Probably the best thing about smartthings is its versatility. Different households will have different needs. And some of those needs will be met by routines, some by smart lighting automations, some by smartapps.
At this point, the most important distinction to know about routines is that they can be set up as widgets on phone or a smart watch. That’s useful for a lot of people. But other than that, it’s just going to depend on your own needs.
https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/206145893-Is-there-a-SmartThings-widget-
IOS widgets:
Android widgets:
The following topic is a recent discussion on people’s top 10 favorite things to do with SmartThings. It should give you a lot of ideas. 