I have shorted equities for some time, and always use options throughout the process. As you say, I was always looking for about 10 - 30% although the companies could have come out with terrible news any day, as anyone can. For me, the short interest ratio was confirmation that others were seeing the same things I was. That can also provide an idea of short-term upside risk during a squeeze or a corporate hype release.
I used fundamentals exclusively. Balance sheets, burn rates, closely approaching debt covenants, potential debt downgrades and other catalysts. The fundamental reason always had to be that the company did not possess a competitive advantage, could not make profits over the long term (or usually even the short term) and would eventually file BK or be absorbed by another company at a fraction of the current price.
I had a number of stocks last year that I held short for the entire year. Some were trading near the same price all year (+- 15%) yet I had a 20 - 25% return from writing options on both sides throughout the year.
Personally, I prefer equities to ETFs (for outright shorting) because an ETF can never come out and announce that they cooked the books or will miss earnings.