I have also tried many 3d apps over the years (since 1996) and finally used only a few ones.

I have played around with Max, Lightwave, Rhino, and the more modest RayDream 3D (an ancestor of Carrara), Carrara and C4D. Did not stay for long with any of these apps.
I have tried the demo of Zbrush. The interface of this app is just insane. Could not do anlything with it even when following tutorials (which were mostly designed for V2).

But finally, like alexcoppo,I have reduced my toolbox to a specialized tools: 

• Model making: Amapi, and now Hexagon.
• UV mapping & 3d painting. Currently using UVMapper and Photoshop but considering Bodypaint 3d (have version 1.0, but could not get used to it)
• 3d character creation: Poser (never tried Quidam)
• Seamless bitmap texture making: Metasynth
• Bump map texture making: Crazy Bump
• Landscape making: Geocontrol 2
• 3d landscape and rendering: Bryce and Vue
• Planning to get Depth of Field Pro for DOF post production

That's a lot, but no single app can do all this correctly.

I would add to what Siverblade said that Vue borrowed a lot from Bryce at the beginning, but it has gone far further on most of its features. It only lacks a few things on which Bryce still shines: fluidity of scene display and top notch antialiasing.

Fantasy pictures, free 3d models, 3d tutorials and seamless textures on Virtual Lands.