I'm not so sure technology has advanced as much as they have just found another way to repackage and do the same things through features more appealing to those who have to have the latest toy with the most lights and chrome. The principles of metal detecting have not changed, ground is still ground, metal is still metal and so on. The only real true advancements outside of micro circuiting I see are in the availability of coils we used to not be able to get that offer advantages and some disadvantages depending on use and soils.
Just the other day for the very first time and of all things on my job, I got my hands on a Garrett Ace 250 and cold turkey, never got to read the manual on it before turning it on, it did not take long to figure it out and also determined it was really not offering me any more ability to detect than my BH Pioneer 505 that is also a Tone and Tell detector. I was already familiar with how to use and knew what to expect from an elliptical shape coil so no heart pitter patter there either. The Ace 250 is a nice good machine but I can do as well with my old Garrett Freedom II. And speaking of the Freedom II, it appears to me that the new Bells and Whistles Garrett AT-Gold borrowed from it though modernized, the dual discrimination capability or what was in it's day, maybe the first NOTCH feature available.
The GM V/SAT has been a very enjoyable machine for me and will not part with it. With no help at all, I took to it pretty quickly from my previous Manual Adjust experience I had with my Garretts and then added a couple more coils to it to seek some advantages. I have found as many coins with it as my other machines and the rascal will detect some very small items or fragments the others will not, and never stops amazing me. I'm still looking for my first Picker or a Nugget and though my area is Gold Country, it is predominately Gold Dust or Micro Gold you will find panning and the like. Outside of people deep dive dredging the river years ago, I only know of one man in the last 5 years here who has detected and found a nugget and large one at that and he almost threw it away it was so crusty with what looked like rust. I do carry with me a 1 and 2 Grain (not Gram) real Gold test pieces and the lead bird shot Poker Chip test pieces at 1,2, and 3 Grain weight. They are great to have in double checking your adjustments made or to see how bad the ground is going to be to deal with. I've never used the GM II or III but am sure they are as effective. I've also never used the GM IV or the GMT and new GMZ. I have used my old Garrett VLF-TR ADS Ground Hog to find Black Sand pockets and it will find them but the GMT simply has the advantage of an LCD to read the same out in percent. Even I would enjoy that display but the fact is, an older manual adjust ground balance all metal VLF machine can still be set up to find the same thing.
The new stuff I would or could enjoy as much as anyone else but I have a thing about wanting to be challenged by the machine, the environment, and what I'm hunting for. It's kind of like the early days of riding snow machines, these youngsters today have no clue how the sleds they ride today, came to do the things they can now and they think they are onto something new and invented it. These new snow machines of today are much nicer to ride but they are not a challenge to ride. They still run on gas and oil across snow and ice. If you could put an old sled on a mountain where the new ones do it with ease now, and there were some Iron Dog riders who did, you were a real snow machiner.
Enjoy your V/SAT, Robert
