You should not think that normal (static) Collections and Smart Collections as mutually exclusive. Their different characteristics are both useful.
For example I do all my image processing, development, keywording, etc. in normal Collections. These are project based, i.e. a specific shoot or event. After import I create a Collection Set "Project_name" and put all the images in to a Collection "Project_name - all". Then I switch the Collection "Project_name - all" to do my processing. This has the advantage that all stacking for HDR or Panorama series are visible and the results of any photo merge or external editing automatically added back into this collection.
There may also be some special purpose collections, for example a separate collection for a star trail sequence or light painting sets where I will do all the work for preparing the source images, send them to Photoshop for all the layering and masking. I then add resulting finished TIFF into the "Project_name - all" . I can then use that collection name as the basis for one or more Smart Collections such as 3Star to quickly find all my top rated images from the shoot.
-louie