I switched from netrw to NERDtree because netrw had mysterious bugs on macOS and I wanted a consistent interface. I'm not in love with it, but it does what I want.
I prefer to have nerdtree because it can be used like regular file explorer tree in an IDE.
When screen sharing with a colleague who might be unfamiliar with vim, it is easy for them to help us navigate if they see a tree compared to the magic of ctrl-p/fzf fuzzy search based on their hints.
When screen sharing with a colleague who might be unfamiliar with vim, it is easy for them to help us navigate if they see a tree compared to the magic of ctrl-p/fzf fuzzy search based on their hints.