HDRI lighting does make it fast and easy, but can also be less precise than manual lighting objects. That is, sometimes I like the overall lighting, but wish I could add a second light in a certain location ( one trick is to make two renders after rotating the HDRI and merge them in Photoshop layers).
It really depends on the object and materials you render. For example, I purchased a CD with over 100 HDRI studio environments from Dosch. Only two worked well for my particular scene. For a different model, probably a different set of their HDRI environments would work.
For most models, the default HDRI may work fine. Just as in photography I have to experiment to get the exact results I'm after.
Ed
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