Is there a way to "browse" images in LR without importing them?

But for Windows, if viewing Raw file, there is the Window "Codec" viewer and Bridge, so you don't have to use the Lightroom Import dialog...

tzalman wrote in post #16577675
Kev, what version are you on? Don't tell me you're still on LR2. That was a big improvement in 3. In 2 the import dialog was horrible; blurry and useless little thumbnails. But since 3 you can see full screen (well near full screen) and 1:1 views. 'Course it's the embedded jpg, but that's all any browser will show you.

Elie,
I've got the latest version (5.3?) but I always just import an entire shoot and cull them after they are imported by using colour labels (red) and when I'm staisfied I'm not throwing away a good shot I'll select all the ones for deletion by colour label. - Just seems the easiest/safest way to me and I've had no need to find another way.
I also don't use LR to ingest from the CF card onto my PC, I use ImageIngester Pro and I can de-select images easily from there if I want to.

I assume there is a way of looking at images after importing them as they are greyed out and not selectable how I've got LR set-up.

The OP's original post I read to mean 'browse' as in randomly browse folders for images - That would be a PITA doing it this way IMO and for this I'd either use Windows 8 thumbnails or Bridge.

NinetyEight wrote in post #16578779
Elie,
....cull them after they are imported by using colour labels (red) and when I'm staisfied I'm not throwing away a good shot I'll select all the ones for deletion by colour label. - Just seems the easiest/safest way to me

I use the similar but slightly easier method of pressing X to tag an image as Rejected and then once I have been through all the images I just press Ctrl+Backspace to delete all rejected images.

I could never accept the approach that says "dump all the contents of the card onto the HD and then delete the losers". And when I started with LR it was impossible to use it to view the card because of the lousy Import dialog thumbs. Fortunately I already had Breeze Browser Pro which is excellent for reviewing, ranking and comparing as many as four images on-screen together and it has a context menu item for sending the selected shots to LR, so I still continue to use it.

As mentioned above the LR import browser used to be pretty bad. I never experienced it because I only started with LR4 (and now 5) which has a vastly improved import system which allows you to select between a grid view (thumbnails) or a Loupe view (single image). In addition the grid view allows you to zoom in/out so you can can have the number/size of thumbnail you prefer (from a max of about 32 tiny thumbs down to 2 or 3 large ones.

In addition it has a host of very useful features that can be selected and applied during import (which can be saved as import presets). I have mine set up to...
1. Change the file names to match my naming scheme.
2. Create a folder and copy the files into it.
3. Add metadata automatically
4. Add a keyword (to-do) automatically*

*I have a smart collection that displays any images with the "to-do" keyword, so that I can easily find any images awaiting processing/keywording.