Auto Explore? Auto Survey?

Auto-explore simply does a rather random search of the galaxy.
Auto-survey seeks out anomolies.

The only time auto-explore is really useful is when certain areas do not contain any anomolies.

Thanks. I'll stick with Auto Survey then

I shove my survey vessel(s) on Auto-Survey until all the anomalies are gone, then switch to Auto-Explore to explore whatever parts of the map are still undiscovered.

The auto-explore and auto-survey are both great ways to minimize micro-management.
BUT, I love to run every detail of my Galactic Civilizations !!!!!
I play on the largest maps with abundant anomolies, I find the rush to get these as
exciting as the colony rush in early game time frame. Since the AI uses the same
auto-survey logic as the player, I feel by conducting the survey operation myself
that I can out perform the other races.

I find auto explore quite useful to be honest. Usually by turn 20 or so the AI has grabbed any colonisable planet you haven't, so there's no pressure to find new planets. Usually there's still a fair bit of the galaxy unexplored, especially if there were no likely planets nearby. It's handy to send a scout out auto exploring to see if it turns up any new resources, or to make contact with empires you haven't encountered yet.

Auto-explore is a viable option if you only have a few scout vessels and a lot of galaxy to cover. I find that it becomes more of a hindrance than anything else if you build more than two or three scouts though; the game has a nasty habit of having multiple auto-exploring ships head to the same location, so that you end up with multiple ships making the progress of a single vessel.

Even so, it's a good idea to have a ship auto-exploring an unmapped region of empty space, since there are often valuable resources out there.