The biggest problem with the 24Gs is the initial configuration of the module. Check the Sparkfun forum and use their examples to get things up and running. Try the transparent mode to get things started, then you can advance to the 'Shock Burst' (and awe?) mode. I have found the 16F690 to be the ultimate 16 series to date for communications work and it will happily chug away at 3 volts. I am sure that others will differ, but it has both hardware SPI and Async comms in a 20 pin QFN package. This is perfect for my tiny transceivers. Get the pinned version for prototyping, though.

Ron