What is the best kernel for the nexus that gives you great battery life and performance? Im running CM10 stable release currently.
CM10s baked in Kernel is very solid and any other are going to be marginally better at best and not worth the risk of instability and lack of support from the CM team.
I tried leankernel and it was pretty good with CM10, no stability issues. I'm currently flashed to 4.2 AOSP and running 3.0.52-ZenSeries_v8 kernel to try it out and its been good. No matter what though if using the phone the screen kills battery life quick, it doesn't seem to really matter what kernel it is.
From my experience it really depends on what rom you're using.
I'm actually using the franco kernel. Few issues in custom presets, solved with manual tweeking, but runs quickly and is very smooth. This said I'm running on Android version 4.2.1 stock so It does depend on what rom you're using.
I've tried them all. For me best is latest aosp stock kernel. Pure google, pure win. Tiny Kernel is also good, but its also simple with small tweaks.
I have been having great performance and battery life with Tiny Kernel. I was getting about the same battery life out of Franco Kernel but not the same performance.
Heres the thread for Tiny Kernel: http://rootzwiki.com/topic/34189-kerneltinykernel-24242x191412-jb-updated-122912/