The Flux Of Metal Detector Technology

[JASONSPAZ1]

The metal detector industry is in an odd state of flux. For a few years I have been asking in the forums and warning the Metal detector industry that it is a matter of time before some other "third party" manufacture gets it RIGHT and blends today's iPhone, iPod, similar device technology(including battery technology) into a metal detector.
It was a pleasant surprise to see Minelab introduce The E-Trac with USB technology. Well does anyone even use the feature? I don't see other E-Trac forums on fire with great programs to exchange. You know why?, They made it to difficult from what I see and hear. I have heard that the software is not easily navigated. To me it sounds like the E-Trac exchange programs, are as easy as putting together Lego's with boxing gloves on. And how about The new whites machine. They are talking about some accessory "dongle" LOL... To be sold at a later time to unlock the ability to attach the V3 to your PC. I would hope that this "dongle" LOL.... will be a reality since it sounds like vapor-ware to me.
So the detector industry wants to catch up with modern times. First off lets start off with some mini Cam-Corder credit card sized battery system. Lets have some LCD's with the solid "unscratchable" LCD Jewel, used in mp3 players or hand held police radios. Lets get a complete weather proof package, with at least an LCD displaying the time of day. Basic stuff that the industry leaves out of their machines is an oddity to me. We need bare bones RAW POWER in a hi-tech package garnished with the the bells and whistles that matter. The industry has yet to solve screen glare, but an i-pod has? The amount of money these machines cost, that still run on 8AA batteries is getting crazy! I know the manufactures want to get current, but in their attempt to prove that they know what a PC is, we only get re-housed familiar machines. Imagine a detector if you will. ALL Metal and disc tone id, Notch disc, TRUE auto matic ground balance, pinpoint, and adjustable single or multi frequencies.....and that's it bare bones right at your fingertips

NOW THE GOOD FEATURES!


Housed in a true weatherproof package, with a lcd that wont glare or scratch which is bold and visible, blazing fast processor for instant "no lagging response" target response, a small credit card sized battery like the mini cam corders use. a couple gigs of memory (to store a virtual memory of targets encountered) and easy detector adjustments on your PC monitor thru USB ( done right and easy with "compatible" windows software) Bare powerful bones in a truly modern package.. No need for all these current Next Gen machines which have an imbalance of technology and UN-user-friendliness. The screens still glare, target response is to slow, and to many cumbersome navigation of menus within menus to adjust something as simple as volume.All that ends up being used is An All Metal Mode with ferrous tones on or off. All that money spent to run in an all metal mode, for best results? Perhaps the good machines are coming, And Perhaps Garrett one of the wealthiest but stuck in a rut with 15+ year old designs will throw us a curb ball. Or maybe some third party will throw its hat into the industry and surprise us all. The technology I speak of is common place, and affordable to today's consumer. Their is no reason a 1,400 detector of today can not have it


Just my opinion and I don't mean to offend anyone
In the end whatever works for you is the best choice. I stick with my old faithful until something truly impressive comes along.
Take care
Jason

 

[Shambler]

I agree with most of what you said - but I would imagine shipping 10,000 units vs. 4 million (I-Phone) definitely changes what you can do with the product. I can only imagine sitting in a meeting trying to convince the company that also sells million dollar devices to allocate more front-end money to the hobby division.

Considering the lack of silver in the ground these days - whoever makes the machine that unquestionably identifies gold will sell the most ! Who's it going to be?

 

[jackintexas]

Before I spend fourteen or fifteen dollars for a metal detector it had definitely be able to tell gold from aluminum.....Jack

 

[jackintexas]

Supposed to be fourteen or fifteen hundred dollars......Jack

 

[silversmith]

Yes but, I'm gonna wait for small built in nuke and a toilet paper dispenser

 

[Ron from Michigan]

There probably is a gold specific ID unit out.Instead of selling to the public the manufacture would make a better profit using the gold unit to find gold. Sad but true. HH Ron

 

[dave5710]

I want a machine that will tell me if its heads or tails.

 

[Sven]

Coming to you in the new future.

