Detector Snobbery - Elitist Detecting

As the 21st Century progresses (although that can be debated), in the world of metal detecting there is a cold war running just beneath the glitz and glitter of treasure hunting, if that's even what they call it anymore. This conflict has always raged since the first guy with a mine sweeper found a treasure coin on a beach. And it is a war with the best, most advanced detector out there verses the best most advanced detector out there! You read it right, it's the all-time, all-encompassing argument between detectorists as to which machine is the best, and almost always degenerates into the time-honored discussion and disagreement over whose machine detects the deepest!

As the lists of detector manufacturers shrinks from several hundred in the mid to late 1960's to a half-dozen or less in the first quarter of the 21st Century, competition between the remaining brands has been fierce, and sometimes not on the up and up. In, then, the end, manufacturers Fisher, Garrette, DEUS (deh us), Minelab and Nokta Macro make up the players in this game of technical superiority. And there are plenty of arguments and points of context users continually par and counter-par with each other. I always find it a bit comical no one actually tests one machine against the other in a semi-scientific way. Except in one instance, they did. And the losers were not particularly happy about it. We will speak of this in a future post,

The end product of all this is BUYING THE LATEST MODEL metal detector, and totally believing the sales hype. Just so you know, the laws of physics governing the design of metal detectors are currently immutable, as far as electrodynamic devices go. These instruments have pretty well reached the end of the line unless a newly discovered tenet of our physical universe is discovered and then used to engineer better metal detectors that are light years in advance of our current models. Each new model is usually released with fanfare and excitement and with the unspoken assurance that it will surely go DEEPER than the previous machines of years gone by. But will it? 

Depth, from a metal detecting standpoint, is dependent on factors other than the machine itself. It depends on how wet the ground is, or in other words, how conductive the matrix (sand, soil, gravel, rock etc.) is to electromagnetic energy. Very low frequency machines are very good at passing through the earth and water, not suffering from signal attenuation, or energy absorption, that plague higher frequencies. It also depends on the type of search-coil, the size of the search-coil, how much power is being transmitted from the search coil. and how the gain and sensitivity controls are set. Just because it has a new and shiny exterior for 2023, does not make it much better than the sun-bleached hull of a metal detector from 2013. Especially if you are an expert at using the 2013 model. A new machine puts you back below the learning curve again until you get a few hundred hours using it in various situations and environments again. I would bet cash money on the old hand using an older detector they know like the back of their hand, against someone who has just purchased the newest machine with the amazing paint job with all the bells and whistles. 

I would say that learning your current machine's strengths, weaknesses and hidden talents makes it mandatory you don't fall for the latest machine to come down the pike every six months to a year. I know people who buy the latest machine before learning the previous "latest machine" from 11-months earlier. This will get you nowhere quick, but if you enjoy spending money and have plenty of it, by all means buy the latest detector out there ever 6 to 12 months, people will marvel at you, but not at you finds until you learn the machine really well. But you don't have time with a new machine being released really soon by a competing manufacturer you will have to have. Take a little time to learn a machine really, really well. Your detector will love you for it.