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Blank Planet
Critterhunter i am with you no argument's here got to work that pole. my point was spending big money on a machine that may find a few more coins is just bad economics in my book
BP
I can understand that perspective. In reality the only new machine that will pay for it's self easily would be one that can find the gold rings while leaving the trash behind. 99% of all old silver found just doesn't have enough value to really pay for that machine unless you get a key date or something, or unless you are digging enough quantity of silver to quickly add up to the cost of the machine.
On the other hand, a water machine can quickly and easily pay for it's self in gold that people find in well under a year or less. But still yet, I wonder how much faster people would pay for their land machines if they stopped hunting for the silver signals and started digging all the junk in high probability areas (sports fields, tot lots, volley ball courts, open areas of parks where frisbee and other sports are played, and so on) looking for gold rings. I bet they'd pay for those machines a lot quicker doing that land hunting. Sure, the treasure to trash ratio will be much higher in terms of how many gold rings you find versus junk, as compared to how many silver coins you dig as compared to junk, but in the end you'll make much more money off the gold rings.
I got lucky and land hunting dug an old 3 cent silver coin in mint condition as well as a seated quarter also in uncirculated condition. The local coin shop offered me $30 a piece. I put them on Craigslist locally and sold them for $40 a piece. Didn't want to sell them but I needed the money. A picture to me is just as good as the coin anyway. Anyway, those were the two most expensive silver coins I've found. The seated quarter book value was about $1300 if I wouldn't have scratched the tar out of it digging it up. DOH!
The 3 cent piece was worth I think about $130 book value, but I was happy to get $40 a piece for them considering the money I needed at the time. Would I love to have held on to all the silver I've found over the years? You bet, atlhough just about all of it was common dates with no real value I did cash in a lot of those finds when silver prices were much lower than they are now.
One more thing about no place ever being hunted out...Even the exact same machine, besides how two guys swing or decide what is dig worthy, can have very different results just based on how high they have sensitivity or other things set up on that machine. Sometimes even a low sensitivity setting can "light up" less ground around or deeper than the coin and give a slightly better signal on it versus another guy using the same machine but with a blasted sensitivity setting. Ground minerals, masking, and so on can make one do better in IDing the target while the other has more problems. Besides sweep styles, how high they hold the coil, how fast they sweep, what angle they are sweeping, discrimination levels, and so on...Using the same exact machine...All that can make a difference...And then as said it's also about what one guy "hears" in the signal and considers dig worthy while the other guy says I'll pass on that. Even a cheap machine's coil has different eddy currents in the detection field that might hit slightly better on a target masked or on edge in some odd way and give the guy enough encourgement to dig that signal, while an expensive machine might for some odd reason not hit that target as well due to it's angle in the ground or something and so cause the hunter to pass on it.
Did promise not to open my mouth anymore today, but that was about the new machine, so I'm keeping my promise.
Think I'm finally home after a lot of years searching for my particular needs. Custom 1.5 lb lighter 
Sovereign GT (easy to do by just "building" lighter shaft) & SEF 12x10 as everyday coil. 8" Tornado (actually 7.25") as super heavy trash coil (Very deep & separates better than typical 8/9" true size coils). 13" Ultimate for large fields/beaches on certain days I want to grid faster than even the 12x10's nice improvement over stock for that. Stock 10" Tornado stays on water rig (stock shaft). 
ProPointer. Owned 15x12 & SunRay S-5 (5.5") at one time. Loaned a prior 13" Ultimate & SunRay S-12 (12.5").
Some Oldest Silver- 1835 Bust Dime, 1842 "O" Seated Dime, 1855 Seated Quarter, 1858 3 Cent Piece, 1891 Seated Dime, & another Seated Quarter too damaged to read date. Highest Value- 3 Cent Piece, Seated Quarter, & now 1921 F-12 Standing Liberty. Oldest Coin? Got to give large cents a good look & see. 2013 so far- 1 Seated Quarter, 1 Barber Quarter, 1 Standing Liberty, 2 Washingtons, 1 Barber Dime, 9 Mercs, 3 Rosies. 1 War Nickel. 19 silvers in total, & 1 1872 key date Indian, 2 Bufallos, 1 man's 14K gold medium sized ring & 1 gold chain, with possibility of few 8"+ deep mystery coins being Indians after cleaning.
What matters in life is the journey and not the desitination. How you handle that journey determines if you were a success, not so much what you achieved if and when you finally get there, especially if you made it by stepping on people along the way...
In loving memory of my long haired (wooly) husky Sky. She taught me just how beautiful and pure a soul can be, human or not...Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2012 03:22PM by Critterhunter.
of the 4hrs 
