I always find my targets with star hopping. I don't have goto on my mount either (Losmandy G-11 without Gemini). It's what I've always done and I've gotten so used to it that it usually doesn't take more than 5-10 mins to centre on even the most obscure invisible target. If I can't see the target visually then I get as close to it as I can and star hop the last bit while looking at the CCD frames.
I use Starry Night on a laptop and work my way from star to star in the field until I'm confident I have the target centered. I like it this way, it's a great feeling when the target finally shows op on the CCD image after I've hunted it down 'manually' so to speak.
When that's said I'll probably install a goto system in the future, simply because I can then slew the mount from a remote location so I don't have to sit next to it all the time.