I only play career mode and I started with v.23. I also rarely use probes. When I do use them they are probes designed to return to Kerbin. I found, for example, it was easier to send a small probe to the Mun and get it back early in the game. Doing so helped me get enough science points that I could buy the tech that made a manned lander much easier to build. One key was the need for larger landing struts to make a good manned lander. Building a probe with the small landing struts was not nearly as hard.
