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Hi Les,
I think it is personal preference. My first scope had a red dot finder and I found it incredibly easy to use. I recently upgraded my scope and the new one has a a finder scope. To be honest finding objects is easier in the finder scope, if you don't like star hopping. As I'm sure your aware the red dot finders don't have any magnification factor, so if you can't see it naked eye, you can't see it with the red dot finder. The way I used to use it was estimate where the object should be with regard to brighter stars in the area and point the scope to that spot. However you then have to compare what you see with a star chart to find exactly where in the area you are pointed and then star hop the rest of the way. The only other suggestion I have is a telrad or similar device which has the rings at varying degrees away from the centre which may allow you to estimate your positions a little better. Star hopping is a great skill to learn, because even with teh finder scope there is many objects that need to be star hopped to. hope this helps.
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