My sentiments exactly.
I've tried it 3 ways - actually 4 - CS2/3, easyHDR, Photomatix and lately Hugin (Opensource panoramic software that also does HDR). I prefer to use HDR for what it stands for: "High Dynamic Range" -extending the range of a subject by bracketing. You can split the functionality of Photomatix into three: a) creating the HDR file which imbeds the extended range , (b) the tone-mapping or greyscale-mapping (such as gamma, logarithmic, and adaptive statistical variations) and (c) exposure blending.
CS2/3 does exposure blending and I find this is the more realistic way of using so called HDR.
In my opinion the Photomatix freaks out there are using the "tone-mapping" part of it almost exclusively, and to great excess yielding the cartoonish, surreal images that look like charcoal paintings. EasyHdr and CS2/3 can do some of that but they don't have the large number of (IMHO) inter-dependent sliders like Photomatix has. When I say inter-dependent, I mean that adjusting one slider produces a result that always needs to be compensated by the others. It becomes unwieldy to try to get consistent results.
I'm also finding it becomes a tremendous time-waster. I can get nice realistic results by first creating the HDR file, saving it and doing modest tone-mapping with CURVES in CS2/3. Boost the saturation a bit to help it along. Another thing I've noticed is that Photomatix can really up the noise level if you're too cavalier with the sliders. Keep an eye out for the shadows for increased luminance noise and highlights for increased grain.
Caution when you hear HDR being bandied about - most of the time its tone-mapping with Photomatix and I wouldn't call that pure HDR in the true sense of the phrase.
BTW, true HDR is based on bracketing and multiple exposures often requiring a tripod, so did you ever wonder how some people get action shots done in so called "HDR"? Simple - they shoot one shot in RAW mode and run that through Photomatix's tone-mapping. In fact you don't need RAW files. Try this: take an action shot in JPEG (8bit) or TIFF (8/16 bit) -open it in CS2, convert it to 32 bit, and then immediately convert back to 16 bit (yes - sounds dumb, but read on). This forces CS2 to invoke its tone-mapping window. Voila - you cant hen tone-map the action shot with the drop down "adaptive mapping" method. Of course you can also do this with Photomatix since it also converts the files to 32 bit floating point format before doing its whiz-bang calculations.
Its a new tool in the arsenal, but needs a bit of practice to master (I haven't yet). Caveat emptor.
But hey ! Have fun with it and explore!
