I read comments. 80% of my time on HN is spent on that. Rest is spent on commenting and reading shared articles.
Whenever I have a tech. idea or a topic I want to learn more about, I search on HN first even before google at times. It almost always gives me what I needed.
Yeah, IMO comments are the golden goose of HN. You'll find these stunningly well thought out essays on a fascinating amount of topics. I even have a note document where I save some of my favorites.
Maybe it just works for me, but, as you ask... this is my "how":
1) Visit just 3 times a day.
Maybe I loose some links, but my time is limited.
2) Read the link before read the comments
And try to make your own conclusion before read the comments.
Sometimes I confess I read a couple of comments before open the link, and sometimes I skip the notice and just read the comments, but I can't give a writen rule for this, I use my subconscious.
3) Keep in mind that people maybe influenced (startup sphere, self-promote, etc), when reading and judging comments.
Do not take other people thoughts as a religion.
And skip threads as soon as you detect they are not useful for _your_ case.
4) Use some system to keep useful information in your backlog.
Set to 25% if busy day at work, 50% for normal, and all if you want to waste lots of time. In either case, it takes away the need to check all the time because you might miss something...
I've written my own client that filters what I see. (No "is the bump on the latest iPhone a Bezier curve or a NURBS?" or "react ruined my life", "I am looking for a technical co-founder", etc.) My codename for it is "Hacker News for Hackers".
Whenever I have a tech. idea or a topic I want to learn more about, I search on HN first even before google at times. It almost always gives me what I needed.