Well for Netflix (to access U.S. based Netflix) and to be able to watch NHL blacked out games (on NHL Gamecenter Live) and blacked out Blue Jays games (MLBTV), Unblock-US is a great option, as i use this. But Unblock-US is not a true VPN, so i know you weren't asking about this.
I'd be interested to know others' VPN experiences as well. PIA (Private Internet Access) has been talked about.