I need to use a wifi module in my current design and I’d prefer to use one of the easy pre-packaged, pre-qualified ones like the Spark or the Electric Imp. Has anyone used either of these or any other module before? Did it work well? Would you recommend it?
The Electric Imp works great! I have a project on upverter that uses the electric imp. Only the schematic is on Upverter
https://upverter.com/wehrdesigns/c5618571c16b519d/AC-Power-Monitor-with-an-Electric-Imp/
The electric imp works great if you want the easiest connection to the cloud through any router. It is great if you are putting something into production and want that part of the design handled for you. For your development, you can get a free account to use. If you want more info on the electric imp look on their site for examples or, check out The Make Deck
They have breakout boards as well as years of experience with the electric imp.
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Use Spark! I couldn’t be more biased, of course, but Za(ch|k)s have to stick together. 
But seriously. The Imp and the Photon have almost identical hardware (same MCU, same Wi-Fi module), and while there are more significant trade-offs for a product at scale, in development/prototyping they’re very similar and the biggest difference you’ll experience is the programming environment (Imp’s Squirrel vs. Spark’s Arduino/C/C++).
I’ve got a project in the works (http://z.svbtle.com/drone-adventures-pt-1-building-a-drone) that I’m planning to use Upverter for, but I keep pushing it off, so I haven’t yet had a chance to get the Photon/P0 into Upverter. In the meantime, here’s a public project from one of our engineers that has the Core layout:
https://upverter.com/spark/b18ee98593506a3b/Indoor-Air-Quality-Shield/
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Thats amazing! Thanks Zach!
After asking this I overheard that my team had a super great experience
using the spark on a client project we did a few months back, so theres
that too! Honestly I have yet to hear anything negative - kudos to you!
Glad to hear it! Happy to help if you’re using the Spark stuff (goes for the whole Upverter community). Just ping me (@zsupalla) and I can lend a hand. Or you can poke your head over in our forums too
Also I 
Discourse
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I’m a big proponent of the Imp, super easy to use and having the agent running in the cloud is a very nice benefit. So far I have made a wireless sensor network that bridges 915mhz radios to wifi, a non-invasive water meter and I’m now working on a WiFi scale, all using Electric Imp.
@imp_guru: That sounds awesome! I found your 915 Mhz sensor network design:
https://upverter.com/imp-guru/9f9f679f70d34cd7/915-MHz-Sensor-Hub/
Are your other ones shared as well? We’d love to feature them!
Adam,
Every design that I’ve done in the recent past is public on Upverter, it is a pretty good tool. Of course it can get better but the same is true for anything. I’ll be adding more designs as time goes on as well. Send me an email lgbeno@gmail.com and we can talk about a feature privately.
-Luke
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