Perforated Circuit Boards

Already having chosen to go with perforated style boards, there are really only about 3 (one comes in both of the other 2 styles) types to choose from.  Any product I am aware of as far as brands and material should not have any problem meeting you needs.  They will all give no care to normal temps and are pretty easy to cut.  Straight lines can be scored with a razor then broken, and odd shapes are easily cut with a hack saw, or Dermel type cutting wheel.  

There are 3 basic sorts of boards I am aware of:

.1 inch spaced holes on plain board.

.1 inch spaced holes on board with a copper dot on each hole.

The last comes in both of the other sorts and is a board with holes drilled to match a prototyping breadboard. You can set the perf board over the bread board, then once you have your circuit working, tape all the components down, separate the perf from bread board, flip it over and solder along the lines.   These are really nice if you're just getting started with "complex" circuits, but are otherwise not worth much more discussion here.

As for copper dots or no copper dots, I've used a lot of each.  No dots is cheaper, but dots make soldering easier and cleaner.  If you are pretty handy with a soldering iron, the dots are not really needed.  

As a last bit of advice, if you are using any IC's I recommend soldering in sockets rather than soldering directly to the part.   Here especially, the copper dots are helpful, with the short legs on DIP parts.  

Edit:  as a note, almost all parts that would be used in hobby electronics will have leads with standard .1 inch spacing.  some odd parts like trimmer pots may need an off hole drilled here or there, and any small drill bit works fine on the boards I've seen.  

Edit #2:  also be ware with bending the leads.  round, wire type leads on resistors and diodes are pretty forgiving, but the square ones on LED's and transistors don't like to be bent more than once.  

Also if you get el cheapo copper dot boards, the adhesive is so crappy that the dot(s) will most likely peel off, especially if you make a mod that requires re soldering.  Do youself a favor, best and most expensive are made by Vector corporation.  Digi key and Mouser I believe carry this brand.

+1 for Vector board. Most if not all is made of epoxy fiberglass. Epoxy paper is cheaper but not as as strong. Still might be OK for circuits that aren't subject handling like LED passenger car lighting.

I prefer the patterns that have at least three holes connected by copper plus buss strips for power and ground. Most Vector board has .1" pitch but they also make a few with .08"/2mm pitch. Many of the newer components use this spacing. I use both and select the pitch that most of the components use.

Google Vectorboard for their website.

Pete

I get my prototype boards on eBay, and I choose the 1/16" fiberglass with plated through pads.  I haven't been disappointed in the quality.

40 pcs Double-side Protoboard Circuit Prototype DIY PCB Board 2x8 3x7 4x6 5x7cm

For larger projects, something like this does the trick.

10PCS 9x15cm DIY Prototype Circuit Board PCB Universal Board Busboard Breadboard

Get the boards that look like this.

NOT the boards that look like this.  The Phenolic boards pads lift very easily.

GRJ has the answer.  In case it's not clear, these boards have solder-able pads on BOTH sides of the board for each hole.  Additionally the holes are plated-thru meaning the pads on each side of a hole are electrically connected which is a useful feature.  There are double-sided boards with pads on both sides which are NOT plated-thru; I'd stay away from those.

It may not be obvious but you will undoubtedly end up using connectors or even soldered wires that are mounted on the opposite side of the components. This is why double-sided boards are the way to go as you will be soldering connections on both sides.

Thanks all for the info.