Gotta have the newest and best....Or do you?

24kilo

Junior Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
69
Location
Braken Arrow, Okla
Seems to me metal detectors are alot like golf clubs, you think you will be better at your game if you buy the best and newest model. But when all is said and done it comes down practice, practice, practice and knowing how to swing it. Comments?:hmmm:
 
Last edited:
Seems to me metal detectors are alot like golf clubs, you think you will be better at your game if you buy the best and newest model. But when all is said and done it comes down practice, practice, practice and knowing how to swing it. Comments?:hmmm:

I gotta have the latest and greatest.
I have less than a year experience and don't want to have to play the upgrade game. I'm on my 4th dirt machine. Wish I could have just bought a Max from the get go.
I started with a bounty hunter quick silver. I suppose I could have let it ride, but there was no headphone jack, or arm cuff strap or depth:laughing:

Edit. So start off with a good set of clubs from the get- go. Taking advantage of its strengths MAY improve your game.
 
Last edited:
I remember the DFX, the E-trac, the Deus, the AT pro, the AT Pro max and now the Nox. All out of my price range since I am retired and on a fixed income. No matter what you get it well be outdated within a short period of time. I will continue to use what I already have and learn to use it better.
 
I buy what I like rather than what the latest "Wonder machine" is. I've used White's detectors my whole 36 years and I've dug a lot of good stuff over the years. I'll stay with White's. It's all about marketing and trying to convince you to buy their latest and greatest.
 
I agree - kinda. Equipment does matter. I knew my Compass XP-Pro inside and out - every sound it made, I knew what it meant. And for some applications, it would still be the best detector for me to use - in a situation where nothing would be deeper than about 5" and there's not a great deal of trash metal. Adding a 12" coil improved depth, but hindered pinpointing and it was a heavy coil! Then I moved up to the MXT. Better depth (discrimination not as good, but that was the tradeoff). Learned it well and got a small coil to use in trash. That helped. So I had better depth, decent trash hunting. Then I got a Deus. Supposed to be the bestest there is (some people say so, anyway). Great depth, fast recovery, very light, which was great, could swing it all day and not get worn out. Factory set programs are good - at least the ones I learned how to use. And being totally wireless is fantastic, and it is totally rechargeable! Apparently I need to buy the high frequency coil now. And programming that thing to anything other than the factory presets is kind of like playing 3-D chess. BUT it is a killer machine in timed hunts! Set it to Deus Fast and blow the doors off. And then I bowed to peer pressure and got an Equinox. It is the best I've used in very trashy places - dang, that recovery is fast! I've picked out coins and goodies from a carpet of pulltabs in places I've hunted with all the above detectors. Easier to modify programs than the Deus. Downside is it is not totally wireless, shaft doesn't collapse into as small a space as the Deus, not as light, not as comfortable to swing for long periods, no other coils available right now. So just like you could probably play a decent round of golf with just 3 clubs, more options are good to have. I use the MXT with the small coil to get up close to metal obstacles like chain link fences (dugouts at baseball fields have been productive), the Equinox to hunt very trashy sites like ballparks and in city parks, and the Deus for out in the field or where there is a lot of iron. Maybe if I had the HF coil for the Deus and the patience to really learn how to program it . . .
 
I bet you, if four or five of us got together and starting reporting on a make believe new metal detector, we would stop the sales of the Nox until they had a chance to try it.
 
I recently upgraded to a CTX and its been so much more fun than all the other machines i've owned. Not just the improved target identification but the ability to create your own tone profiles and hook it up to your computer and see where you've been and all that.

Is it necessary and worth it? probably not but if you have the money it sure increases the fun factor.

I'd say it is similar to upgrading your golf clubs from hand me down steel shaft irons from the 90's to a brand new callaway graphite set. necessary? no...awesome? yes!
 
After starting this hobby back in the 80's I have seen it time and again. People screaming you need this new detector it be the best thing since slice bread. On am on my fifth detector since then. Some people go through that many in just a couple years.

