I am using namecheap for 5-6 years now (can't remember for how long). I never had to do anything except manually renew the domain I needed.
I also set myself in a mission to 'help' people who need help with setting up their DNS and uses Godaddy to transfer them to Namecheap first before helping out - simply because I wouldn't want to deal with Godaddy horrible UI.
To date I think I've been able to move about 100 domains out of Godaddy.
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By the way it's a shame since I know some Godaddy Execs and they're very nice, I feel they're like trying to navigate a old ship that won't turn its course no matter how much energy they put in.
I also use namecheap, they're great. One thing I like about them compared to GoDaddy, which I used to use, is that the control panel for a domain is tiny yet does everything I need. The number of different control panels, all of which took forever to load and were horrible to use and navigate, is one of the reasons I no longer use GoDaddy.
The only registrar I will tell anybody about anymore is Gandi (gandi.net). For ~$15USD you get the domain, private registration and an SSL cert for a year. I don't like some of what Namecheap has done in the past and I've had nothing but stellar service from Gandi.
I've been hearing great things about Gandi pretty consistently from everyone who uses them. I'm in the process of moving my domains over to their service and so far (given, only a few months in) nothing but smooth sailing.
They're the only ones I've come across as of late who offer 10 year registrations other than GoDaddy. That's the only reason I've stayed with them, and now I can be rid of their god awful interface.
I have used domainmonster for several years and have had no issues at all. They have an excellent customer service too.
The only practical technical difference with Godaddy for my purposes is that they do not support catchall addresses for email forwarding for security reasons, but this is minor.
I've heard good things about "namecheap."