New Equipment Tests You Do

[5900_XL-1]

I have done it and still do, but when you pay for the latest and greatest new metal detector, don't you test it in your old hunt grounds differently? That could be why you pull one of your "missed finds", not the new equipment.

It is easy to try our hardest to justify spending over a thousand dollars on a new detector, so don't we all do it?

 

[Ism]

I used to test that way until I made a test garden in my front yard and saw what happened to the targets over the years.

If you test your old hunting grounds within weeks of the last time you hunted, it's a fair test.
If it's been a year or more, then it's not an accurate way to test your new unit...Let me explain.

Think of the soil as a fluid. It's constantly moving around unobserved under the surface in most areas of the world.
Insects, burrowing animals, freeze and thaw, roots from plants, and more, are constantly shifting the soil under our feet.

Therefore, hidden targets from the year(s) prior may be exposed, reoriented, or pushed into detection range and would have been discovered just the same with your old unit.

Best to test side by side on the same target.

 

[laplander]

Thats the beaty of hunting with a friend who swings your old detector model True side by side. Even then you have to be careful a lot of detectors and detectorist can find it if you put an X on the spot. When you mark it, and they can't find it all you are on to something.
HH Jeff

 

[Ronstar]

Betting if you wait and go back with your previous detector you will get hits as well. Im particularly vulnerable to hearing an odd signal and because its in the foil range I will sometimes pass it. Fatigue fogs the mind like alcohol does but doesnt taste as good at 5:00. Go back with different detector and I bet your more likely to dig that same target.

 

[fwcrawford]

While I do go back over old ground with a new detector, I do not feel like I hunt differently.
With that said at many sites it is shocking how much I find at these old sites.
I give credit to the new detector myself.

 

[Coin Rescue Inc]

I think when you get a new detector you purchased it expecting better performance.
So your expectations are high and you key in on every signal expecting the best outcomes. So yes I think hunt with more intensity.
Nothing worse than digging a bunch of junk targets with the new machine and losing that initial faith in the magic.
Expecting good success brings good success. Experiencing poorer success results in half hearted effort and poor results.
Somewhat like when I get too tired or a sore back, my steps become faster and my swings are not covering all the ground.