How often do you use finder scope when star-hopping?

[emadmoussa]

In the past month or so, I kind of ended up not using the finder scope at all. I completely rely on the Telrad or Baader Sky Surfer V.  I tend to measure distances and degrees with the naked eye really...

This doesn't mean I abandoned the finder scope - I'm just not as reliant on it anymore...

[Pig]

I use mine all the time during the alignment process simply to get the object in the FOV

I use it quite often when I am not using the "goto"

[swamp thing]

Depends on the target. If its an easy one I know well I just use the Telrad to point the scope straight on it. If its new or tricky target I tend to star hop with the finder.

[John]

It depends on the object I'm hunting but I do seem to use just a red dot / reticule finder a lot more than the optical finder. When I'm using scopes with longer focal lengths I find the optical one gets more use as an interim step between the RDF and the scope view, probably because the field of view is that much smaller with such scopes whereas the fast scopes can act as their own optical finder with a low power, wide field eyepiece in them.

[NickK]

Hehe I used to use the RDF to major closest star then star hop with the A80Mf .. at 900mm fl it's a bit hard core (although the main scope was running at 1340mm) to find the bear paw galaxy.

I think you do need the option, although I think 900mm f12 is a bit OTT! A small light achro f4-f5 would be good imho.. Kev had a little borg finder scope which is the way to go!