Are you serious?
You actually play with a follower all the time?
That's ridiculous, all they do is getting in your way.

I hate those quests when you have to team up with someone, I play a sneaky character and they always blow my cover or run over a trap.
Play as a loner, best experience.

As stealth, I can say it's much easier *without* a follower. Being able to clean out rooms of enemies without an issue because they don't investigate, that sort of thing.

With a follower, I can only guarantee one stealth kill before the enemies are on us. I feel this is much more realistic.
Plus, well, I don't like playing lone-wolf style.

yeah I think earlier in the game you're stuck with picking up heavy useless things. At first I used the 1:2 ratio, then 1:3. Now I'm at 1:10, but usually go for higher than that. Still, for example silver swords can really rack up the weight if get enough of them. I also found that if you don't put items you can't carry anymore in a chest when you leave the dungeon they will disappear.

Also, I got the light armor weighs nothing perk, but it doesn't seem to do anything....

Followers in this game are pretty much worthless. They will cause you more problems and frustration than not using them.

I could imagine if you designed something like a priest character who spent most of their time just healing the follower in combat, maybe it could work. Then again, the follower might just pull out a bow in the middle of melee combat and just stand there, so no guarantees on that either.

It's very doable. The only problem when you don't have a follower is that you have to travel to towns more often to sell your loot. For my sneaky character my MO is to take Lydia along, but leave her at the entrance of a dungeon. If it's a particularly large dungeon I clear an area and then go get her, Afterwards I dump all the loot in her inventory and travel on.

I know LOL I know, Even when I just use them to walk around a city. I am half way across town before they catch up.....They are slower then a frikkin turtle FFS..... :facepalm:

Here Here. smart man.

I also have a set of clothes/apparel, not armor, that is enchanted for the weight buff. I will guzzle pots down and also use whirlwind shout when I get to much weight. Followers will travel at speed to you, even when loaded to the max.

When I loot, I loot. I'll pick up every. single. item.

I don't use followers, i hate them. I hate Bethesda for forcing you on certain quests to actually have a follower accompany you.
Death to them all -.-

I've been having Mjoll tag along with me on my latest playthrough and it's okay but she's so damn slow. Going cross country is a major pain. I've gone two playthroughs prior to that with no followers. They're certainly not necessary. They're actually a detriment to stealth characters. I'm only going with her now to switch things up. I'm sword and board non-stealth this time so I figured I'd try it. It is good for comic value sometimes though. I love it when a bandit tries to yield. They're all "You've bested me. I y-" I guess you should have yielded to her too.

Light armor already weighs very little. You only really notice the difference if you wear heavy armor. And, yeah, I'll often leave the Silver Hand dungeons with nothing but silver swords and whatever is in the best chest at the end. If you throw some enchants on them, you'll drain the merchants of all their coin. It's a shame you can't trade with quest-imposed followers.

I don't know why you all seem to be having problems with followers and stealth. I have problems, when sneaking and hidden, getting some followers to even attack, even after being attacked themselves...

I guess it's a right tool for the right job kinda thing. or possibly the companions i use are/not leveled up correctly.

I go into sneak mode, they do as well. They do NOT attack until I make the first move, and If I say in sneak mode, so do they, even if being attacked themselves..

If you are running about, they will charge right in, pulling aggro.

If I want to stealth/steal in towns ofc I do it solo.

I'm only level 16 right now but I'm playing a dark elf assassin type on Expert (I'm afraid of master given some of the combat challenges I'm experiencing). I have had 3 different companions so far. Every one of them broke stealth frequently which really ruined my preferred play style. That said, my stealth skill (even at 50+) is really not working that well at this level. I couldn't sneak past a bear at night and once you get indoors, with any lighting, I might as well be a punching bag for enemies.

I did find that in close quarters combat, companions were hugely helpful (per previous poster's comments... quite overpowered), they tend to draw aggro nicely so that I can flank enemies in melee and take them down quickly with a power attack sequence. So until I level my stealth skill and can take advantage of melee backstabs with daggers (15x crit dmg) I will likely hold off on indoor quests until I am able to grab a companion and take them with me.

That's a pretty good idea...

The loot thing is only a problem if you really must take everything inside a dungeon. I usually only take unique items to put in display cases in my house and good weight/value ratio items.

Hmm, I used to be the solo type adventurer (Oblivion, Morrowind) and I also hated those quests when they shoved an NPC down your throat that you had to protect or lead. BUT... then I got into MMOs and it was fun to play with others and not be so lonely.
I actually love the ideas of the companions in Skyrim. At least they are smart AI's and go into sneak with you. Sure, they can break sneak, but I'm an "in your face fighter" anyway, so, if I do have stealthy missions, I just go solo. Other than that, I always have someone with me, when I travel around Skyrim (mainly Vorstag, my husband LOL) to alleviate the loneliness!

Now, the think Bethesda has to work on, is the inter-personal relationships. (take a slice from Bioware games, they do "romance" pretty well) LOL

I use Lydia to carry extra stuff, since I don't go back to towns very often. Some dungeons or even dragon bones/scales are rather heavy. Plus, they can be useful at times -- especially when you have a few tough enemies at once. They can die, but only to big over leveled enemies, like mammoths and giants. Though, I think a Lich could kill them too, never tried. She usually runs and hides behind a rock while I beat the big, baddies.

I try to keep Lydia's gear updated in case I need to use her, but so far there's only been one fight where my mage has trotted back to Whiterun to fetch her.

personally, selective on the loot, I use the wagon is white run to go to the college, join, and use the dresser for storage.

My sneaker has never used one, figured it would be counter-productive. Haven't done the main quest yet though.

Guess it comes down to play style and patience when it comes to using a follower or not.

Long answer
I used Lydia in the beginning as a mule, good way to get all that loot with you home. Once I had balance in my bank account I left her at home.

I play as a bow/sneak char, still on my first char so it's a bit mixed, but I have maxed out bow/sneak and put in all the perks I want. Making me kill anyone with one shot and as my sneak is so high I can kill anyone else in the room/area before I get noticed.

Having that said, I enjoy running around alone. It was a bit frustrating when you wanted to shortcut and your follower couldn't go the same way so it was a constant worry it would "dissapear". And what many others already mentioned, that your follower usually pulls aggro or attention to us much faster than if I was alone.

Short answer
No follower when stable economy as it's better for sneak chars.

True they would not let you do sneak melee attacks but as an sneaky archer they are more a bonus than an drawback. Even Lydia in heavy armor works pretty well. Yes they reduce your stealth however you don't need a high stealth in dungeons and it's nice to have an tank if jumped or mobbed. Only times I ask her to wait is then infiltrating some outdoor locations.

I sneak everywhere. It is my number one approach to a battle, even on my pure mage (its nice to get the drop in the bad guys). Therefore, followers are a plague in my opinion.

I might try a non-sneaking character at some point.

I very rarely use followers. They tend to get in the way if you're a mage, get detected if you're a thief, and get in the way (again) if you're a warrior.

This.

They also seem to have awful scripting in regards to aggro and "Leroooooy Jennnnnnkins!" all the time.

I find conjured creatures far less trigger happy, a lot more convenient and way more disposable.

I dont use a follower and have it on mastery, its doable, followers just get in my way :/