Solar power would be good... might remove the worry about run-time on a battery pack of unknown discharge. Easier to just use NiMh cells and "top them off" before a hunt.
Clock is a good idea, but if you look around you will notice fewer and fewer people wearing watches as the cell phone continues it's inexorable conquest of society.
At the very least, you can buy a $5 water-proof watch from a discount store and attach it to your detector.
Things I would like to see on metal detectors include;
1.) ALL detectors should be "splash proof" or fully waterproof. Face it, we use them outdoors and it rains.
2.) Any detector that has a "complex" user interface with menus of variables to adjust should have a computer interface. This would allow changes and the like without having to "dig down" through layers of menus when entering new settings. It takes me 5 minutes to fumble through entering a new "program" on my XLT whenever I'm switching to a new field. Don't even get me started on trying to enter a set of programs for searching at the beach.
3.) I would like to have a detector with a shaft or pole that is strong like my Kayak paddle. This would allow the detector to be used as a cane or "crutch" when standing. So what if this raises the cost be $50... the damn things cost $1000 already.
4.) I would like to be able to listen to the "raw" signal received at the input from the coil. My XLT runs at 6 kilohertz which is well within the range of hearing for humans. It would be interesting to hear what is happening before the detector electronics chew and digest the return signal. (try this, put the search coil up to your headphones with the headphones unplugged from your detector, headphones on your head of course... I can hear the coil making a squeal when I do this with my cheap headphones)
5.) Data logging. I use a GPS when I hunt and would love to log the detector activity and the GPS NEMA data for a hunt.
6.) Built-in "mixing board" for use with FRS radio, cell phone, etc. Currently I'm using a modified "Skull Candy" ear-bud headset that allows me to monitor my hunt buddies (FRS radio) while I'm hunting. They "break in" when they talk and I only hear my detector when they have nothing to say. (radio squelched).
7.) Search light option. The battery pack in my XLT is humungous! 12 Volts at 2450mAh. the detector runs for something like 15 hours continuously... when was the last hunt you went on where you searched for 15 hours? At night, you could hunt for 2-3 hours while running a 5 Watt LED flashlight directly off the XLT battery pack.
8.) Color display. User assigned for-ground and background colors related to the "VDI" numbers generated by the detector electronics. Target ID at a glance... dig the green ones, ignore the dull-brown and puce worthless colors (had to look-up "puce" to see what color that actually was... hey, I'm a guy, if it's not a primary color, I can't have a name for it.)
9.) Bluetooth detector. I would like to see a detector that consists of search coil with integrated electronics and batteries, which communicates with a hand-held or wrist-worn controller and produces audio through Bluetooth. the controller would interface your cell phone and the detector as well as provide clock and GPS information. Worn on the wrist like a dive computer, this would allow a great deal of freedom as to how you search. Use the conventional method of attaching the coil to the end of a shaft, drag the coil behind a vehicle, or use the coil as a hand-held while crawling through a cave. You could even integrate a pin-pointer into your digging tool and have it work in concert with your other stuff.
10.) Modular electronics. Swap displays, pre-amps, computers, housings to suite your personal search habits. Some companies do support limited "customization" like this, but it's usually limited to converting (a slow process usually) a standard detector to a "belt worn" system. Most underwater detectors are well suited to this but few land-only detectors allow much in the way of user re-arrangement for comfort. Modular electronics would also provide upgrade paths and give manufacturers an outlet for selling additional modules and features to existing customers. I would love to have a second display "head" for my XLT for those occasions where I have covered myself and the detector in mud... like a "tear-off" for racing... a tear-off display!
11.) A "kill switch". There should never be a need but should the unthinkable happen... my detector get stolen, I would like to have it be as useless to the thief as possible. I would like to have a "lock" code like my cell phone has (without the stupid manufacturer's "back door" that gets hacked 10 minutes after the new cell phone hits the market).
12.) Detectors should be able to be stored in a hot car or truck. what's the point of having the detector if you have to drive all the way home, pick it up and then drive all the way back just because you can't carry the thing into the office? You just try to get on the elevator without security asking you 50 questions. Detectors should be made from the same caliber parts as the radio in the dash... heat should not bother electronics.
If you read all the way to this point, I am very grateful to you and would love to hear your ideas on how detectors should be changed to make us, the buyers and users, happy!
GS
