I agree. If it wasn't for the 12x10 keeping up (so far) on badly masked or deep coins we've been comparing in the field, I would have long since upgraded to another machine. I don't like the feeling that I'm not hunting with just as good of a stick (in terms of depth or separation) than my circle of hunting friends I'm out with. It's all I could do to keep up with one of my friends in a day's finds even when he was using a lowly analog machine up until about a year or so ago, and I was using a Minelab. That machine he used for years probably got about half the depth of my Minelab, didn't have tone alerts, and was a sluggish machine that you had to watch the slow analog meter all the time while working through trash instead of just using your ears for high tones like you can on a Minelab.
And yet...on any given day he'd often match or beat me on silver finds for the day. Why? Two things...Attitude...As much of an avid hunter as I am, he still has that "I'm just happy to dig anything" type of newbie attitude that many of us grew out of after our first year or so in detecting. Second, while I've hunted for years, I've owned many machines in those years always looking for something better. I wanted to "sample the wine", so to speak.
While he stuck with the same old machine and so had vastly more experience with it from years of using it to hunt and nothing else. That alone taught me that attitude and experience with ONE machine could make up for any better performance of another machine on any given day. Sure, there were many days I skunked him too, but it was never "easy".
Now he's using a flagship machine and I think he's slacked off a bit on digging the "iffy" stuff. Sort of a bad habit we all fall into. He's come to rely on the said abilities of that machine to sniff out the silver in an easy manner. Don't get me wrong, he's done well with it, but I honestly think he isn't doing any better in terms of number of silvers as he did with his old analog unit. Why? Because, while he still takes chances on iffy coin hits, I don't think he's taking as many chances on them as he used to and instead is relying on the machine to do some of that work. Good for me, because I was afraid I'd get my head handed to me on every single hunt now that he had a more capable machine than his old one.
Either way, I'm just saying...I have seen it with my own eyes and ears. A good aftermarket coil such as the 12x10 can make things pretty much a wash in terms of one Minelab and another. They are all excellent machines, so I feel that coil choice on any given day can make one edge out the other. But, combined with that proper coil choice for the site, of course your experience, knowledge of the machine, and your very attitude is what is going to make the difference. A guy with a cheap $100 Walmart detector can beat the most expensive machine if he's got the right attitude. Meaning...Just dig and worry about what it is when you hold it in your hand.
All that being said, I don't want to give you the impression that the bling is what is most important to me these days. The older I get the more it's about the quest it's self, but more importantly just being out doors and sharing good conversation with a few good friends. I honestly would rather hunt with them and get skunked for the day then hunt alone and find several good coins. There isn't as much "joy" in finding something if you can't also see it through the eyes of your hunting friends.
Often we'll call each other over to a potential silver so we can watch it being dug, and often we'll tell each other to be the one to pull that silver rim out of the dirt and see just what the other guy found. One day in the woods I dug a plug and saw a silver quarter. Had no idea what it was, but I left it in the hole and called my friend over to do the honors. I didn't watch the coin as he retreived it. I watched my friend's eyes and the expression on his face. His eyes got real big and he said "NO WAY!" I knew right then it was probably at least a seated quarter or better, and it turned out it was! All just based on his expression and eye's, and I can tell you that that meant more to me then the coin ever did.
Just sharing that experience was something I'll never forget. These days, when I think back to that day I found that coin, in mint condition except for a few dings at the edge ($1350 book value without the dings), I don't think of the coin. Instead, I think of that expression on my friend's face. That is what is priceless to me. I sold the coin when I needed the money, because the memory is the only thing I really want to hang onto.
) If not, I hope others are able to get out with this mild cool off and get some hunting in. Meanwhile, I'll be more than happy swinging this reliable old technology machine with a big smile on my face. JJ
