So... Please tell me Why does a metal detector cost $2499 again?

[el padron]

Whats the big deal? It's only money.

Where are you when I'm filling both 40 gallon tanks for the center console?. You need to be there for our next tuna run..... but I digress...

 

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[dieselram94]

Where are you when I'm filling both 40 gallon tanks for the center console?. You need to be there for our next tuna run..... but I digress...

Fuel...Now that is overpriced! 1.89 average per gallon when the king took office. Take up that cause and you could really help the masses...

sent from a potato...

 

[el padron]

Fuel...Now that is overpriced! 1.89 average per gallon when the king took office. Take up that cause and you could really help the masses...

sent from a potato...

Its not necessary, I fill up in Mexico when ever I can... Its a lot cheaper in general and doesn't include the California taxes. Its Valero, PEMEX exports crude and imports refined gasoline. This way they don't need all those filthy billion dollar refineries in North Mexico.
On the American side that factor also influences pricing in accordance to proximity to the border. Those stations have to charge less for gas, a lot less. There are also many other things that you can do depending on where you live.
I get 36 miles to the gallon from a two year old Honda.

However, The metal detector cartels apparently have no such pressure and won't manufacture better made products or update tecnology if they don't respect you as a consumer. They already know that you don't know any better.

 

[dieselram94]

Its not necessary, I fill up in Mexico when ever I can... Its a lot cheaper in general and doesn't include the California taxes. Its Valero, Mexico exports crude and imports refined gasoline.
On the American side that factor also influences pricing in accordance to proximity to the border.
I get 36 miles to the gallon from a two year old Honda.

However, The metal detector cartels won't manufacture better made products if they don't respect you as a consumer. They already know that you don't know any better.

Has nothing to do with not knowing any better... the fuel prices are truly outrageous but yet complete silence...what is the price your paying in Mexico for fuel?

sent from a potato...

 

[Frankn]

Frank picture looks like Bryce in Utah. .






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

It is Capitol Reef National Park. Frank... So is this one. Stopped there on a Yellowstone trip.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Love Utah also love Yellowstone, been there camping 8 times...






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

 

[bigscoop]

If you have complete confidence in your machine "it's the best" regardless what machine you use. It really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Let all this other stuff get into your head, or under your skin, then it owns a piece of you. "There are no perfect machines out there,"....if there was we'd all own and use it.

 

[el padron]

Has nothing to do with not knowing any better... the fuel prices are truly outrageous but yet complete silence...what is the price your paying in Mexico for fuel?

sent from a potato...

If you have access to a Mexico originated bank account with a bank that has a presence in both countries, or another method of getting no fee, spot currency exchange pricing, you save about a dollar a gallon.

 

[BC1969]

Well after an interesting day of detecting I thought I would revisit this thread as to why some detectors are so expensive.
Now speaking of minelabs anyway, since as far as I know they are the only ones that have a very unique feature, and as I'm finding out even on my old explorer, that feature is nothing short of incredible, and the feature I'm talking about is: iron mask. Which I think on e-tracs and newer its called quick mask.
Now I think to fully appreciate this feature, one would have to have been doing this hobby for a very long time, as since anybody that has been doing this a long time, knows a lot about how things under our coils affect what we dig.
We old schools are very familiar with the masking effect and how it works intimately, and for anybody new or old school, the masking effect is what occurs when you are detecting and say you get a iffy signal, that sounds or looks good, but mostly looks like junk, more so if you are running a good amount of discrimination, example you are looking for high conductive targets, say silver coins, well say there is a merc dime at 7 inches, but above it at say 4 inches is a rusty nail or bottle cap, if on most detectors you are discing out said nails odds are your detector will not even register the coin since the signal from the nail is stronger, therefore masking out the coin, and you end up missing the coin.

Now with the explorer and etracs having this feature of iron mask, this allows the detector to basically see through that nail at 4 inches and pick up the dime below, as I said the old schools would appreciate this more so since we know how much we hate the masking effect of iron near good targets. How exactly iron mask feature works, I don't really know, but I've figured enough that it reads the ferrous content of iron.

The ability to see through the bad to the good, in my opinion definitely makes these detectors worth what they cost, I don't know what my explorer cost when it was new, but I'm gonna assume it was way more than the 500 bucks I paid for it considering all the stuff that came with it, I would gladly pay the 1500 bucks for the etrac if I had the money, for this feature alone makes it worth it, for old stomping grounds are almost like virgin sites again just because of this feature..
OK then, night hunt time.

