So I've had my HE for about 6 weeks now and I'm seeing an available update for the first time. I'm wondering if people generally install these right away, wait some amount of time, or avoid installing them?
I noticed a few saying their rules stopped working after a few days, so I'm reluctant to charge ahead with the installation.
Thoughts?
I install them as soon as they come out, knowing that any issues are resolved in a timely manner. I just love shiny new things, I guess.
Yes 
I usually wait for the first or second hotfix to be released before upgrading my production hub. My development hub gets updated pretty routinely, including beta releases.
Personally Iām more of a threat to my hub than any update the HE team would produce. That being said I have a test hub that gets the release first, and if I can exercise a little patience Iāll watch it run for about an hour or so before upgrading the production hub.
I usually wait about a week for any issues to get shaken out.
Unless thereās something in the update that I need, I generally donāt bother...
I absolutely do not update! I'll be odd man out here - but HE is not something you take for granted. if it's working. don't mess with it. there are numerous incidents where it's proven to be detrimental to your environment.
Not so odd, I'm still running 2.2.4.158 as it's stable and serves my needs admirably. At the start I didn't really see the point of risking gremlins for updates aimed primarily at the C7, then things kicked off with what became the Ohlala crowd and as some of Markus' drivers are very central to my automations it has stayed as is.
Happy to let the guinea pigs advanced users sort out the bugs first 
. If there's an update I see as super useful I'll update at the second or third hotfix otherwise just keep coasting along.
If it works and there aren't any features you need to use stay with the version that works. This adage is still true:
if it ain't broke, don't fix it
Normally I do update the same day they come out or at least when I notice. This time I waited a few more days as a lot of issues were being reported. Then after about the 3rd hotfix I went for it.
Like others I usually wait until a couple of hot fixes have been published. I used to be more in the "oh goodie here's a new release" camp but have learned to wait a couple days. They're very quick to issue fixes, and the releases are definitely getting better overall, but unless there is an issue that the new release specifically addresses, I find waiting a day or two saves me some grey hair. And then, like others, I drop it on a non-prod hub and do a smoke test before installing it on anything in production. Unfortunately my lower environment is somewhat limited, so I don't get a chance to exercise much beyond "did the hub come back up ok?"
One thing I would find helpful is a "known defects" list that gets updated in near-real-time but I don't think their release methodology really makes that easy.
Yes.
On my test hub I install immediately. On my production hubs I usually wait a week or at least to the next weekend after release. There are almost always 3-5 "hotfix" releases after a new version, and I don't want to install 5 times.
It depends. Often, I wait a few days. If I am traveling, then it may take weeks before I update. On the 2.2.9 update, I wanted to try out a newly supported device, so I updated promptly.
On most products, I am reluctant to update a working system until forced to do so. There are two factors that make me more inclined to do so with Hubitat:
I always install the latest code.
I (c4) wait a week until the flurry of "my X device quit when I updated" posts subside, the update. Everything is working great and I do not foresee the need for the new capabilities of RM5, so I may stay RM4.
I update both my C5 and C7 as soon as possible of a release. That is often within a few minutes to within an hour at most. (I subscribe to the release notes category on this forum so I know when things go live.) I am also a Beta tester, so I get quite a few of those "work in progress" updates too.
In exactly zero instances have I "lost functionality", or had an update be "detrimental", or crashed the hub. Yes there is occasionally a bug or two, but I have never had anything so bad it made me want to stay with the older version or roll back to a previous version.
I understand the idea of waiting a week or a couple minor releases before doing the update, that might be a good idea for some users.
Those of you sticking with older updates can feel free to not update, but you are missing out on some genuinely awesome improvements to the hub. There have been many bugfixes and nifty feature updates especially in the last few updates. The last 2-3 releases have made the hub better than it ever was for smoothness, memory use, and in usability. There have been tweaks to items like the new "add a device" and settings menus that are much easier to use than before. Things like being able to clone any app are terrific additions to the hub. Predicate conditions on rules are fantastic.
Anyway, do what you feel is right for you, but I don't see any reason to not update at some point.
I always download to both my hubs as soon as I see it. I've not encountered any ill effects and I always download a backup right before just in case.
Download the Hubitat app