Well I will let you in on a little secret but just don' tell anybody.

Learn the detector that you have in side and out and you will do better than the average person that is always buying the next best thing. Sure maybe the older detector will not do as good in some areas as other ones will but if you choose your sites carefully then you will have a better chance of success with what you got.

I have to look realistically at what the detector cost and what is the ROI on it. Depending on where you are located it can take a while to make that ROI back.

I am going this summer to Top Sail Island again. I will be taking my old CZ6a because it has a salt setting while my T2 does not. I don't live by a beach anymore so I don't have any beach machines anymore. I know that old CZ6a and I will be able to use it and find targets if they are there.

Someday I will upgrade again but for now my equipment works well for me.

Ray
 
I don't Know .. My Taylor Made Burner Driver when I bought it added an easy 40 yards on my drive just in Accuracy alone..

Hmm if I was to equate that to a Metal Detector, I wonder what that extra $400 I spent it would equate to :?:
 
I started with a Whites IDX Pro and my friend had a Bounty Hunter. He bought a DFX and one day we were comparing signals. Cranked wide open I could not even hear the dime he had found. Only when I switched it to pinpoint in all metal was I able to hear a faint break.
I now have an M6, V3i and a Nokta Impact.
The M6 can't touch the other two for depth but for ease of use it is a winner.
I find myself using the Impact the most. It is so fast in the trashy areas I hunt.

As for golf, I play 1994 Wilson FG-51 blades, a bullseye putter and a King Cobra X speed 460 that is about 10 years old. Handicap 6

I love to play with the guys that have a $500 driver and a $5 swing.
 
A detector is just a tool to help locate finds. Having a good detector and knowing it inside and out and what it is telling you is the key. Getting the new and greatest isn't the solution. I've had my etrac for 7 years and love it and know exactly what it's telling me.
 
Having a fancy detector sure is nice if you can figure it out, but I was quite late to get myself a CTX. If I remember correctly, they were released in 2012, and I only bought one last year. I used the xterra70 before then and I was happy with it. Found me heaps of coins and some cool relics as well. :)
 
You really don’t need the best or the latest.Honestly ,I had a explorer xs last year,just got it because I’ve always heard a lot about them..This is just me,and I’m not saying it’s for everyone,or anyone will agree,that’s ok..But I thought that old explorer xs was just amazing,the coins and buttons I was pulling out of places with ease ,places I pounded with se pro,Etrac,deus,,I was just amazed..The xs had a cracked upper cam lock and I sold it because of that reason,,but I’m buying another here real soon that’s in good shape when I find it.It will be my main rig along with the at pro...2 great machines that I’ll probably have $550 in them both together.
Somtimes I see guys say a lot of trash about older equipment, guys who have several of the newest in theyre signature .I just gotta laugh,I think to myself they got several thousand-in this hobbie just to find a nickel another machine missed.
I have a lot of fun,and although I could probably buy what I want I choose the at pro,it just makes it easy.I have a Impact also,and although it’s a great machine I’m not much of a tweaker.I liked it at first,still do,,but I’ll never use it to its fullest potential because I’ll never leave a basic program.Thats why I like the at pro,just makes life and finds easy.
But to each they’re own,as long as people are having fun ,let em get brag about how great the latest and greatest is,no harm in it.
 
With the used of processors in metal detectors, it has changed things. As metal detectors evolve and the processing becomes more accurate and faster, it opens up new possibilities that were not obtainable in the past.

So if a person wants to take advantage of the advancements, why is that a bad thing? Is it a necessity to find coins and rings? No. But I don't see too many guys selling their new detectors and buying up the 70's and 80's detectors to use.

No matter what detector you use, it was once the newest, latest and greatest metal detector made.

Before you become too critical about the newest, latest and greatest metal detector, just reach in your pocket and pull out your smart phone and ask if that thing is necessary.
 
Back
Top Bottom