I'm looking at your post and Golden's post, and I got to thinking, if your mainly hunting relics, you might be very happy with the Quatro, instead of shelling out a couple hundred more for the Explorer. I'm saying this very carefully, because I know Golden has extensive knowledge and use of the Quatro and some experience with her "hubby's" Explorer. I know she's an avid relic hunter, and what made me say this is: The big deal that I see about the Explorer, or should I say one of the biggest assets of it, that I can see is the double numeric readout for ferrous and conductivity, but if your gonna be hunting in all metal mode only or mostly, heck, the Quatro should work great for you. If you want some more info as far as the two readouts, iron mask, back lit display and some other neat stuff, I'd say pay the extra couple hundred bucks and buy the Explorer. I'm only giving you a semi-rough overview here. If you want to make a "really informed decision", I'd suggest, downloading both of the owners manuals for both machines on Adobe PDF and read them extensively and then make a decision. Good luck and hope to hear from you soon. Beach guy.