I have 2 Custom groups setup - one to capture all my Automatically downloaded patches & a second for Production.
I have a test-bed of pc's set up to use the Auto download folder as their primary patch source - it is a mixture of different models & have tried to use pc's that belong to more tech-savvy end users, who would know when something is definitely wrong, when their pc may simply need a restart or clearing of the temp internet cache, & if something is going on, will be able to report a good amount of detail when submitting the request for support.
I wait about a month or so before moving patches into production so I can keep an eye on the tickets coming in & identify if one of those patches may be the cause of that pc's issue.
Our IT Technical team is also in that list of Auto group scans so they can test & closely monitor the changes to identify any issues that may arise.