I felt the same way at first, but when I started using the eyeball thingies, and then got the scanner room implant, and used it to find wrecks - wow! It became indispensable. I have 3 bases, 1 small, 1 medium, and 1 large and they almost intersect with the 4 distance upgrades. Also a huge huge thing I wish someone had told me earlier:
The scanner room does not show stuff in caves. But if you use the eyeball things and go into a cave, it will! The eyeballs extend the scanning capabilities of the room. This is how I finally located, ummm dang I can’t think of it. One of those rarer things you need to build advanced thingies.