Rhayn gives the best advice. Stiletto is great for Null and WH.
travel fitted malediction works perfectly also
Back when T3 Cruisers were first implemented I was using a Force Recon Cruiser - Rapier - for exploration. My character had max scan skills plus a scan implant = Poteque ‘Prospector’ Astrometric Rangefinding AR-806 (+6% Scan Strength Bonus).
The ship was fit with SoE launcher and probes along with 1x Gravity Capacitor Upgrade II rig which allowed me to quickly scan exploration sites. It also had a Cov Ops Cloak module which allowed cloak warp for stealth piloting tactics while scanning exploration sites and bookmarking safe spots.
The Cruiser itself had good defense and decent Offense so it worked really well for quickly finding and completing low to medium level exploration sites. Course this was back before CCP changed the Rapier from being a gun boat into a missile boat.
Anyway, just wanted to add that a Force Recon Cruiser can be used as an alternative ship for exploration.
The problem is the ship role system in eve. The moment they gave ships scanning bonuses that are HUGE! all other ships became very bad in that specific area.
I hope they remove it someday so I can do exploration in my fav ships and am still able to scan hard sites 
it really sucks if you get stuck at 99.7% ^^
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They ought to add a scanning booster/drug. That would help with those difficult sites.
but for a non modified human/baseliner this wouldn’t help at all…
maybe they should decrease the exploration ships scan bonus from… 50% to something like 20% and adjust all the annomalies…
Because 50% is just waaay to much. it takes three Tech2 (which require a month of training) mid slot modules to get the same effect. And the exploration ships add bonus to virus strenght and scan time, too.
It’s not like you theoretically could fit a “scanning cruiser” that matches in any way with the stratios.
And that’s just stupid, because Minmatar cruisers look so much better 
Why are there only 9 frigates (4 of them tech2), 1 cruiser and 1 bs (excluding special ships) that can do exploration?! The same goes for mining barges. It was much cooler when thrasher/stabber mining or BS Mining was the way to do it. But it simply died because the outcome in ore/minute was that different once ore invented the strip miner. I think diversity in ship roles would make the game much better ^-^
Just look how popular the Tech3 destroiers are… because they are diverse ^-^
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Or you could just accept that you won’t be able to scan down some signatures. It would be an interesting meta… the explorers in their asteros would feel safer in the harder-to-scan sites because the easier-to-scan sites would have more people in diverse ships.
yeah, but the harder to scan sites are more valueable most of the time… and sleeper sites are fun ^-^
- the hacking game in those lower sides it too boring if your skills reach a certain level.
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Get used losing ships. Keep the heron untill yah can use cloacked ships. Try arm the heron it has great capabilities.
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I have used a Rook before. Way too expensive for that activity, but an Astero or other explorer would be in for a real surprise when they land expecting an empty site. Rook doesn’t show up on dscan.
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Wait that’s new to me something i need to test
Disadvantages other than price are no hacking/scanning bonuses and slower align time. Fit it with sensor upgrades to target faster.
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Just found this post but this is probably the most underrated response. The OP’s question would’t even be relevant if the game didn’t corner each ship into a specific roll. I love theory crafting builds and trying them out but variety is limited by practicality. The bonuses may as well be roll definitions.
@ OP - Story time. Waaaay back in the day relic sites and data sites had rats in them that scrammed you. You had to kill/tank and there was no hacking mini game and you had to adjust your probe formation manualy. I remember hacking these in a huricane as by the time you re-shipped the site might despawn! You basicaly cycled the hacking mod until it worked which could take ages and often ppl would scan you down and kill you before you could warp.
Things are much much easier now… I would suggest you just stick to the T1 explo frigs. I wouldint even bother with the astero unless you intend to fight and hunt others. Then T2 frig with cov ops and all the bonuses. You really start to roll in the isk then. My cheetahs make me so much isk they always pay for themslves doublre within like 1 hour of exploring.
Basically you want to go through a couple wormholes untill you find a nice bit of null sec where you can watch local.
The only time you will die is if you jump into a gate camp with bubbles, or if you hack a sites that’s been camped by someone really bored who only likes to fight defenceless explorers and sits on the same site all day… You can mitigate both by planning your route accordingly and do a bit of recon to see if anyone in local is dngerous.
Another is I would strongly advise against trying to go low <–> sec from null via gates… unless you know a good entry system…or just feeling lucky (Pm me if you struggling). When planing your route, avoid “the pipes” (major traffic routes). These are very frequently camped.
Most people that will try to acvtively hunt you across systems with sabers are probably doing it less for your loot but because they have some capital ships doing things in the area and dont know if you are a scout or they just really really bored. When in doubt, make a safe cloak up and wait them out. People get bored quickly trying to camp a frigate.
Good luck. Exploration for life!
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I know some people that swear by blingy interceptors for exploration. With an instant align fit with a virtue set, expensive analyser and sisters’ probe kit they scan/hack fine and are near impossible to catch.
There’s also an absolute madlad that does exploration in a thanatos.
Eve is far more diverse than you portray it.
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If you are rolling in isk and dont care then you can bling crazy fits out sure… But as a scrublord just starting out ? I dont think thats a good idea 
I mean sure if you want to go right ahead. Keep living your best life until you run into that smartbombing crapstack of a camp
Put faction drone damage mods on your heron to increase dps, watch the gankers flee like scared little schoolgirls. Problem solved.
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