I did my 12-18 mths apprenticeship star hopping and I think all should do this - good for your star-gazing soul!
Then I went Argo Navis ("push to") and haven't looked back. I have two AN units now - one designed to mount on a binocular mount!
The thrill of the search with star hopping is great, but if you have limited time and nights of observing, actually seeing the objects you seek is more important. I agree with what others say about actual observing time - it is much increased, several fold.
Just one thing, however, that I miss, and that is the joy of serendipitous discoveries during the star hopping. But, every so often I just relax and start scanning the sky with no particular objects in mind and see what I come across. But I may first set the AN to "identify" so it can tell me what I have discovered.
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