I think the Visa gift cards are great but I wanted to post a warning to anyone who may be want to use one. This happened to my bf recently:
He has a $50 Visa gift card
He goes to Target and purchases more than $50 - the first $50 went on this Visa gift card and he wanted to put the remainder of his balance on his bank debit card (also a Visa). The clerk didn't tell him he couldn't use 2 different Visa's on one transaction so the clerk voids out the $50 he charged to the gift card and puts the entire balance on the debit card. Well, the clerk didn't void it out right and it ended up taking about 2 weeks to have the money put back on the gift card.
Moral of the story is: If the gift card does not cover the entire balance make sure you have enough cash to cover the remainder!
Also, if you are using the gift card at a restaurant the gift card must be for the total bill plus 20% or it will get denied (this happened to us on another occassion) - this is stated in the paper that comes with the card but we just never read it. I'm not sure if this applies to all Visa gift cards but I found it in 2 different ones I have received.
Happy spending!