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Hi there, Kitsuna
I think that the GOTO devices you mention can be an excellent tool for efficient observing, but only when a person has already learned the ropes.
But the fact of the matter is that what distinguishes amateurs is not their level of knowledge about stars and galaxies.....but rather it is their first hand familiarity (and love) of the night sky and what is in it. If you spend your whole life looking through the "narrow porthole" of a telescopic view and dialling up objects, you will never learn the romance and beauty of the sky.....when star hopping, it is the journey there that counts...... the objects we stumble upon when on the way to the target, and the unique feeling we get when we move over the sky with our finders and sighting devices.
And one more comment....we can't star hop if there aren't enough stars on our charts to provide signposts to the target object.....it is important to have a chart with a deep enough magnitude limit......for instance, NGC 5128 is very hard to get to if you have a magn. limit of only 8 to 8.5 on your chart.
cheers,
madbadgalaxyman
I agree that astronomy can be cold hungry work, and the eye and brain often tire during an observing session. One good way to relax is to lie on an air mattress and sweep the sky with binos. When I was in the prime of my life for observing, I would get through two packs of tim tams and two family size chocolate bars, in an observing session, just to keep my energy up.
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