Leonard,
sounds like you're shooting jpegs and letting the camera's processor apply some sharpening before you get the image into PS. I shoot RAW almost exclusively for my professional jobs and so the PK Sharpener's first step essentially matches what you're getting from the camera's processor. As you know, RAW files are not processed in camera at all.

While I've use PS's unsharp mask with good success -- and the newer versions in Smart Sharpen -- I find the levels and types of sharpening available in PK Sharpener to have much more flexibility and control. Again, I can always fade down any filter but the ability to sharpen just edges or just luminance is really very helpful. And they have a couple of sharpening algorithms which they call Super Sharpen 1 through 4 which really snap things up. They are usually much too aggressive for me but they are there for the occasional macro shot that just can't be too sharp.

When I process a show, I'll play around with the first few images until I get the look I want and then use that procedure for the rest of the images from that show. So the first two or 3 images might take 10 minutes each to get processed but the rest can be done in less than 5 each. Which really helps when you're processing several hundred images!

If you like what you're getting using PS only, then go with it. If you'd like to check out other sharpening software, look at PK Sharpener, Nik and others -- most offer free downloads and trial periods -- and see if they produce better results for you.

Cheers,

Jim