Mike

 

[dieselram94]

Well after an interesting day of detecting I thought I would revisit this thread as to why some detectors are so expensive.
Now speaking of minelabs anyway, since as far as I know they are the only ones that have a very unique feature, and as I'm finding out even on my old explorer, that feature is nothing short of incredible, and the feature I'm talking about is: iron mask. Which I think on e-tracs and newer its called quick mask.
Now I think to fully appreciate this feature, one would have to have been doing this hobby for a very long time, as since anybody that has been doing this a long time, knows a lot about how things under our coils affect what we dig.
We old schools are very familiar with the masking effect and how it works intimately, and for anybody new or old school, the masking effect is what occurs when you are detecting and say you get a iffy signal, that sounds or looks good, but mostly looks like junk, more so if you are running a good amount of discrimination, example you are looking for high conductive targets, say silver coins, well say there is a merc dime at 7 inches, but above it at say 4 inches is a rusty nail or bottle cap, if on most detectors you are discing out said nails odds are your detector will not even register the coin since the signal from the nail is stronger, therefore masking out the coin, and you end up missing the coin.

Now with the explorer and etracs having this feature of iron mask, this allows the detector to basically see through that nail at 4 inches and pick up the dime below, as I said the old schools would appreciate this more so since we know how much we hate the masking effect of iron near good targets. How exactly iron mask feature works, I don't really know, but I've figured enough that it reads the ferrous content of iron.

The ability to see through the bad to the good, in my opinion definitely makes these detectors worth what they cost, I don't know what my explorer cost when it was new, but I'm gonna assume it was way more than the 500 bucks I paid for it considering all the stuff that came with it, I would gladly pay the 1500 bucks for the etrac if I had the money, for this feature alone makes it worth it, for old stomping grounds are almost like virgin sites again just because of this feature..
OK then, night hunt time.

Mike

This is why I don't waste my time or money on crap detectors like bounty hunter...

sent from a potato...

 

[Terry Soloman]

Love my Tesoro machines..

 

[dieselram94]

Love my Tesoro machines..

Yup, I love my Sand shark. No discrimination but finds all metal, deep and high quality with a lifetime warranty! Match that with cheap crap...

 

[el padron]

Well for starters: FBS2, Target Trace, GPS, USB port, Wireless headphones, Waterproof, Color screen, Carbon fiber construction in a very compact design. That is more innovation than any other metal detector company I'm aware of. Or do you mean since the CTX was released.

LOL, Thats a cell phone with a data plan....There is no doubt in my mind that for all the amazing applications that I've downloaded the Alpha male of detectors could be developed using the I phone 5S or android platform to plug into an after market combined specialized coil and signal power amp assembly.
At least you would know what kind of processor you were running.
The CTX is a nice detector. It seems to be built better then what I was expecting. It might also be a step up in non PI technology, I don't have enough swing time on one yet. ( Hell, Not everything can be built as well as a Garret ATX)
Is it comprised of $2500 worth of technology and quality construction?

Absolutely not, not even close.

 

[lookindown]

This is why I don't waste my time or money on crap detectors like bounty hunter...

sent from a potato...

That's a real nice thing to say to the Bounty Hunter users on here.

 

[dieselram94]

That's a real nice thing to say to the Bounty Hunter users on here.

No offense meant. Not looking to start a flame war...

 

[el padron]

That's my point, I'd never be able to afford a machine that price, but I know already the response most will give to that, so save your time lol.

Mike

Well Mike, being able "to afford it" does not in itself constitute sovereign validity that the prices of these things are justified. A Wi-Fi tablet with access to the entire universe costs less than $100 now. They are also for the most part, very light, and made extremely well.
A $2500 detector could easily have the workings of Wi-Fi tablet in it that could compile search signals into a universal database that would completely take the guesswork out of whatever it is we are digging
For instance particularly deep signals could be researched to establish with some degree of accuracy if further effort should be put forth in their recovery
Don't roll your eyes.
Apple offers a free app called shazam that when users hear a song, (any song, I mean any song in the history of mankind in any form) A touch screen button is pushed, a microphone is activated and approximately 20 seconds later that particular song is identified whether it be the Beatles "hey Jude," the Iranian national anthem, or happy birthday.
It's flawless .It's amazing. It's free. Every ten year old in the country has access to it and it's nine years old.

