Very interesting thread, and great to hear the various methods people use!
Must admit, star-hopping isn't a well-used tool in my kit, except at the macro scale. I suppose this is because I almost exclusively view at low powers and I have very dark skies.
FWIW, here's how I go about observing. For objects I'm pretty sure I'll be able to pick out easily, I just use broad charts. So you work from the chart naked-eye, and take a geometric approach. Eg "extend the line of the 2 dim stars 1.5 times the separation, then very slightly up", or "apex of an equilateral triangle with base the two bright stars" etc. Then plonk the red dot finder on the spot and 90% of the time the object is sitting there in the field (or 10% just out).
Dark skies means you have oodles and oodles of stars to choose from, across the whole sky, and low powers are very accommodating of pointing error.
For objects I suspect will be really difficult, I print out the field from Starry Night with the FOV marked on. I look for asterisms within the field as markers (eg three brighter stars in a line, small triangle of faint stars, etc). Then plonk the red dot finder where the field should be & go from there, using the printed field.
Never mastered the use of finder scopes - red dot works superbly but Telrads are even better!
Cheers -
... Hehehe
