER I have been around in Ripple a while and traded a few BTC into Ripple and back. Suddenly, you cannot get BTC out of Ripple and back into Bitstamp - so it is not a gateway for BTC /Ripple, right now it is only a trap door.
Admittedly Bitstamp are saying they are 'looking into this problem' or 'fixing it soon ' But when 'soon' actually IS, is anyone's guess.
Internal trading inside Ripple to get Ripple into USD or vice versa is not really practical, the only exchange trading there is inside is in BTC/XRP, but if the largest gateway is not letting you get BTC out, it is a little concerning.