bigscoop
Gold Member
- Jun 4, 2010
- 13,373
- 8,689
- Detector(s) used
- Older blue Excal with full mods, Equinox 800.
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Now it kills me to say the following, but here it goes. The absolute worst thing that has happened to detectorist in the last 20-25 years or so is the over-marking of, and the over-reliance on, VDI. Take my Nox 800, per example, take away this VDI and what remains? Take that VDI away and most detectorist will become completely lost. And why do we have this situation? We have this situation because manufacturers are working hard to shorten all of the learning curves and to make their machines more “turn-on-and-go” because that is the growing demand.
Case in point, I have a Sov Gt and a Nox 800 laying on my table, both have digital VDI meters. But here’s the huge difference, I can take the meter off of my Sov Gt and I can still hunt pretty darn effectively with it. This can’t be done with the Nox because there is no other means of target information being delivered to the user, just a selection of standard tones similar to that of budget Bounty Hunter, etc.
With the Sov, however, there is still an abundance of target information available to the user. However, the learning curve to be able to effectively apply these other avenues of information is rather long and difficult to learn. Now let’s put the meter back on the Sov and we have the best of both worlds with multiple avenues of target information being delivered to the user. So next to the Sov, and other machines like it, many of these newer machines are little more then over-hyped toys, and remember, I bought and own a Nox 800 so this same salt is getting poured into my wound as well.
On these newer machines the user is trusting the manufacturer to make most of the decisions for him and this is always a bad thing. Why? Because the manufacture can only do this by controlling the amount and the type of information the user is exposed to, this being the only way they can assume control over that shorter learning curve and that and more user friendly “turn-on-and-go” demand. Let some of those users of these new machines hear all of the variable tones in the set of my headphones on the Sov and they’ll likely say, “WTF is all of that crazy sounding noise!” Yep, it’s a lot of additional target information, target information that they’ll never be exposed to with many of today’s latest and greatest VDI reliant machines. And as for VDI, heck, it isn’t even all that reliable beyond fairly shallow coin shooting, and it’s not all that uncommon to see variances even in this general pursuit.
So there you go, I said it, all of this shortening of those essential vital learning curves is a bad thing, not a good thing. Suddenly it seems everyone is too reliant on VDI systems that aren’t even all that accurate simply because the manufacturers have made these machines simpler to learn and easier to use. But take away that VDI and what do these users have left? Not much in most cases. Take away that VDI and many of these latest and greatest machine become completely useless, especially true for the users who are so reliant on that VDI.
Case in point. I just got back from a short hunt among the trash in my local old park. While there I started experiencing a connection issue in the meter on the Sov so I just reached down and turned it off, and then I went about with my detecting as usual, never missed a stride and still recovered a number of good targets. Hardly missed having that VDI. Do this with some of these latest and greatest machines. Ain’t going to happen!
Case in point, I have a Sov Gt and a Nox 800 laying on my table, both have digital VDI meters. But here’s the huge difference, I can take the meter off of my Sov Gt and I can still hunt pretty darn effectively with it. This can’t be done with the Nox because there is no other means of target information being delivered to the user, just a selection of standard tones similar to that of budget Bounty Hunter, etc.
With the Sov, however, there is still an abundance of target information available to the user. However, the learning curve to be able to effectively apply these other avenues of information is rather long and difficult to learn. Now let’s put the meter back on the Sov and we have the best of both worlds with multiple avenues of target information being delivered to the user. So next to the Sov, and other machines like it, many of these newer machines are little more then over-hyped toys, and remember, I bought and own a Nox 800 so this same salt is getting poured into my wound as well.
On these newer machines the user is trusting the manufacturer to make most of the decisions for him and this is always a bad thing. Why? Because the manufacture can only do this by controlling the amount and the type of information the user is exposed to, this being the only way they can assume control over that shorter learning curve and that and more user friendly “turn-on-and-go” demand. Let some of those users of these new machines hear all of the variable tones in the set of my headphones on the Sov and they’ll likely say, “WTF is all of that crazy sounding noise!” Yep, it’s a lot of additional target information, target information that they’ll never be exposed to with many of today’s latest and greatest VDI reliant machines. And as for VDI, heck, it isn’t even all that reliable beyond fairly shallow coin shooting, and it’s not all that uncommon to see variances even in this general pursuit.
So there you go, I said it, all of this shortening of those essential vital learning curves is a bad thing, not a good thing. Suddenly it seems everyone is too reliant on VDI systems that aren’t even all that accurate simply because the manufacturers have made these machines simpler to learn and easier to use. But take away that VDI and what do these users have left? Not much in most cases. Take away that VDI and many of these latest and greatest machine become completely useless, especially true for the users who are so reliant on that VDI.
Case in point. I just got back from a short hunt among the trash in my local old park. While there I started experiencing a connection issue in the meter on the Sov so I just reached down and turned it off, and then I went about with my detecting as usual, never missed a stride and still recovered a number of good targets. Hardly missed having that VDI. Do this with some of these latest and greatest machines. Ain’t going to happen!
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