While Ubuntu was great for me, the introduction of Unity and GNOME 3 made me look towards other distros. Linux Mint was actually better in the way that it’s a lot better suited (probably the best) for those who come from the world of Windows.
It has codecs, flash and other things that can be a little troublesome or even a pain in other distros.
Linux Mint Debian is my favourite and while I still try out a lot of other distros from time to time, Linux Mint Debian has come to be my “go to” distro from which I learn about Linux while still having everything I need.