- Developer / Product Page: CocoaTech
- Price: $40 ($20 upgrade from prior versions; free demo available)
- Dual-pane file browser. Now you can open two separate panes within one window; each pane can be in whatever view mode you wish to use, and you can even add tabs within each pane.
- File cut and paste support. Prefer Command-X, Command-V for moving files from one spot to another? Path Finder 5 can handle it, unlike the Finder.
- Cover Flow done right. Unlike the Finder's Cover Flow view, Cover Flow mode in Path Finder works with any view mode -- list, column, or icon.
- Bundled image editor. OK, it won't rival Photoshop Elements' feature set, but if you need to do some quick-and-dirty image editing, this tool works quite well.
- An even better Drop Stack. Once you've used the Drop Stack to move a bunch of files around, it's tough to go back to any other method. In version 5, it now looks much nicer, and integrates nicely into the sidebar (also new in version 5).
- Path Finder now uses 10.5's fsevents technology to keep up with file system updates.
- Greatly improved network share support, including SMB shares and screen sharing activation from within the browser.
Path Finder isn't a perfect Finder replacement. First of all, it's much more complex than the Finder, so there's a steep learning curve, including a ton of different preferences and views to learn and understand. Second, because it's not Apple's product, there are some limitations on integration. You can't, for instance, enter the Time Machine interface unless the Finder is running. (So I usually leave the Finder not running, and only launch it when I need to access Time Machine.) I also find that Path Finder works best on larger monitors, where you can have the various side and bottom panels open all the time. I have to compromise a bit on my 15" MBP, but I still use it regularly.
There's more, of course -- much more, and I'll be exploring Path Finder in more detail in this week's Macworld video blog, due out Friday. Path Finder isn't cheap, but if you find yourself constantly fighting the Finder and wishing it worked more as you wanted it to, it's probably worth the time to check out the free Path Finder 5 demo. With version 5, Path Finder has migrated from a program I used occasionally when the Finder frustrated me to one I use every day.

