All these different answers but one thing most of us could agree on is, Try all the free ones and make sure you try the demo of all the pay for ones, before you decide or spend money on anything. It does not matter what works for us, it only matters what modeling app works best for you.

For an example, I can't stand anim8tor and blender, but like Wings3D. So I my payed versions are Hexagon, Silo, that are very simular to Wings. Also Shade 8.5 for it's curves, which for some strange reason, I can understand Shade. I also always scale up from Poser so I can see better and the actions are finer adjustments.

So chose the modeling app that works with your way of understanding. Modeling software is very personal.