You get an $1500.00 Explorer XSS at $250.00 Ace price, produced in China of course.
Yes it has a USB interface to download programs.
Oh yes, the price is right --$250.00 for the XSSa, basic functions to compete with $250-500.00 detectors.

Now the fun part, you can upgrade this XSSa to a full blown $1500 XSSb for $$$$.???
Both detectors are identical but the decals. Only difference is the way it's programmed.
Any hackers out there?

 

[Willee - Texas]

I agree Jason ...

How about a COLOR LCD? (should now be standard on ALL detectors)
A built in GPS to record and relocate where you found what and keep you on track with a grid search patten?
Switchable dual wound coils that are selectable as either DD or concentric.
Fast wireless headphones that allow you to wear a hat.

If White's ever releases a plug in module to make their wireless headphones compatible with any detector they could not make them fast enough.

Willee

 

[GaryF]

AMEN to what you have stated

The tech is out there but I doubt will be brought in all at one time.

The number of detectors sold wouldn't allow such major advances to be all tossed into one housing and offered to the public. I'm sure that all the major brands that are in competition "except maybe the Chinese makers" have a "agreement" with each other to not take such a major leap forward. They each have a piece of a very small "niche" market. If one detector becomes available that "does it all" it would really impact all the smaller company's and possibly drive them from the business. We all know what Monopoly is...which is what we would have coming.

So watch for one new tech item to be offered on one detector...then another on a different model in that companies line. You cannot sale just one item due to the fact that it would then drive their service depts out of business and why have an advertising dept if all you are going to really sale is one item (tho that would save trees)...guess they could say they are a green company then...lol

Sorry for rambling on...just random thoughts on a Sunday morning.

HH

 

[Nauti]

It made me laugh reading these posts....everybody seems to be wrapped up in technology that does not really matter.Take a depth meter for instance.....they are totally inaccurate and if i get a good signal i'll dig it if it's 2 inches or ten inches.All these programs make me laugh too.People spend that much time devising ridiculous settings that they are forgetting the basics of metal detecting.USB ports......they were just put there to attract the attention of technophobes who believe they have to have one to keep up with the latest fashion....they are there to make detector manafactures more money and not to help us with our detecting.I do not even think that screens are of any importance either....they are inaccurate and slow the recovery speed of a metal detector which does not help in trashy areas.People reading this may think that this is the opinion of somebody who has been stuck in a time warp or someone who is scared of technology but i have a few points to back my argument.Firstly i have owned and tested most of the top machines on the market today and when i say tested i mean tested out in the field....not air tests in the comfort of my living room.I have set out test beds by burying objects at different depths and in different soil conditions to see how different detectors perform.The results i have obtained show that paying thousands of pounds for a metal detector does not mean that you will instantly see an increase in your finds rate that a lot of people think will happen....and that the manafacturers would like you to think will happen.Secondly, over here in England the detector that is creating all the excitement is the xp goldmax power.....no depth meters,no programs,in fact....no screen at all just good old fashioned control knobs and effective detecting performance.Ah but thats over in England i hear you say.....it's different detecting over in the U.S.This statement may have an element of truth but let me leave you with one thought, the detector that has won the G..S for the last six years in a row over in the U.S is one that is based on technology that is over 25 years old and has no depth meters, sreens or programs......just the necessary features to pull up the goodies.The facts speak for themselves.

 

[Shambler]

It's interesting that you say you've bought every one of them, BUT you don't want something new .....?

The color LCD on the White's does present some options with analyzing targets that you couldn't get as effectively in B/W - whether that tranlates into less holes is yet to be proven. In U.S. parks it's not uncommon to have 10 pull tabs under the coil in every swing. If you could analyze each for gold potential --- even a small percentage in improved discrimination could pay for the machine quickly.

I have a fully functional PC on my hip that can make calls, play games, browse the web, calculate finances, document occurences, take pictures and video, record voice, play music, and is scratch and drop resistant, and looks dang cool - and it is WAY (like 20X) faster than my detector. If you offered me those things in a detector, I'd take it regardless if performance stayed the same. To say those things would automatically slow it down though is just not so.

