There is always Jawas.

I have my Khem outfitted with mostly just gear I've recieved as quest rewards, with some orange stuff obtained doing a flashpoint mission. I have noticed he's gone down a little more quickly then I would have suspected in some fights, but that's mostly because he's not as maxed out as he could be. I've found that using Ashara is more effective in fights at my current level(38) then Khem would be(I also use Andronikos a lot as well) as her fighting style and abilities are a better fit to my own combat tactics playing as an assassin.

I have just recently started Hoth and was able to use the probe successfully in order to get the proper bearings to the wreckage. (I'm hoping I'm not confusing this with a different quest on a different world!) However I had to kill one or three mobs in the target area before doing so. Only had to re-try once. I can certainly understand the frustration however.

I guess I have been lucky. Wait times have been no longer then 20-25 minutes. I can deal with that and hope things eventually get better.