My machine is the best on the market - Can you guess what it is yet ?

[Seasider]

It has always seemed to me that detectors and golf clubs are marketed in a similar way. The latest available will always find you more or gets the ball to travel further and more accurately. Once you have bought them, something else claimed to be better but higher priced comes onto the market. Lots of advertiser hype and user bragging must make it difficult for newcomers to choose a model.

[TeeCee]

I am not as seasoned as many on here, just about 13 years, I am on my second machine, first was a c scope 1220xd (ten years)...got a bit heavy, but found me oodles of nice stuff, I updated to a lighter weight machine, but, I was determined to stick under a financial threshold....and not be caught up with the fashion/prestige of owning a £1000 machine.....yes, they work well, but not that much better than more modestly priced machines.....most of detecting is random luck anyway...!
The most important factor as mentioned , is getting to understand and know your machine, once you get to the stage where you and your machine are as one - It's the best in the world !     

[Seasider]

It has always seemed to me that detectors and golf clubs are marketed in a similar way. The latest available will always find you more or gets the ball to travel further and more accurately. Once you have bought them, something else claimed to be better but higher priced comes onto the market. Lots of advertiser hype and user bragging must make it difficult for newcomers to choose a model.

Mind you, having looked at this month's Searcher, the new C.Scope 6MXi review is so good it's got me thinking about whether to trade in my F75 or T2 

[Radnor Bandit (Ian)]

I think in the end it is down to the personal experience that an owner has with their machine and manafacturer,
I have had a rapier , I would recommend this as a good entry level machine.
A garrett 1500 gti, not bad. but  comments by other Garret users say Get Rid of the annoying bell tone. I sold mine due to this and the awkward top heavyness of the machine,
Next came an XP GMP less said the best, I could not get on with it at all and confidence in  the machine during use is paramount. what is the point of spending a day out it if your continually questioning if you could have done better.
I am now on my second Minelab. EXP 11 and then Etrac and find both suit my style and area of detecting.
 A big deciding factor for me is after sales service, who wants to pay £500+ only to find when it doesnt work their shafted. I found that the XP owners manual was a joke, a bad photo copy padded out with John Lynns field test, if a maker thinks this much of their customers.!
 Also XPs after sales service from what I remember is Nigel at Regtons ( not to dismiss Nigel, i know he will help if he can - if hes in the shop) but in the end it is a shop that sells, XPs etc.
Garretts after sales are similar (hard to find)
Where as Minelab are exceptional, I have rung Ireland - for free on the sales 0800 no- usually spoken to either Finbar or Des with out asking for them by name, had spares and repairs done free of charge. This makes me feel happy spending money on their product.

[cardiffian]

12 years ago the Explorer XS came into my life. In the beginning it was like a naughty child, disobedient, aggravating, uncontrollable and throwing tantrums. The fault was mine I was being reactive and not proactive. With continued patience, perserverence, and a little forgiving, I came to understand what the naughty child was trying to tell me. Twelve years on and that naughty child has allowed me into its mind and become my best friend.

As Avalon said most top of the range detectors are much the same. They all need to be fully understood to get the best from them. And lets face it most items are found in the top 6 inches anyway. The detectorist that moves on too quickly from one machine to the next will never be truly happy. What do they say? 'A fool and his money are soon parted'.

Avalon's point about the DFX being his trusted friend also reminds me of when the the first Explorers came out. The DFX at the time was 'The Machine' to have. A lot of DFX users were rubbishing the Explorer without even having used them at the time. Two years down the line a lot had gone over to the Explorer!! Why?. Not because the DFX was suddenly an inferior machine, but because they were overcome by the hype and a need to know. There are those who always have to have the newest toy and don't appreciate what they have got.

Finally, what is worse is the detectorist that is forever criticising other makes without having ever used them. If you have never used it (for more than 6 months). Don't abuse it!!

[Chef Geoff]

And lets face it most items are found in the top 6 inches anyway.

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry Ian, I've got to say that the 6" myth is the biggest load of B#*l-h^t that ever became part of detecting philosophy.
It emerged back in the days of the silver sabre and the birth of motion machines, VLF motion technology won't in normal mineralised soil find small targets any greater than 6 or 7 inches, because the surrounding soil gives the same or similar reading to the target and so becomes invisible.
I have been lucky to detect 3 building sites where on one, 10 inches of top soil had been removed and on an area of no more than 4 acres I found 76 hammered coins in the space of a year.
The truth is that there is probably 100x more things under the surface than we can or will ever (with VLF) recover.

[cardiffian]

What I meant to say was that most of the finds we dig are in the top 6 inches. Happy now! Never for one moment did I believe that there are less items beneath 6 inches, just that those closer to the surface are more easily detected. Yes we would have a field day if we could take the top 10 inches off of all our sites. You shouldn't be so quick to contradict other users on a whim. Feel free to contradict me again James (oh sorry it's Geoff isn't it?) but I have no intention of using this forum to get into slanging matches in order to make myself appear superior to others. The name is Alan and not Ian by the way.

[Chef Geoff]

Sorry Alan, that wasn't meant as a dig at you, far from it and my apologies if it seemed like it was. It's a much used mantra by some (OK not you) that most of the good finds are in the top 6" which you must of heard, when in fact most are below that. I see now in rereading your post you said that most are found in the top 6".
Sorry also about getting your name wrong I thought that the cadiffIAN was a play on words.
But I've got to ask......Who is James?

[cardiffian]

Apology accepted Geoff. Please accept mine also as I could have sent you a pm instead of being so scathing on the thread. Am on  a 6 start so have to go. Will catch up later.

Cheers Alan,

[Geordie-Wolf]

It has always seemed to me that detectors and golf clubs are marketed in a similar way. The latest available will always find you more or gets the ball to travel further and more accurately. Once you have bought them, something else claimed to be better but higher priced comes onto the market. Lots of advertiser hype and user bragging must make it difficult for newcomers to choose a model.

 Well said I agree with what you say.

Plus some folks will swallow any B*ll the manufacturer tells them and others have to have the latest toy

I have been detecting long enough (comming up on 40yrs!) to recognize the smell of b*llsh*t  but never the less have fallen for it myself in the relatively recent past with a certain detector from eastern european parts that will remain nameless, but once bitten twice shy eh!

Personally I have not found "a one fits all scenarios detector" thats why i have 4 and swap and change to suit their abilities and the land available at the time.

Oh and before any one thinks i am a millionaire or something I bought all 4 wisely second hand for less than the cost of a certain new moonlab!

[topcat]

The best machine is the one you are using at the moment its the one you are used to and can afford  i have had  4 different detectors since 1978 and each  one found me lots of finds you have got to get out and be in the right spot to make the finds if their is nothing in the fields you make no finds   

[Val Beechey]

Well said Topcat.  I would defy the new Minelab to find any more in my latest field than I have. Or the BlissT for that matter.  If it aint there, you aint gonna find it.

Val

[Geordie-Wolf]

Well said Topcat.  I would defy the new Minelab to find any more in my latest field than I have. Or the BlissT for that matter.  If it aint there, you aint gonna find it.

Val

 Yep and if it is there you gotta walk over it

[Val Beechey]

True, very true.

As Geoff has pointed out (more than once) It would take years to cover every inch of a 20 acre field. Even then ground condittions dictate that some things are going to remain 'hidden'.

I just wish they wouldn't hide so well in my permissions.

Val