Hi Woulf. LOL..Not sure if I would call myself "smart and successful" given the success rate of miners much higher in their skill level above me (Im at lvl 22---just getting my feet wet compared to a lvl 50..

..but I don't think there really is a finder that is the middle ground between the jump of 3 to 30 probes. At least, not in my current experience. You can go through the list of finders available in EU on entropedia.info and see the different finders but they don't mention the the number of probes used with each finder. But as a side note, you don't have to use all 30 probes in a survey drop. When I'm mapping an area, I usually use a lower level, tt finder to see what is more likely found in area..ematters or ores and then when I notice the depth of found claims is running deeper, I will pull out the higher level finder. If I notice there are alot of ematters with the TT, then I will mining that area for ematters. The same applies for ores. So, to save on having to buy alot of probes, use the TT finder to feel out an area and then when you find a promising spot, then use the higher level finder.
Not exactly the answer you were looking for but hopes it helps a little.


Zarnia