The current 0.7.0 branch will work with Apache Cassandra 0.7.x. The master has been switched to tracking Apache Cassandra 0.8.0. Current releases on the downloads section should be cosidered production ready. You should always choose the most recent release for your version of Apache Cassandra.

As of version 0.7.0-23, Hector artificats are deployed to Maven Central. If you use maven for your build system, you need only include the hector-core dependency and all related dependencies will be managed automatically. 
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Hector is a high level Java client for Apache Cassandra.
Apache Cassandra is a highly available column oriented database: http://cassandra.apache.org
Hector is the greatest warrior in the greek mythology, Troy's builder and brother of Cassandra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra

Hector is currently in use on a number of production systems some of which have node counts into the hundreds. Issues generally are fixed as quickly as possbile and releases done frequently.

Some features provided by this client:

 o high level, simple object oriented interface to cassandra
 o failover behavior on the client side
 o connection pooling for improved performance and scalability
 o JMX conters for monitoring and management
 o configurable and extensible load balancing
 o complete encapsulation of the underlying Thrift API and structs
 o automatic retry of downed hosts
 o automatic discovery of additional hosts in the cluster
 o suspension of hosts for a short period of time after several timeouts
 o simple ORM layer that works
 o a type-safe approach to dealing with Apache Cassandra's data model

Detailed documentation of Hector features and usage can be found on the wiki: 
https://github.com/rantav/hector/wiki/User-Guide

Some additional pages from the wiki that may be of interest:

 o SLF4J fun and hijinks: https://github.com/rantav/hector/wiki/SLF4J-in-Hector-
 o Mailing Lists: https://github.com/rantav/hector/wiki/Mailing-Lists
 o Maven Central location (includes javadoc): http://repo2.maven.org/maven2/me/prettyprint/

Example projects using Hector:

 o https://github.com/zznate/cassandra-tutorial
 o https://github.com/zznate/hector-examples
 o https://github.com/riptano/twissjava

The work was initially inspired by http://code.google.com/p/cassandra-java-client/ but has taken off to different directions since.