Yeah, it's not hard. I generally just fill up on limpets because they're cheap as dirt, and end up jettisoning quite a few. Better to have them and not need them than the opposite, right? Heck, I'll scrape a rock and kill all the deployed limpets, just to make the flashing proximity stop.
But it just feels like a sloppy system. They have basic collision avoidance, which would be okay if they could deal with rotating objects. But the "grab" mechanic doesn't seem to avoid anything, and only works because objects to grab are usually not near obstacles.
Look, I agree, limpets are just dumb machines. Remember in the ED galaxy there is no AI, so our little helpers are very basic indeed. No doubt about that. But that doesn't mean that a smart Commander can't get the best out of his minions. When I go mining (either core or surface) in my Krait I take 100 limpets (128T cargo capacity). I do that simply because I tend to waste too many using them as Prospectors. At the end of the session I have probably jettisoned a minimum of 10, maximum of around 20 on a normal run. The only time I use them all is when core mining and there are lots of targets that end up not being what I am after (hence wasting a limpet as a prospector on them).