I usually pin baste my quilts; hand quilt both with or without a hoop. I have learned over the years, if it is a large quilt (queen/king size) that the pins do add considerable weight when having to shift everything around. Thread basting is much less weight. That said, I did just pin baste a large king because, for me, it's quicker and I need to get this thing done!
I prefer using a hoop mainly to easily find where I've left off quilting in any given session. And it does tend to make it easier, I think, to smooth out any excess be it on the top or the bottom of the quilt.