I voiced my concerns about what appeared to be the relatively modest enhancements included in the SE over the XS line last week, and I have taken quite a bit of flack on this forum for my opinion. That's OK, it doesn't really bother me, but I would like to address your list:
1. Subjectivity around detector opinions in general for mine to matter.
I once owned a Garrett 2500, but shelved it for a Minelab XS and have been a great advocate of Minelab and the XS since I bought mine shortly after it was released. What I am trying to say is that I only like Minelab detectors - so were on the same page and in a way I am preaching to the choir, which is OK with me.
2. So many different skill levels out there that a published opinion might only make sense or be potentially useful to a relative few.
I'm not an old time detectorist from the 70's, but I've had my XS for a long time and have gotten to know it quite well. I think I'm pretty good with it and would love to get together with someone that considers themselves an ace to see if in fact they can find items that I can't with it. I'm in northern NJ so if you'd like to get together for a friendly hunt drop me a line and I'll even buy lunch!
3. "Fox and Grape" cases where a person for whatever the reason can't easily justify the expenditure, so they whack relentlessly on the detector.
The cost of the detector is not an issue for me - in fact I bought my SE last week on a whim.
4. Another variation of #3 is the person winds up buying the detector but regrets spending the money so they really go through the learning
experience sporting an attitude that insures failure. Failure looking like "It wasn't worth it". In other words, don't look to this person for the most in objectivity.
This statement doesn't really make sense, because if they overspent on something like a car they would take even better care of it and learn all the ins and outs rather than neglect it and run it into the ground. Since the $1100 was of no real consequence to me I don't regret the purchase and welcome having a third Minelab machine at my disposal - especially if it has even nominal improvements over the XS - how can you lose?
5. Last but not least, one of the downsides to the internet and all it's information, it's used waaaaaaaaaaayy too much as a crutch by a lot of folks to not have to go through the normal "old school" learning process of "on the job training". It's like people that will buy a video game and then look up on the internet to find all the "cheat" info. This is sorta like information "welfare" and I think most would agree that one of the biggest downsides to any free entitlement is that the longer one is "on" it the less likely that they will do what it takes on their own. What is wrong with the concept of, if you're interested and can afford what you're interested in, buy the da&n thing and learn it at your pace in your world!? Won't that be a more overall rewarding experience than going from street clothes to internet trained "black belt" in two weeks? And if you can't afford it, accept it gracefully and RELAX.
You're assuming that the SE has all sorts of hidden features over the XS series which the manufacturer certainly would not hide, but shout at us from the mountain top. The spec sheet has no references at all to mysterious new features that are there for us to eventually discover using the "old school" approach. The engineers would not have hidden things in the hardware (as a software designer might do in a video game) and I'm sure there are no mysterious features in the machine that could only be explained by divine intervention or came about spontaneously. Every aspect of a metal detector is quantifiable.
6. The manufacturers and dealers love for the early buy individuals to go out and talk all the good news to hopefully impact sales positively, but those same early buyers are the ones that usually catch all the sh*t from those mentioned above so after awhile, who wants to be the front man?. Not me. That's one of those "hard to justify" things too.
This point almost addresses my biggest issue with this forum right now and that it that it appears that the biggest cheerleaders for the SE are the dealers themselves (and perhaps certain individuals that potentially stand to gain discounts) - what a surprise! Is anyone surprised that some those that have the most to gain from touting the wonders of the new machine seem to be the most vocal and conversely the most defensive when someone posts an opinion that is contrary to increasing sales. Ocean7 got angry last week about this and I think his post was removed for some reason - this is after all a USER forum, but as of late it seems to have become more of a sales forum thanks to the obvious spindoctoring going on around here. Regardless, I bought the SE and I am happy to have it, though I would be a lot happier if Minelab had focused all of their resources on depth and speed.
To those users that sincerely like the new machine and have nothing to gain by saying that - I hope to be able to learn something from you that I have so far missed. I won't be putting my SE up for sale - it is a better XS - and I'll continue logging time with it. I respect your opinions and I read your posts with interest.
I know this post will draw flames from some, but I think it had to be said (and I think others were thinking it) and I'm not going to be cowed into voicing my opinion by indirect references to other posts, contrary to mine, as being the only "sane" or only "posts that make sense" on this board.
Anyone who wants to get together and test these theories out in the field doing some real metal detecting, I welcome it, and hope to learn something from it.
BACK OFF TELLING US ALL WHAT YOU DISCOVER! I am a "good ole boy" and a "dealer", and it is good to hear what you have to say about your discoveries!!!!
