I like cabash personally and enjoy most of his posts [rarely watch any MD videos], no doubt he does more swinging than most in challenging conditions, but his repetitive Garrett bashing gets a little old - And I likewise am put off by guys that ramble and trash, then turn off comments so silence and dissent.
I've had some sensational finds with my ace 250, Ace 400 and AT Pro, obviously they do not have the bells and whistles or more modern detectors, maybe they don't have the superb iron discrimination that guys like him look for, but alot of folks, perhaps most, don't need or want alot of bells and whistles, or go relic hunting in iron trashed locations.
So his views are his perspective of the type of detecting he does, may be relevant insofar as you also do that type of detecting but really don't mean jack squat if you don't. [I had an XP by the way and a Nox 800, neither grew on me and felt like I was wasting time trying to learn them while I could have been finding stuff with detectors I already know, and they both tended to be overly chattering for my liking so have sold them both] - Yet I'm not going to knock either of those [outside of the Nox being water resistant and not water proof as advertised].
The best detector anyone will ever have is the one you learn the best and use the most, and it can be low, mid or high end. True, if you want a depth monster than you are going to have to go towards high end, but not everyone likes chiseling out 14" trenches in hard packed dirt to chase down what is most likely trash, I sure don't and am content if a machine can find a dime at 8", doesn't bother me in the slightest what may or may not be lurking deeper. Metal detectors are alot like guitars, and I use both extensively. You think you are going to go out and buy a $2,000 Strat and sound like Jimi Hendrix, that is just not going to happen. A higher end tool/instrument can certainly give you an edge, but its not going to work magic - Like most anything else, you get what you put into it and to find good stuff takes patience, persistence, research and plain old luck along with a machine that will beep if it detects metal.
If non US companies take the lead in innovation, thats fine with me. Garrett is one of the, if not thee, most successful MD manufacturing outfits out there, and are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. They make quality products that find the goodies, though they may not be the best for being stuffed with gadgets and/or certain hunting conditions. Apex did seem to fizzle, never handled one and haven't been following many reviews, was very much hoping for just an up to date 400 with some tones, a backlight and decent performance [I personally am not convinced that "multi-freq" delivers a quantum leap over single freq detectors, I think thats more a case of guys buying into marketing hype [IT WILL OBSOLETE ALL OTHER DETECTORS !! comes to mind] and looking great on sales ad charts but no where near delivering what the hoopla says it does.
