I'm also a huge prelude fan. Very easy to get helm, projectile, and cider working. I've used spacemacs (love the theme), emacs live (love the theme), Steve Pure

I'm also a huge prelude fan. Very easy to get helm, projectile, and cider working. I've used spacemacs (love the theme), emacs live (love the theme), Steve Purecell's emacs config, emacs starter kit, and others. I settled on prelude because it is the most like a "vanilla" emacs installation (unlike spacemacs), and is easily extensible.