I'm about to memorize a full stack. Darwin Ortiz's Scams & Fantasies with Cards series is what pushed me to try one.

I believe I've got it narrowed down to three options: Tamariz, Aronson, and whichever stack Ortiz is using in the DVDs. (I get the impression it's a stay-stack, which is easy to get to from the Tamariz stack) Although these three are the front runners right now, I'm definitely open to suggestions.

I have a few big priorities for the stack:

1) It's not an algorithmic or cyclical deck. I want to have a reference list in my head of number X to card Y and vice versa.

2) It is easy to setup from new-deck order, even in front of an audience. (I can do a perfect faro shuffle)

3) It has a number of good built-in effects.

4) It looks random when spread face up.

Right now I'm leaning towards the Tamariz, mainly because I've flipped through my copy of Mnemonica and I like what I've seen. I haven't done enough research on the Aronson deck or any other deck out there though, so I'd like to hear about them some more.

I don't mind buying another book if I like that stack better, so promote your favorite stack here.

I use the Tamariz stack on a regular basis.
It fits your criteria:

1) Its not cyclical or algorithmic.

2) It's not exactly easy to setup from new-deck order but it's possible and if you are good with your out-faros, you're a shoe in. 'Mnemonica' explains this all on pages 14,15 and 16.

3) It has a number of good built-in effects.

4) It definitely looks random when spread face up.[/code]

What advantages does the Aronson have over the Tamariz?

The basic differences between those two stacks are the mnemonics and the built-in effects.

The mnemonics, ultimately, are irrelevant since, as Simon Aronson notes, when you've truly memorized a deck, you stop using the mnemonics. The mnemonic ends up actually slowing you down in actual performance since it puts an intermediary piece of information between the card and the number; thinking "King of Clubs... 32." is faster than thinking "King of Clubs... naked butcher holding a golf club... 32." Brute force memorization takes you right to where you need to be, so that's the method I used.

Mnemonics aside, you're left with the differences in built-in effects. That's a personal thing, really... dependent on the type of effects you are interested doing.

It's not so much that one is better than the other as it is that one is different from the other. I can't go into detail, though, as I don't use either stack. The work of Tamariz and Aronson isn't the reason I wanted to learn a stack; rather, it was Michael Close's material.

Anyway, I use the BCS as a memdeck stack. It doesn't meet any of your criteria except for the last -- it looks completely random -- but it works for me and gives me what I want out of of memorized deck.