Officered scarabs are my go-to for frigates. They're great for killing small stuff and capping points quickly, and feel much more survivable than anything else I've tried (except probably SO hyperion, but I don't really like doing SO stuff anymore for a variety of reasons). When I tried vanguard, it felt like they were mostly useless against enemies with high damage weapons (any large energy/HE, many medium weapons like heavy blaster, phase lance, assault chain gun and heavy mauler, HE missiles, warthogs and most bombers, ion weapons, etc.). It's just way too likely to encounter that stuff.
I think lashers suck too, so saying they're maybe better than lashers is not saying much to me lol.