XP did something very interesting with iron volume that I hope others (that can sell in the U.S.) do. However, putting blind potentiometers in a digital circuit doesn't mean you've done anything special, it just appeals to an older nostalgic crowd and gives you something to accidentally break.

 

[Nauti]

Your post does nothing to explain the effectiveness of the XP and the NAUTILUS in comparison to the latest techno marvels.Too many people rely on what their screens are telling them and miss good objects due to the inaccuracy of the displayed information.

 

[UK Brian]

I've over twenty detectors Minelab, XP, Teknetics, Troy, Whites etc. Took an E Trac and the Whites V3 round the country and the Nautilus is still favourite on land and the Deepstar Pulse for the beach. I do wonder if the big manufacturers do work together as there really is not to far to go to provide the machines we need.

Hopefully the growing sales of machines like the Golden Mask range at their low price point will finally force the big five to apply the technology that is already around in other leisure fields to the detector market and the "bells and whistles" will be refined to make them worth having but we are still not there.

 

[Shambler]

the Nautilus is still favourite on land

How does this do in trashy areas like old parks? Is it possible to tell the aluminum and tin trash from coins and jewelry or is it mostly a deep seeking relic machine meant to for digging all signals?

Your post does nothing to explain the effectiveness of the XP and the NAUTILUS

Haha - I'm not trying to dismiss the effectiveness of any machine. I think the point of the original post was to imagine your Goldmaxx Power (or F75, ETrac, or <insert your favorite machine>) in the form factor and with the computational power (including the wishlist above) of, say, a PSP or I-Phone. I think the only reason that hasn't happened is the cost of development vs. the profit.

 

[UK Brian]

Most think of the Nautilus DMC as a relic machine which is where it excells but you have full range discrimination in non motion discrimination, motion discrimination, or the combination where the all metal audio of the primary search mode comes through one ear piece while the discrimination audio comes through the other.

This last mode means that the two audios are presented to you in differet combinations ie if all metal comes in first, early and loud the target is likely to be large ferrous, Only just before and about the same audio level the target should be lead or brass. If both earpieces sound off at about the same time then it may well be a higher conductivity coin. A deep silver coin is indicated if the all metal signal is weak in comparison to the discriminate audio.

The above relies on your using set levels of sensitivity for both discrim and non discrimination. I use higher then the manufacturer suggests in most cases but this is not vital if the balance between the two is maintained ie don't have one or other wacked up as the target audios will be all over the place.

On a busy site like a park I would use a 6" coil or if pushed the 8", not the stock 10".

I don't dig to much trash but can't tell a ring pull from a fine gold ring.

 

[AUDuke]

There has always been too many bells and whistles, on some detectors, my first big blue box detector back in 1962 had switches and meters that contributed nothing toward locating and retrieving targets. My two favorite machines (one P.I. and a vlf) out of the 12 I have, are basic with no extra bells. Its the operator that makes the machine, not the other way around.

 

[kered]

There has always been too many bells and whistles, on some detectors, my first big blue box detector back in 1962 had switches and meters that contributed nothing toward locating and retrieving targets. My two favorite machines (one P.I. and a vlf) out of the 12 I have, are basic with no extra bells. Its the operator that makes the machine, not the other way around.

I would say its a combined effort, you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, if the machine doesn't have the capabilities you can't do it no matter how good you are.
The sovereign is a good example, old tech but in the right hands can equal or beat most machines, try the same with an ace 250 or low range tesoro, good as they are (for the price)they just don't have the capabilities.

 

[Onus]

I've heard great things about the Nautilas except that it is very heavy compared to most on the market now. I have a back problem and a heavy detector wears me out and causes great pain. So I have to stick to something light weight. And those 15" coils are out of the question. Not only are they heavy but they throw everything out of balance. I have been after Garrett for 4 years to upgrade its products, especially the 2500. I owned one and it was moderately heavy, but rough on me. They could have miniaturized the power head several years ago and sold a million. Or should I say a million more? I agree with the original post. Electronics has made such giant leaps in the past 10 years that it makes the current "New" features look archaic. I've always wondered why they haven't ever made a detector that could tell gold from a pull tab or foil myself. But then they never have figured out how to turn lead into gold either! Onus