Not really sure why the hate for nerdtree.
"Don’t use the NERD tree plugin. It is clumsy, will hurt your workflow with split windows, and it’s not particulary pretty either. You never needed a file browser pane in the first place."
"It is clumsy"
We're talking about VIM, with dozens of keystrokes to invoke everything but emacs already. The whole thing is a bit clumsy! I use it every day and have for a decade but it's still clumsy.
"will hurt your workflow with split windows"
The author then goes on to state
"You can split the current buffer horizontally or vertically. This is useful, for instance, to view simultaneously the top and the bottom part of the same file. But it’s even more useful to view different files in splits; for instance tests and implementation."
HUH?
" and it (nerdtree) ’s not particulary pretty either"
And the rest of VIM is?
Nerdtree is great, especially when I'm using it on remote systems. A vim session open with nerdtree and some tabs inside of a screen session, and life is good.