would these be considered the better sharpen plugins?

http://thepluginsite.c​om …owiz/focalblade​/index.htm
http://www.pixelgenius​.com/sharpener/
http://www.niksoftware​.com/sharpenerpro/usa/​entry.php

The PixelGenius and nik Sharpeners are fantastic. I have not tried FocalBlade.

The PixelGenius stuff follows a 3-pass sharpening approach with creative sharpening of particular areas. I love it at times, other times I don't see much need for capture sharpening (if I'm not going to resize) and sometimes I see no use for creative sharpening (if I want global sharpening). The final output sharpening is very good but still needs some experience or testing in my opinion. But they are done very correctly and produce excellent output when everything is used - I just don't find myself using it all every time and I just fall back to USM with some tweaks.

The nik stuff is great, very easy since it can hold your hands through the process, yet remains extremely powerful if you need all the tweaks and bells and whistles. I just wish it wasn't so darn expensive, as only the highest-priced "pro" version is what I'd consider.

FocalBlade has always gotten good reviews and seems good in many ways, though I have not yet tried a demo. From what I've looked at it seems like an excellent beginner-to-intermediate tool but I have to wonder if it can really handle the high end advanced user - I fear that it's too automatic, but I say that without experience using it. The price is certainly attractive.

If the nik pro version was $100 I'd buy it immediately, and if I always used a 3-pass approach I'd buy PixelGenius's stuff immediately. I'm making a note to try FocalBlade soon.

Have you looked at the free action set for the TLR Sharpening Toolkit? http://www.thelightsri​ght.com/photoshop-tools.htm
While not a beginner's tool they can be learned quickly through the excellent tutorials and lots of knowledgable users here.

I second the use of TLR. Excellent sharpening script.

I live by Nik, because it allows you to sharpen by color. Also it has the ability to sharpen by layer brushing. Can't go wrong if you got the $$$ to drop.

Thank you for the replies...i have downloaded a demo for all 3...now to see if i can figure them out before the trial period ends

As for the sharpening script..yes i did download it, but had not tried it yet as i had never worked with action scripts before...someone in another thread told me about a pdf that might help...plan to give it a try soon though.