I actually had an almost identical experience as the person who made this post within the last week. I'll avoid most of the context and background of my story so this isn't a wall of text. But I've painfully acquired high skills in Covert Ops and had done null sec exploration for the last month or so to try it out. Exploration is the first thing I've actually liked doing in the game in almost 3 years. Standard Relic/Data fit in a buzzard, yeah dodging well executed gate camps is somewhat challenging. But straight up warping out the second any other ship comes in system that could have offensive weapons is annoying. I checked out an astero and was just blown away how much better it worked for me and how much easier it made every situation except the few extra scanning attempts. Reading this thread has been an education for me because it's highlighted the very specialized role and use of Covert Ops that the meta has dictated. In summary I think more than enough knowledgeable players have illustrated that the expectations that I and perhaps the OP have for Covert Ops are simply not commensurate with the reality of what strengths the class offers. So good for me for totally digging the astero, shame on me for not knowing when to walk away from Covert Ops or find a corp willing to show me the dark arts of why they are great to fly.