How useful are your Windows Phone Live Tiles?

One of the key features of the Windows Phone platform are Live Tiles, which provide a snapshot of information on your Start Screen. We have Live Tiles that will deliver weather information, appointments, TV shows, and even gaming progress.

But how often do you rely on the Live Tile information, or do you overlook it and just use the Tile to jump into the app or game?  Personally, I like how I can glance at the weather and appointment Tiles to see what the current temperature is or how long I have until the next meeting.  Other than that, I generally use the Live Tiles as a shortcut to the many apps I have pinned to my Start Screen.

What about you?  We have a discussion going on here in the WPCentral forums that was started by a new Windows Phone user trying to determine the practicality of Live Tiles.  The original poster has a minimal collection of tiles on his Start Screen and opts to rely on swiping to the right and launching apps from the App Menu. So are these glorified widgets or something more?

Do you have a tip for best using your Tiles? What apps do you find have the most valuable content to display? More over, what would you change? Join in on the conversation in the forums.