I think for out-of-the box ease of use and a great, simple rendering platform Bryce is impossible to beat, especially for the price!  It was my second 3D program (RayDream Studio 5 was my first, which is now Carrara) and taught me many of the basics of 3D, as well as let me "flex" artistically to some degree.

You can't really compare Bryce or Carrara to 3DS or Maya with any fairness.  Mental ray is the fastest, most versatile renderer on the market but comes with a hefty price tag and a preposterous learning curve.  Wings3D is a decent intro to modeling, but has nowhere near the power of 3DS, Maya, or the newer apps like Modo, Silo, and of course Rhino.

Which brings us to Modo.  It's an amazing modeler, has very powerful Sub-D and poly tools, and a brilliant, beautiful renderer.

http://www.luxology.com/whatismodo/

For the same price as Rhino, you get what I like to think of as the "Poly-version" of Rhino.  Only it's renderer and texture-mapping tools are quite a bit more intuitive and powerful.  I just thought I'd toss the idea of Modo into the mix, since nobody else had!

But mostly it depends on what you'll be using 3D for?  I don't think one would use Modo (for example) out of the box to do landscapes.  Bryce, Terragen, Vue, and Mojoworld can all handle that better.  On the top end, Maya and 3DS can do EVERYTHING that all of these other packages can do, combined, but with a hefty pricetag that hobbyists will be unlikely to pay.  For commercial use, of course, those pricetags aren't hefty at all.

So if you're making artwork, stick with Bryce or maybe jump up to Carrara?  If you're making money, those probably won't cut the mustard in today's competitive market, but I have yet to make "better" artwork in Maya than I used to in Bryce, by a longshot!