Personally I find HL to be a fantastic tool for the DM. Keeping track of all the character builds and enforcing the rules becomes almost a no-brainer.
I have been using Tactical Console to run fights as well, but I find it actually rather cumbersome and a bit slow in actual game use.
My personal recomendation is currently to use HeroLabs for all character management, but run the fights with Combat Manager (
www.combatmanager.com) which is freeware, and handles imports of HL portfolio's. It has a beautiful interface and is quick and easy to use.
So my choice of ultimate DM tools currently - HeroLabs for character creation, building and maintenance. Combat manager for handling actual combats. Using both side by side seems ideal to me.