Bitcoin-qt / raw transactions are my only choice because I have tried both armory and electrum and I can't get them to work on my computer. Plus, having read all the theory about raw transactions, I am trying to put theory into practice for educational purposes, so using armory won't help in this case.
If you can't get Armory working, why would you expect raw transactions to be easier/safer?
You're just exponentially increasing the odds that you'll permanently lose Bitcoins.
I'm testing on testnet. Plus, I have filed a report with the armory devs, and as soon as they reply back, I'll give it another go. However, that will not solve the problem of "learning" how to do raw transactions.