I don't know about the rest of you, but I use my CrackBerry for IM more than anything else. I didn't even have a real data plan on my Pearl, just the Rogers $15/mo email and IM plan. (I'll add some pics later. I'm at work, and it's a software company, so they freak out if I hook anything up to their computers to get screenshots.)
So, since I wound up trying a whole bunch of them when I got my new Bold, I thought I'd share my experiences
Official RIM Clients
You know the ones I mean. Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and AIM. The individual clients that are available for free from RIM. I'm going to treat them as one product because they're all pretty much the same except for Google Talk. More on that later.
Setup/Installation:
Ridiculously simple. They're on the app store or RIM's website. The downside is, they need service books. They're all available now on Rogers, as far as I know, but it used to be only Google Talk was available. It's possible your provider might not provide the service books for you, in which case you'll have to snag them off someone else which is a hassle.
Initial Impressions:
Polished. Not a lot of features, but the standard features are well implemented.
Longer term impressions:
The RIM clients are pretty stable. Better than any of the jabber-based clients available. Since Google Talk is essentially rebranded Jabber, you can rig this with transports for other messengers, but you have to use a desktop client to set it up. This approach has all the same drawbacks and advantages of the other Jabber-based clients. It's somewhat outdated now, since the client itself does not understand the transports, but it served me well when I had no data plan. Using the various clients separately can get annoying if you have friends on many different networks. Notifications all follow the proper BB way of doing things, which is a big plus to me.
Conclusion:
Great if you only need one or two services. (I.e. just AIM.)
Instango
This is the first all-in-one type client I really tried, unless you count Google Talk. Like many BB clients, it's Jabber based.
Setup/Install:
Pretty easy. 530kb is hefty for an OTA download. The program autodetects your connection settings, which works pretty well. If you don't have an Instango account, you can create one on the device.
Initial Impressions:
Good. Signing up for an Instango account annoyed me a little because I didn't really need a new service, but it's inevitable with Jabber-based clients. Having all the services together in one place is a nice change compared to the stock RIM clients, and because the Instango client understands Jabber transports, reliability is better.
Long term impressions:
About the same as the initial impressions. Having an Instango account can be convenient, though, if you're the type to wipe your phone and forget a backup. Reliability is good... for a Jabber-based client. You tend to drop individual services rather than everything at once, and it can usually reconnect on its own. Usually. No option to have a menu bar icon pop up for new message notification in other applications, which annoys me.
Conclusion:
Personally, I think this is the best of the free multiservice clients. (The free ones are all Jabber based as far as I can tell.)
IM+
My experiences are based on the current beta, since this isn't free software and I'm a poor student.
Installation:
Easy. OTA download available, and you don't need to sign up for a new account. Just add your existing IM services.
Initial Impressions:
Lots of options to customize the interface as you see fit. Facebook and Skype IM support. Good icons for everything that needs an icon, including menu bar message notifications.
Longer term impressions:
Notifications still aren't quite right. The icon popup works good, and so do the popup window options, but you can't configure notifications to play sound when your Berry is set to loud/normal and shut up when it's set to vibrate/silent. You have to change it each time separately in IM+. This really annoys the crap out of me, because I end up leaving sound turned off and missing IMs when my BB is on the table. Reliability is *very* good. Only BB client I've tried where the services all stay connected 24/7. (Except Skype, but Skype support is beta, and it's still pretty good.)
Conclusion:
The best client, IMO, but it's up to you to figure out whether it's better enough than Instango to be worth the money.
Overall:
If you're looking for a free client, get Instango. If you're willing to pry open your wallet (which I'm usually not), get IM+.
Downloads: 
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IM Client Roundup 
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