Using PhantomJS in webdriver, what are ways to improve navigation in sites using JavaScript templates?

Using PhantomJS in webdriver, what are ways to improve navigation in sites
using JavaScript templates?

To start off with the simplest example, I have a Python script that uses
selenium/webdriver and includes Ghost Driver/PhantomJS() as it's
webdriver.
from selenium import webdriver
driver = webdriver.PhantomJS()
driver.get("http://shaneofalltrades.com")
driver.find_element_by_id("navbar-contact").click()
print driver.current_url
driver.quit
I opted to test in this site as it is using JavaScript templating to
create new pages and happens to do the funky stuff I get errors in when
scraping other similar sites. This is my site, so I can add anything to
help debug if any ideas. So far I can use this script on some other sites
and I can process the test on shaneofalltrades using Firefox...
driver = webdriver.Firefox()
Am I missing something about using a headless webdriver or is it always
going to be more difficult? Also, because it is "headless", I take it many
UI features are missing, so maybe I need specific selectors?
The reason I would rather use phantom.js over Firefox is the speed.