A couple of snags I did find with Compass and gradients (and SASS/SCSS specifically) is that 1) it doesn't support multiple backgrounds curently e.g. adding an image and layering an RGBA gradient on top of it. It's not widely supported by browsers anyway but it can be used to great effect. 2) the mixins currently assume that you are using your gradients as backgrounds only but they can be used in other ways.
Despite these minor hiccups you're still far better off using Compass/SCSS for your styles than doing it by hand, and the author Chris Epstein is incredibly responsive and helpful.