Success equal metal detector or the operator?

[motodude]

This is probably more of a question posed to hear what kinds of interesting thoughts people have on the subject more than anything.

Who do you think would be more successful finding the good stuff at a specific site (same site, same day):

1) Someone with a high-end metal detector but not a lot of experience.
2) Someone with a low-end metal detector and a great deal of experience.

And why?

 

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[bill from lachine]

motodude,

#2 hands down....no contest....checkmate.....oops I almost forgot the justification....lol.

OK here goes I've been detecting for about 20 years....using entry, mid and high end machines......to my taste I prefer a turn on and go machine....easy learning curve, minimal bells and whistles.....we all do this for a hobby so the first point of the exercise is to enjoy yourself.

If you have to spend half the hunt....tweaking controls and playing with all the options....it's more like work instead of play......lots of time spent with an entry or mid range machine and understanding what it's telling you will get you the keepers.

I'm sure you get different opinions from others.....it's just what works for me.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[spartacus53]

I'll have to agree with Bill for once, like me, it almost sounds that he knows what he's talking about

Yes, it's experience and understanding of your machine that is the key factor in the long run. Keep this in mind, whether you're a so called expert, or a beginner, or whatever machine you're using, you will get skunked. There isn't a person, or machine that is 100% correct. Just have fun

 

[hikerdude]

Number 2............ because I have seen it. A firend with a lousy, cheap detector who has experience sometimes does better than me. Anyone with experience, will tell you, get to know your machine and you will do well. Of coarse, you have to be in a good area before you can do very good.
Practice makes perfect. HH

 

[Nevada Coyote]

I have two older high end detectors, a Whits's V/Sat, and a Fisher Gold Bug. These are very good and I like them. I also have a Bounty Gold Digger, I use it more than the others, knowing I will have to dig a lot of trash to get a treasure.
Due to being house bound for medical reasons (cancer, yes it's treatable) I stick to detecting my drive way. I find lots of nails and other trash, and usually a coin or two almost every time I go out. I enjoy the Gold Digger because I can turn the on button and go.
Reasoning: I go out to have fun and not have to fiddle with knobs. The purpose is to go out and have fun!!!

 

[Normsel]

I agree with all of you. I find the better I learn my detector the more I find. I have about $600 invested in mine and can see no reason to invest more. It takes a lot of detecting to re-coop the cost of your machine unless your darn lucky not to mention the cost of your gas , batteries etc. I look at it as a hobby and what it cost me to drive different places is a lot cheaper than a bass boat or cylce. No offense to anyone that owns them. I am 68 and hunt for the exercise and the thrill of the find whether it be a penny or dollar.

I talked to man that had several detectors for sale and they were made n the 90's. I said the new ones are better and he said I can find anything you can and maybe more. I been detecting for 40 years and know my detectors. Right then I knew I had to learn my detector rather than try to keep up with technology.

With all the BS I just said I am very happy with what I have.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

I'd have to go with experience. The detector is just a tool and if you want to get the best work out of a tool you have to know how to use it.

 

[Terry Soloman]

This is probably more of a question posed to hear what kinds of interesting thoughts people have on the subject more than anything.

Who do you think would be more successful finding the good stuff at a specific site (same site, same day):

1) Someone with a high-end metal detector but not a lot of experience.
2) Someone with a low-end metal detector and a great deal of experience.

And why?

Flip a coin.

After six years of teaching greenhorns to metal detect in the goldfields of Arizona, and 35-years of metal detecting myself, I think sometimes it all comes down to karma. I have seen with my own eyes complete noobs with $250.00 metal detectors finding gold nuggets 10-feet away from experienced gold prospectors with Minelab GPX machines that got nothing but skunk.

I also think that, like driving, you get better at it with time and practice. You learn what brand or accessories work for you or enhance your experience. You learn which sites are likely to pay off, and where you are just wasting your time. You start to become more consistent, and start to cut the "luck" equation way down. I believe the real answer is the most experienced metal detector with the best equipment will make more and better finds - in the long run. On any given day however, at any particular location, it is whoever has the best karma (luck, destiny) that day.

