Well what exactly are your needs in terms of getting a VPS? Do you seek to run a website, use it to host files, play around with Linux, host a game server?   I don't know much about all the different VPS services offered around, but as you noted, I have heard good things about Linode. Personally, however, I chose to go with VPSLatch because it provides managed hosting and so far I've found their support excellent. The prices are comparable to Linode, so it's not exactly all that cheap either.