One of the posters a few spots back wrote that I should wipe my tears if I can't afford it.

Again, I could easily afford it. I just won't waste my money on antiquated cheaply made garbage that is conceived by people that think their customers have more money then common sense.

 

[jhen999]

High Cost of a Metal Detector

The chip board for a minelab x-terra 705 cost about $380 to replace...that's half the price of the machine....I was in the recycle business for a few years...there is a lot of Gold and Silver in those Chip boards, that's where a lot of the cost comes from...if you have ever seen the inside of a computer you can see the gold on all the connections and plugins , and its also in the chips.. its a good conductor for electronic. I had a friend tell me back then that the new mines for all kind of metal will be the old dump sites that where used for land fill over the last 80 years or more, That was his business buying chip boards by the ton and sending them to the smelter to be possessed just like gold ore... and sure enough I saw a news story about just that thing last week...the more electronics the more the cost...that's my opinion..

 

[el padron]

The chip board for a minelab x-terra 705 cost about $380 to replace...that's half the price of the machine....I was in the recycle business for a few years...there is a lot of Gold and Silver in those Chip boards, that's where a lot of the cost comes from...if you have ever seen the inside of a computer you can see the gold on all the connections and plugins , and its also in the chips.. its a good conductor for electronic. I had a friend tell me back then that the new mines for all kind of metal will be the old dump sites that where used for land fill over the last 80 years or more, That was his business buying chip boards by the ton and sending them to the smelter to be possessed just like gold ore... and sure enough I saw a news story about just that thing last week...the more electronics the more the cost...that's my opinion..

Ive read that it something like 4 grams of gold per TON of chip boards.
By the way, according to instructional You tube videos (why would they lie or mislead?) the vast majority of gold extracted from computer components and peripherals comes from the leading edges of RAM.
How much RAM does that Xtrerra sport.? Probably none......
What king of processor is in it? Does anybody know? Anyone? I know it doesn't matter right? Well I seriously doubt each metal detector has as much as $5 worth of gold on all its components combined...

 

[lil_eric30]

Ok i have read a lot of these post and i laughed the whole way through. Very amusing. The first thing that came to my mind when reading about the high priced detectors is that how many hobbies can you actually make money. I own a xp deus. Paid for in cash with the clad i recovered. Did i really spend any money for it no. Not in my eyes. I just spent a few hours out enjoying what i love to do. I am a avid hunter and fisherman and have spent thousands on a boat, spendy rods and reels, and lures. Have spent thousands on one gun before for hunting. Metal detecting is the only hobby that actually pays for itself if you are actually out using them. For any person to say they cant afford one i laugh. It might take a couple years saving clad but when u cash in over a grand in clad and reinvest it into something u enjoy is a great feeling. I started small with a whites coinmaster gt. Now i am enjoying a free new detector by recovering everyone else's money. Lol. Yes i do believe that high end detectors are worth every penny. I have found double this year already of what i had last year. Just my 2 cents on the subject.

 

[el padron]

I've garnered a whole new respect for the privately held MD cartels that borders on hero worship.... I'm gonna switch sides
By the way, Lets suppose you could increase sweep speed and Target detection accuracy by replacing the current OEM processors with more current ones. Why is that a foreign concept when applied to metal detecting equipment.? Do any of you that defend the current pricing and manufacturing quality of your machines know what goes into them?
Any one? Does anybody on Treasurenet know what kind of processor goes into you metal detectors?
Why cant they be upgraded, Why ? Is it because it would cost ten dollars to upgrade to a newer one and the MD Cartels know that you haven't yet made the connection between sweep speed, detection accuracy and processor strength.?

Did you just write a check Is that what you did? Did you charge it? It will pay for itself right?.... If it was higher tech would it take less time to "pay for itself"?

WOULD YOU BE MORTIFIED TO KNOW THAT THE PROCESSORS THAT GO INTO SOME OF THE FLAGSHIP MACHINES EVEN TODAY ARE 10 YEAR OLD TECHNOLOGY THAT SELLS COMMERCIALLY WHOLESALE FOR $3.00 EACH? (I'm not yelling I'm highlighting)

lil eric 30 and many many more believe that their $2500 metal detectors are "worth every penny" Thats why the cartels have not spent the extra $10 dollars to upgrade the models that have not been sold yet


Do you buy computers that way? When is the last time you spent $2500 on a computer?
The new MACS will take you back in time for $2500.......