I am running cm9, too. I've been pretty happy. I still get sh itty battery at times. I haven't been very good at nailing down who is the hog. Last week, xeniu or whatever his name is posted some ridiculous battery stats. I think he probably has his phone hooked to a sears diehard or something, but I did see that I had 2 items as 2 and 3 on mine that he didn't have.
Maps was number 3. I found that I had latitude enabled, I think. And the checkbox to allow google to use your location info for search results. Both of those apparently make maps run all the time in the background. I logged out of latitude (I don't remember ever logging in to be honest) and unchecked that box and got it way down on the list.
Android system or OS (I forget) was really high. I read something somewhere that the facebook app has some function that pumps this usage. I had always backed out to close it, but when I started logging out, I saw an improvement. That facebook app sucks anyway. It has scant advantage over just going to the webpage using dolphinHD. I just uninstalled it.
But, here is the kicker. My son has the sh ittiest android, the Echo. He managed to save up and work off enough money to get an Epic4G off of ebay. When it was delivered it had the stock battery and one of those big honking Siedo fatass batteries too. I have been using that stupid thing and I don't really need to worry about the battery anymore. I suppose now my obsession will be replaced with worry about wearing off the little tabs on the cover from switching back and forth.
So, the total control thing I don't get. But I do see the advantage in adfree, titanium backup, wifi tether, and have enjoyed ICS. I guess I was just pis sed about the sprint OTA update that happened at an inconvenient time.