That is what makes our hobby so exciting for newbie’s and old hands alike - in my opinion.

 

[cudamark]

In general, I agree with Terry. Experience will trump a newbie with a new toy. There are situations where that may not be true however. Give a newbie an Excalibur and a 40 year vet a Harbor Freight cheapie and send them to the wet sand on an ocean beach and I'll take the newbie any day. Give the vet a PI machine instead and he'll get the nod even though he'll have to deal with all the iron. But like Terry said, you have to walk over it to find it. There is a lot of luck involved but over time that should even out.

 

[Gary Drayton]

This is probably more of a question posed to hear what kinds of interesting thoughts people have on the subject more than anything.

Who do you think would be more successful finding the good stuff at a specific site (same site, same day):

1) Someone with a high-end metal detector but not a lot of experience.
2) Someone with a low-end metal detector and a great deal of experience.

And why?

The guy with little experience and a high end metal detector is not set in their ways yet, an inexperienced guy will try searching in areas a more experienced guy would simply not bother searching. Experienced guys in my neck of the woods tend to be creatures of habit, detecting the same places over and over again and getting the same results.
Newbies make great finds with shiny new expensive metal detectors because they do not wait for favorable tides or cuts on beaches etc. they metal detect regardless and this simple approach sometimes pays off.

 

[cubicleking]

I'm a newbie. Detecting for about a month now. Usually spend 3 hours on average in any outing. I've found a few coins which I've watched others walk over.

I enjoy my Sovereign GT.

Still trying to get used to working with it in the saltwater - even those small waves are annoying - and I think I need a bigger scoop. I really want a waterproof machine.

My sweep is about 4-6 feet spread and i walk slow with the coil low to the ground during the entire sweep.

I trail my scoop behind me so i know where I've been and slightly overlap my last pass-trail.

I pickup found trash and cover my holes and respect the land, water and people - yes I believe in karma and see other md's not following any code of ethics while leaving unfilled holes and trash - so sad.

I've gone where no other person has probably metal detected before or in a quite awhile. Where I live there are mostly condo's along the beaches. Pick any beach and just walk, just walk, you can walk for miles - you will find something. Most people will detect where people congregate the most.

I've been studying other detectors and what people do.

I occasionally read these forums and others, joined a local club to get to know the area and the people, got 2 of Gary's books.

I watch others swing their coil high and have no sense on where they've been and walk all over the place.

I believe that I'm the newbie you need to be aware of because I will be the experienced person you will respect (fear)

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

 

[ZR2guy]

I think experience wins this one. The experienced detectorist not only knows his machine but also knows how to research areas to hunt that will produce good finds. Newbies get lucky, even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then but we were all newbies once.

 

[Wyomingmedic]

I view metal detectors a lot like ham radios.

At a certain price point, the rule of diminishing returns takes over. A $100 machine may easily be beaten by an $800 machine, but will the $2000 machine beat the $800 by the same margin? I doubt it.

I believe that if you give an experienced person a solid machine, they will run circles around most people. Again, like ham radio, experience really does make a significant factor.

I have detected for a few years with a low end machine, but will soon upgrade (CTX3030 shows up on Wednesday). Will I suddenly get better? Not really. I wil probably find twice as many .22lr casings than before :P

WM

 

[gunsil]

It often isn't either the operator or the machine. The operator has to put his or her coil over a good target to find one. Luck has a paramount influence in the equation. A friend's motto is "I'd rather be lucky then good!" and he is quite often correct!! Two people go to almost any kind of site, one the experienced hand with an average machine, the other with the "super machine" but little experience. They split the site in half without prejudice and proceed to hunt After two hours they both have a bunch of signals and finds, yet one finds an exciting object and the other doesn't. What was the determining factor?? I think it was luck!!