All right, let's get this place a jumping. Man, machine and experience what are the ratios?......

[Paul(NWO)]

The way I see it.
1. Scenario 1. Coin sized targets are sometimes deeper than 8" and sweet soil. Top end detector GTI 2500-40%, Experience-40% other Operator Skills-20%.
2. Scenario 2. Coin sized targets are no deeper than 6" and sweet soil. Average detector-20%, Experience-50% other Operator skills-30%.
3. Scenario 3. Coin sized targets are no deeper than 6" and HIGHLY MINERALIZED SOIL. Specialized detector Infinium LS-40%, Experience-40% other operator skills-20%. Average detector with anyone on it-slim to none chance.
Have at it guys.
HH

 

[Neil in West Jersey]

More like

Machine 20%
Operator/experience 40%
Luck/research 40%

 

[Goes4ever]

Paul I have no clue what in the world you just posted....lol

 

[Paul(NWO)]

more man than machine. A machine that doesn't go as deep can't possibly find the targets that a deep machine finds. So a newbie with deep machine can find more targets if they are deep than an experienced guy with shallower capabilities. Sometimes junk will make the display jump around or multiple targets under a coil will do the same thing. An experienced guy will act accordingly, a newbie won't know that. That's where the experience comes in. People usually have strong opinions on this topic, mostly man not the machine, so let's get it rolling.
HH

 

[cwilk]

In general: I would consider operator skills and experience the same thing. Given the same target in the same soil at the same depth I would assign the following ratio:

Operator Experience, Technique, Skill: 65 percent
Machine: 20 percent
Conditions: 10 percent (That is soil condition, moisture, trashiness, etc...)
Luck: 5 percent (It's probably a lot more about luck when you're talking about a gold ring or an old silver coin.)

Just FYI, I always give 110 percent, so that is I am generally somewhat successful. I usually try to stick that extra 10 percent in the luck allocation.

To summarize. A good operator on a decent machine will outperform a poor operator on a top end machine.

Chris

 

[daxdog]

[quote cwilk]A good operator on a decent machine will outperform a poor operator on a top end machine.[/quote]

You sound like Lance Armstrong - "It's not about the bike".