Everyone,
I've found the followers to be a rather mixed bag, and mostly don't like to use them.

Some of them are great eye candy - jorlis the sword maiden, lydia, aela the huntress and the riften housecarl come to mind.

However, most of them seem to be very wimpy and are MASTERS at getting in the way during combat - especially jumping in front of me while I am about to fire an arrow. Talk about morons..........

THere are a few exceptions:
1. Aela the Huntress. She really knows how to dish out the pain on enemies and can take quite a beating herself. Also, her sneak and archery skills are superlative. Great follower, in fact SUPERB. I wish she'd transform into werewolf form every once in a while, there are times that could come in handy.
2. The Azura priestess (can't remember her name at the moment.) Great battlemage. Very useful to have her hang back with a staff in each hand, dishing out fireballs, lightning bolts and frost attacks like a barrage of heavy artillery.

But other than the above two, the only real use I have for followers is as Mules to carry around booty during expeditions.

Am I missing some of the finer points of Follower management? Feedback is appreciated and encouraged.

I hate Lydia,Farkas(always find him sneaking out of my room.I go in and see my wife sleeping)I love Kharjo and J'zargo.there humor i find is hilarious

I decked Lydia out in good armour with an ebony battle axe and she was decent enough. Cicero in my guild master's armour with windshear was very good but, really other then those 2 I tend to use them as pack mules. I wish their was follower quests to let you find out more about your followers and completeing them makes them better (Like FNV)

I agree there should be a way to make followers better right now most are useless

Favorite: J'zargo
Least Favorite: Lydia

Favorite: Jenassa and Kharjo.
Least Favorite: Lydia and Sven.

Favorite: Faendal
Least favorite: Uthgerd

Kharjo and Jenassa look dashing in elven armor!

While I do find Lydia to be annoying and somewhat stupid, she will always have a special place in my heart as my first follower.

Kharjo in full Ebony looks wonderful, and seems to know when to use the bow, when to use the mace.

Worst I found was the woman from the East Empire Company; total hokerr, seems to think my character getting a healing spell ready is an invitation to go into combat, and she even killed the wandering Bard.

My favorite has been Faendal, I randomly came across him in Riverwood and he stuck by muy side for a long while. He turned on me though so I had to put him down, I felt bad being a fellow wood elf.

As soon as Lydia joined me being a housecarl and all, I tols her we were going on an adventure. I executed her with a glass arrow shortly after.

Favourites:Vorstag,Aela and Jenassa

Least Liked: Lydia, Uthgerd, glitched AI

Favorites: housecarls, Erik the Slayer, Brelyna. These all have the advantage of not talking very much, and I've never had one shoot me in the back with an arrow. I actually like Lydia. She looks hot in orcish armor. I find the trick with the housecarls is to give them gear that improves archery -- they seem to be more inclined to stick with it then. And, of course, to use the Wabbajack trick to keep their stats up. Same goes for Erik. He's great with a 2H weapon, but is also surprisingly effective with a bow.

I'm running around with Brelyna now. She's actually more annoying than Lydia when you trade items -- "I'm a mage, not a pawn shop, you know." Good in a fight, though. Just don't give her a staff with an area effect. She doesn't care if you're in the damage radius. Which actually seems perfectly in character for her.

Least favorites (more like hatred): Mjoll, Jenassa, Uthgerd. The things I like about my favorites that they don't do? That's what these do. Every time I think, I'll hook up with Mjoll, she's essential and can't be killed. Then every time I ditch her after about 2 dungeons because she won't SHUT. UP. The other two shot me in the back and got in the way of my offensive spells. I won't bother with any of these 3 again.

I only use hero-type of characters as followers, or at least people who aren't selfish and are ready to serve me for the greater good of Skyrim. Recruiting followers are an important aspect of my character's story, so I think all followers are awesome

Favorite: Marcurio. Kicks ass (level him!) and has wonderful comments. Once he disappeared in a dungeon, I thought he had died since I could hire another follower, but then I found him in Riften - it was one of those times I really wished I could hug a NPC.

Other good ones:
Vilkas - eyecandy and a very strong fighter once he's levelled, AND he almost never gets in my way. A bit too quiet though, I like the chatty ones.
Annekke - nice attitude and good archer, but has a tendency to fall behind too much.
Stenvar - tried him just a couple of days ago and he turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Like his comments
Erik - is sweeter than a sweetroll, like having a happy puppy with me, that makes up for getting in my way sometimes.

Least favorite:
Lydia, boring and with that attitude... (last time I put a helmet on her so I at least didn't have to see her face.)
Belrand, suicidal idiot who kept throwing himself in front of my sword and got himself killed almost at once.

I have yet to try J'zhargo. I'm curious about Jenassa and Vorstag as well.

Hmmmm...... I don't take followers around with me. Although my husband does. So far, he's married to Lydia and he's been dragging around the Dark Brotherhood chick. She does ok fighting, but the most annoying thing about her, is that she is very pushy and love's to stand in your way when trying to open chests and containers. However, she doesn't die. We found this out one time when she kept walking on a pressure plate and continually kept getting hit by the swinging spiked gate. She just gets back up and heals herself right away. But the best follower? He's a Spoiler. So I'm not saying who you'll have to find out your self.

I hate followers, and no longer use them in any game where they don't have an interesting quest where you need them.

None and all! If I pick up a follower it's usually a thrall

Number one for me is Marcurio, followed closely by Erik. Now I run around with both of them, By the Nine!

Least...ugh, Mjoll, for the simple reason the she just...won't...shut...UP! For me she's like the female version of "I work for Belethor, at the General Goods store". Had an important conversation going on and that got cut-off because she wanted to tell me for the umpteenth time about her adventures.

Cicero is my boy!